Opinions wanted

[Bruce Branch]

Here I go again with basement questions. As I have mentioned before I am finishing my basement myself. At either end of my very long room (man pit, bar ...) I have a half cement wall with the upper half being a stud wall which I have cover with drywall, creating about a 4 inch ledge with the cement. I have considered installing a beefy piece of lumber over the ledge to kinda finish it off and create a display ledge or drink holder or what have you. I also have this half cement wall comming down my stairs.



My question is what would YOU do to cover the cement part of this wall? I do not want to drywall over it, I want it to be a feature that standsout. I have considered stucco, paneling (how to fasten to the wall), paint, ...:wacko:. I have run many options though my head. What do you think?



What about cork board to help with the sound?

 

[Thomas Rogers]

First of all, congrats on having a basement in GA...I am told that's a rarity.



Myself, I would have (and did when I did our basement but it had full, 9 foot concrete walls) put up a full stud wall, the bottom about 1/4" away from a vapor barrier and the concrete wall.



My reasons for do that are for the insulation. In the Northeast, it can get kinda cool in the winter down there (55 deg if left to itself), and the stud wall provides for insulation..



I personally wouldn't do stucco because of fear of the wall sweating. I really would want a vapor barrier (severl mil thick plastic) and the insulation.



Also, do you have a french drain around the perimeter of the basement?



Since you already have the top done, I would install wood strips in place of studs (construction adhesive glued vertically to the 1/2 high concrete wall), then styro insulation in between, and then wainscoting along the bottom and the ledger board along the top for the transition. There are "kits" for doing just this type of wall for basement refinishing.



With this thin wall you can install electrical using short boxes in the lower half of the wall and have outlets (check local codes, you may have a height minimum). Remember you need an outlet about ever 6 feet (check the codes).



TJR

 

[Mark B]

brick veneer

 

[Bruce Branch]

The insulation isn't toom much of a factor for me. This winter I have kept a small electric oil filled radiator going when were down there. That has worked well to keep the chill out of the air. In the summer those cool walls and the ceiling fans do a great job. I do not plan on running HVAC down there just yet, maybe later for resale purposes.



Wainscoting is one of the options I have been running though my head and really seems to be ahead of all the other ideas.

 

[Keith McElroy]

I finished my basement, which is a "Garden" basement on the back similar to yours. I debated what to do with it, but ended up using furring strips, foam insulation, and drywalling over it. I then put a shelf on it and put wainscotting on the bottom. I have 50 foot + of this along the back of the basement, so I wasn't going to extremes. The wainscott has saved the walls from many gouges and dings since.



One tip, always put a vapor barrier (plastic) on the inside of the above ground insulated stud walls, but put the plastic directly on the concrete of the below ground walls. Concrete never fully dries, so moisture will wick into any wood that touches it.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Do you have a french drain around the perimeter of the floor, where the floor meets the wall? It will look like either a little gutter or a little strip of padding, and it has flex hose under it that leads to a sump pump pit.



If you DO, then you don't want to interfer with that, and a false wall might be the way to go.



TJR

 

[Thomas Rogers]

What eledhel said...you need that vapor barrier. I draped mine onto the floor, so that the ledger board along the floor rested on it, and that ledger about 1/4 inch from the concrete wall. If doing styro and strips I am not sure how to get the barrier sandwiched in.



TJR

 

[Keith McElroy]

I am a firm believer in construction adhesive. Glue the plastic to the concrete, then glue everything to the plastic. I only had about 42 inches of concrete wall and have never had a problem with it.

 

[Bruce Branch]

I do not have a french drain in the basement. My house is about 8 years old, I am the second owner. I had the house inspected before purchasing it. The inspector said he was very surprised that the basement walls and floor showed no signs of the usual water seepage (sp?). He said there would be white stains (lime I think) if there was any. The exterior of my house is VERY well drained. My entire yard is sloped away from the house so I have minimal moisture issues with these walls. But I think you guys are right, wha tever I do I will certainly incorperate a vopor barrier some how.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Yeah, that would be one way to go eledehel. But I would want to use a lot of adhesive between the plastic sheet and the concrete wall. If you only used a few spots here and there and along the tops, bottoms, that doesn't give a good, firm base for the strips and foam to adhere too. (of course, this advice goes without saying, right?)

 

[Bruce Branch]

I think the strips would have to be either glued directly to the wall, shot with a nailgun or use tapcon screws through the plastic. The nail or screw would pierce the barier but thats the only way to secure them to the wall. Right?

 

[Bruce Branch]

Would a brick veneer or tile allow the walls to breath properly? That;s another option I have been weighing. A little more expense to go that way I think, I'm trying to stay on a tight budget.

 

[Chris P]

if your looking to paint, drylock the walls, helps to seal them, and then just paint over them, use the latex kind, if you put up anything over the walls what are you gonna do if you perhaps get a leak??!?:huh:

 

[Thomas Rogers]

War Eagle, regarding your question, I don't think you want to pierce the vapor barrier in any way. That's why I asked eledhel how he sandwiched his.

 

[Keith McElroy]

I put the "mini wall" against the plastic, attached it to the floor, and then used the "shelf" on top of it to hold the top. Never had to pierce the plastic.

 

[Todd Z]

furring strips...

We do this every day at water pumping plants...



Vapor paint the concrete, Then glue on the polyethylene sheeting, then attach furring strips to the wall using hammer in lead anchors, and then you can use any covering you want....



Unless you just paint with a fancy concrete paint or some type of rubberized covering...



Todd Z

 

[Bruce Branch]

Yes, furring strips is what I was thinking but I now I figure our that eledhel is talking about building a small stud wall that is anchored to the floor and then to the cap/ shelving at the top. Sorry eledhel took be awhile to get on the same page. I was thinking you wanted me to adhere plastic to the wall and then adhere furring strips to the plastic, that wouldn't work worth a dam. I think TJR was thinking the same as me. I understand wha tyour saying now. That would work fine everywhere except on the stairs. I will have to do something with furring strips or just paint on the area comming down the stairs. I would like it to all be the same though. Something common to carry from the top of the stirs through a small office area and then into the grand ball room/ man pit/ bar (I haven't decided what to call it yet).

 

[Dale Carter]

TJR - plenty of basements in GA, you are probably thinking of Florida.



Unless you are making a "trailer" joke, then it's pretty funny. And it works better in Arkansas where the Governors Mansion was a trailer. I am not kidding. A triple-wide provided by an Arkansas producer of "manufactured housing" for the Gov and his wife to live in while the mansion was being renovated. He even appeared on a Leno. You can't make up stories that are as funny as the truth.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

DC, I was just going by what my colleages that work out of the Duluth office in GA say and what I have heard others say.



People have told me that basements in the South are rare. I assume that because a major reason for a basement in the NE is to avoid frost heave, I assumed homes in the South didn't have that need and used slabs to lower the costs.



TJR

 

[Dale Carter]

News to me. Lived in AL and GA all of my life, and every house had a basement, as did almost all of my friends. Tornadoes, you know? In fact, many of us grew tired of fighting the moisture. True, new developments with garden homes and new lower end real estate are often slab built to save costs, but they are not representative of typical housing in the South. Duluth is a fairly new and growing area of Atlanta, so there are probably a disproportionate number of slab homes.



Florida, on the other hand, is slab home heaven. A lot of those are built with cinder blocks and then stucco finished. Very inexpensive.