So I wanted the lower level of my split level home to be dog pee resistant and not as cold as bare concrete. After much research I considered the following options:
- Dri core stuff from home depot. Expensive and wood on top. If it gets wet you have to tear your floor out. No thanks.
- ThermalDry It's insulation panels with a hard non wood surface. Would work, but too expensive for me.
- Carpet. Nope, dogs and kids; nuff said.
- Insulation panels with non wood layer on top. Vinyl imitation wood flooring on top.
3/4 inch pink insulation with the "green e-board" stuff on top. It was cheap, cheap, waterproof, and insulating. Think about how much square footage of cold concrete a basement has. What does that do to your energy bill. In a regular basement the floor is deep enough underground that it's always between 50 and 60, but my floor is almost at grade. This meant that parts of it practically freeze in the winter. That insulation is about R-5 and it makes a huge difference. The labor sucked, but I can walk around barefoot on it and it's actually warmer than my mid level which is above the crawlspace. Basically I just came up with this idea based on some of the commercial products available. I just made my own cheaper version of it. Oh yeah, I actually wanted to get some of that ThermalDry but they wouldn't sell less than 1000sqft of it.
I taped up the joints to help prevent the warm moist air from condensing on the cold floor. This is a kind of a big deal especially on exterior walls.
Did you do this recently? Were you able to reuse your previous floor? Looks great btw!
ReplyDeleteThanks! This is what I did about two years ago. The previous floor was carpet.
ReplyDeleteCould you please tell me what the white panels are that you put on top of the pink insulation panels? Thank you
ReplyDeleteThe product he used was indeed "Green-E-Board" which in my search is nearly impossible to find, and it is only 1/4 inch thick. I am looking at this installation but am planning on using 1/2 inch Hardy Backer Board. I think it will hold up better sitting on top of a one inch insulation board. Both are basically floating floors. With that in mind, would gluing them together to form one solid "subfloor" be advisable? I also think that a layer of 6mil plastic between the cement and the insulation board might be advisable. Going to have to research all this first, however. Hope this helps out.
DeleteWas your floor pretty level? Do you know if this application will "absorb" unlevel areas somewhat? We're also replacing carpet for something pet friendly. Really like your concept. Thank you!!
ReplyDelete