If you are interested in; SAVING MONEY ON ENERGY BILLS, CONSERVING FUEL, and INCREASING THE COMFORT in you property – then foundation walls are almost always the most important place to start! Most New England homes were not, and many still are not built with a thermal or vapor barrier on the exterior of the foundation walls. Not having this barrier allows moisture to enter your basement as well as heat to exit your foundation walls through the concrete. WHY you ask? Concrete wicks moisture and has an R-Value of 1 per every 8 inches (stone & brick are similar) – so it offers great strength for building but lacks energy efficient characteristics.
Even if your basement or crawl space is not heated, you are still allowing heat to escape – HOW? Heat is generated through your basement/crawl spaces many different ways – furnaces/boilers, hot water heaters, and the ground! Once you get about 2 feet below grade you are generating heat from the earth – why not take all the help you can get to heat your home – contain and utilize that heat!
Beyond surface area heat loss; foundation walls, in most cases, are where the greatest levels of air infiltration into your structure are occuring! Simply put, the house functions like a chimney, air movement starts at the bottom and escapes at the top – so if you stop air infiltration at its starting point, you will choke off some of that air that is traveling through your home, becoming heated, and then exiting to your attic and roof deck (ice dams!). TIP #1: if you have fiberglass insulation in the joist cavities above your foundation wall check to see if they are dirty – if so that is a sign of air intrusion. TIP #2: if you have cob webs all around the same area, it too is a sign of air intrusion!
Applying rigid foam board and/or spray foam insulation to the interior of your foundation walls & perimeter joists are the best retrofit avenues to take in order to control surface area heat loss, moisture intrusion, and air infiltration into your basement.
If you already have a finished basement these solutions will not be achievable for you, unless of course you rip the walls down! If you do have a finished basement and are experiencing moisture problems, make certain you are not promoting mold – if a mold issue is starting, tackle it ASAP, it will only make your life easier!
Stay tuned for later posts that will address ways to manage moisture in a finished basement!
Having an Energy Audit performed on your property is the best way to prioritize your energy inefficiencies, and where to start improving you homes performance and sustainability! It will be money well spent!
