Progress on the Basement

The last two weekends I was working on the basement walls. I finished applying the hydraulic cement to walls. It has been drying for two weeks now but you still can tell where the water wants to come through. Those areas are still darker in coloring then the rest of the cement. Last week I started to insulation the area above the sill and below the first floor with 2" insulation board.


Last year I use foam spray to fill in the bays with insulation but I found it to be messy. The foam would fall in on itself and out the bay ending up of the floor. So, I decide to try foam board instead. I was going to buy the 4" board but my local lumber yard only carried 2" and I am glad they did. The 4" width would have been to thick maneuver around the small bays. I just double up the foam board and it worked out just fine. If there are any quilters who read this blog, you may notice the Omnigrids lying on the foam. I once quilted until I brought this house and all my free time is now used to work on this house. The quilting tools still come in handy for measuring and rotary cutters are great for cutting plastic to put over your windows. Someday I hope to use them on fabric again.

Back to insulating the house, I pieced together the foam board around pipes or any other objects before permanently setting them in place. Once they were set in place I use the foam spray to seal any gaps around the board. I can feel the different; the cold air drafts had been reduced making the house seem warmer.


The picture above still shows that I have to spray foam in some areas but I am making progress. The unfinished south basement wall is completed. Unfortunately, I will not be able to complete the job this weekend since I will be still cleaning up from Tuesday’s blizzard. I need to rake my roof’s north side; the vents are covered with snow. The path from the back door to the garage/shed has a 4 to 6 foot drift between it. Those two jobs will not leave much time to do anything else.