Fall is Basement Renovation Season
Autumn is when most Canadian basement finishing campaigns begin. Unfortunately, many homeowners pay big money to have their basement finished, only to end up with substantially lower overall indoor air quality over time. Hidden mold and mildew growth is the reason why. With a new lightweight, all-foam basement subfloor panel, it makes it easier to discourage this kind of disaster.
Mold and mildew often start with poor basement finishing, especially subpar flooring systems. It is vital to properly address the unique challenges of finishing a basement to reduce these potential troubles.
Why Traditional Practices Fail Below Ground
Building practices that work fine above ground can fail miserably over time in hidden ways in basements. Hidden, that is, until mold spores and mildew odours start developing in the basement and beyond. For decades, finished flooring such as carpet, vinyl and even hardwood was installed directly on concrete basement floors. This is a mistake that’s still happening in about half the basements I see getting finished. So what does finished flooring applied directly to concrete have to do with poor indoor air quality throughout your house? Quite a bit.
Avez-vous déjà remarqué à quel point les odeurs de moisissure dans les sous-sols sont généralement pires en été ? C'est à cause d'une dynamique commune qui se déclenche lorsqu'un sous-plancher de sous-sol imperméable et isolé n'est pas présent sur un sol en béton souterrain.
What Happens When You Skip a Proper Subfloor
If warm, humid air is outdoors, it will eventually make its way into your basement where it will try to continue its journey through the finished flooring, especially carpet. The further this humid air makes its way through, say, the carpet pile, the cooler the air gets as it approaches the cool concrete. In the absence of an impervious subfloor, eventually the air in question can get so cool that microscopic moisture droplets condense out of the air, appearing within the carpet pile itself. It doesn’t take much moisture to trigger nasty growths. I’ve even seen it happen in above-ground homes with slab-on-grade concrete floors poured directly on the earth.
Même si j'ai écrit plusieurs fois sur la dynamique du sous-sol, j'entends encore des entrepreneurs professionnels dire des choses comme « les panneaux de sous-plancher ne sont pas nécessaires ; Je finis des sous-sols depuis 30 ans et nous n'avons jamais eu de problème ». Si jamais vous entendez quelque chose comme ça de la bouche d'un entrepreneur de sous-sol que vous envisagez d'embaucher, courez. C'est un avertissement classique que cette personne termine toujours les sous-sols comme si c'était 1956, moisi et tout. Pas bon.
DRICORE Insul-Armor’s All-Foam Design
The all-foam DRICORE® Insul-Armure® panels I began testing last year are the best subfloor option I’ve seen so far. Besides having the highest R value of all subfloor panels (R 4.1), I now recommend them as part of my online basement finishing course. Weighing about 80% less than older-style wood-and-plastic subfloor panels, the all-foam option is not only much lighter to carry downstairs, but a lot easier to cut. Instead of the sawing required to cut traditional wood-based panels, all-foam panels need only to be scored with a utility knife following a straight edge. Snap that scored panel over your knee and it breaks just like it should. No saw noise, no sawdust.
DRICORE® Insul-Armure® is for the most common hard-surface basement floors such as laminate and luxury vinyl plank and tile. But, won’t the foam crush in time from the weight of people walking on the floor? No. With the weight spread around by the hard flooring, these foam panels can handle a pressure of more than 3000 lbs. per square foot. That’s like standing your car on end and balancing it on a 12” x 12” piece of wood sitting on the foam.
Chaud, léger, facile à couper et anti-moisissure - quel panneau de sous-plancher pourrait être meilleur que celui-ci ?
Par : Steve Maxwell de Bailey Line Road