The plywood with feet: Look up “subfloor panels”. They come in a few different sizes. The main ones are 2’x2’ and 2’x4’. My preference would be the 2’x4’; it doesn’t really matter, just ensure the seams are staggered (with 2’x4’ there are less seams). There are even insulated subfloor panels. I might consider that option especially with the living space vision in mind. They are not much more money and would make it more comfortable, ie warmer floor surface.
Originally Posted by Gerda
I am looking up all the floor and wall insulating but I still fail to understand how I can do all that stuff until I truly figure out the dampness issue.
From what I understand there is moisture but no water running through the walls, not an actual “leak” with puddling and such.
Let the dehumidifier works it’s magic and dry out the air. This will dry out the old plywood and other materials.
Originally Posted by Gerda
won't the framing get damp underfoot and against the walls and with the dehumidifer hose snorting into the drain hole?
The drain hose flows at the rate of drips, moisture condensed out of the air. It takes all day to fill a bucket, well 22 pints. It is pretty slow, no snorting.
Originally Posted by Gerda
There is a floor drain and all sorts of basementy-wish-a-man-would-fix-this stuff by the pump and the on demand water heater and the creepy crawlies and the incredibly stupid choice to use PLYWOOD as the back of the various pipes and under the pump so it's all rotting. That's at the far end, and then as you approach the other end, where the land slopes but still only for very small windows (for now!) at the top, it gets dryer and only the air is cold and damp.
Basementy stuff. Well, it’s a good thing that all that is in the basement.
When building and replacing the present rotten wood, use pressure treated materials. These resist rot and damage from moisture.
For the outside wall framing utilize the pressure treated lumber. Insulated the wall, between the 2x4’s or 2x6’s, with pink styrofoam, and install the vapour barrier. The inner wall framing can be regular lumber, although just in case I would use pressure treated for the bottom plate. And for the minimal amount of framing; it is a small basement; you could just use pressure treated everywhere. There would be less waste and easier to purchase.
For those places that require plywood backing or have rotten plywood, use pressure treated plywood.
Once the basement is sealed up, it will feel much better down there. And it will keep out all those creepy crawlies.
Does the floor or cabin heave? Basement walls are not load bearing and are usually floating walls. That means they are attached to the ceiling, the floor of the cabin, and built to 3 or 4 inches from the floor. There is a bottom plate on the floor and a bottom plate on the wall framing. Large guide pins; nails; keep the wall framing in line with the actual floor mounted bottom plate and allow it to rise and fall with any heaving the floor may do. The finishing wall material is not attach to the bottom-most bottom plate, there is a gap. This is hidden by the floor trim that is attached to the bottom-most bottom plate.
Originally Posted by Gerda
My D will be with her dad the weekend I have to go and S15 as usual refuses to go and I can't get even my best friend to meet me there (she moved really far away) so I am gonna be totally alone trying to start these projects. I actually put an ad on a local site to hire a carpenter for the day, so we'll see if I can get a husband-for-hire for a day of help. Imagine actually being able to ask sweetly for help and direct the project and no one tells you how horrible you are, how you destroyed their life, and how they won't lift a finger to help someone who has spent her life emasculating them, pulls money out of your wallet and texts his OW the whole time and at one point leaves his phone in bed when he goes drunkenly to bathroom (unusually sleeping in same bed but far far away of course) and something goes wrong and the phone starts verbalizing texts coming in from OW that you thought wasn't even OW anymore? Granted, I will have to pay for the help, but still, what a relief to just work alongside someone who doesn't hate you and might not steal from you!
OK, so we got to MLC after all.
It’s ok! All that MLC stuff is never that far away. We lived with it. It’s part of us, part of the LBS. Embrace it, for it has helped define who you are.
Too bad S15 refuses to go to the cabin and you will be starting this work alone. If Sir Fix A Lot lived closer, he’d probably be there helping. He is helping spend your money on the ideas, it would be nice to help install and see it come to life.
Hope it goes well.
Have a great weekend.
D
Feelings are fleeting. Be better, not bitter. Love the person, forgive the sin.
