I live in Pennsylvania and I am going to remodel my basement. Dampness is not a problem in the basement.
I plan on studding out the walls with 2x4's and insulating. My questions are:

Question 1: Do I put a vaper barrier(roofing felt or plastic) against concrete blocks or on inside of studded wall towards finished room?

Question 2: what type of insulation is to be used?


I have seen many,many different methods of doing this is. One person says this the other that. Is there not any standard method of doing this?:confused: :confused:

With concrete block, it is best to use a vapor barrier AGAINST the block. This will help prevent the possibility of moisture getting into your 2 x 4s and ruining your hard work. The last remodel I did in my parent's basement, I used regular old housewrap as a vapor barrier. It's relatively inexpensive and is easy to work with.

I live in South Dakota and with our COLD winters, I use the regular pink fiberglass insulation in all outside walls... paper facing to the inside of the house. As thick as I can get it crammed in without having to worry about warping the sheetrock. :-) It, too, is easy to work with, comes in 18" widths, varying thicknesses - so all you have to do is cut it to length and staple the paper to your studs.

As for a standard, each contractor has his/her own method of doing things. I think common sense should prevail... as well as expense and durability. My parents built houses, so from the time I could walk I was helping. The joy of building has passed on to me!

I hope this helps.

You can staple plastic to the sill plate of the house and let it drape over the foundation and onto the floor. With the plastic on the floor you can install the pressure treated wall plate over the plastic. This will seal the bottom of the plastic.
Its best to leave about 1-3" between the backsiade of the studs and the foundation. This will give you some air space between the foundation and the wall.

As for insulation, if your basement is mostly or all subterranean you don't need to insulate the heck out of it. R-13 is good enough. The earths natural temp. will help keep the basement warm in winter and then cool in the summer months.

1) plastic on the outside of the studs. Inside the room, not against the cement.

You should keep in mind that when insulating the wall, only insulate 3/4 of the way down in order to have air ciruclation and prevent molding or dampness in your recroom.

2) Insulation, you can buy in bundles. Your 2x4's should be 16 inches from middle of 2x4 to middle of following 2x4 apart in order for your drywall to fit properly, and it's the a requirement. One bundle should cover approx 1 wall 10' x 10'.

I live in Pennsylvania and I am going to remodel my basement. Dampness is not a problem in the basement.
I plan on studding out the walls with 2x4's and insulating. My questions are:

Question 1: Do I put a vaper barrier(roofing felt or plastic) against concrete blocks or on inside of studded wall towards finished room?

Question 2: what type of insulation is to be used?


I have seen many,many different methods of doing this is. One person says this the other that. Is there not any standard method of doing this?:confused: :confused:
I used the concrete sealer on the concrete walls-this will seal the concrete. Then stud the walls, do the electrical and the insulate the walls with a paper sided insulation.

Before you insulate or anything else, seal everything up good. Caulk the band joist, top and bottom, plus between the plate and foundation if it doesn't have the layer of foam there. Seal around all the pipes and wires good, not only the walls, but the floor above. Warm, moist air can flow up through the interior walls into the attic and cause condensation problems. Seal the foundation too. I did my crawl space with the cement based paint. Consider foam insulation in a basement. Usually in any condition, the dew point is inside where there isn't any water vapor to condense. Don't worry about a vapor barrier.

And by the way, house wrap specifically does transmit water vapor. That way you can put it on the outside of a house without trapping moisture between 2 layers of vapor barrier.

18'' wide insulation? Most of it is 14 1/2'' with wider paper flanges to fit studs on 16'' centers. It is also available to fit 24'' centers.