Laundry Room Floor - What's Under There?

Thanks for all the replies. First, there is no crawl space, except for critters less than maybe 5 inches tall. Where the pipes enter the basement, I can feel a cool draft on cold days. There was one spot behind my neighbor’s fence I couldn’t get to when I was insulating and resurfacing the exterior with bitumen. That’s the only place air could be getting in. The walls are no longer a problem–the temperature of the basement is easily 30 degrees warmer than before, even with the radiator not connected out there. I plan on pulling out the drywall this summer along the bottom couple of feet when I repair the burst radiator pipes anyway, so I’ll seal that corner up from the inside. The studs looked fine by the way, so I’m hoping the wood in the floor is in similar shape. The only problem really is the chilly floor. I had suspected what many have found–that I have a glorified deck out there. I really don’t want to tear the whole thing down for many obvious reasons. It sounds like I may have to sister or replace joists, but I had sort of figured on that. And I’ll seriously consider heated floors, which I hadn’t really thought of. If the added info helps with advice, please let me know. Thanks again.

DouglasAlan

in Insulation 9 years and 3 months ago

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DouglasAlan | 9 years and 3 months ago

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I have that roughly 9 x 13 laundry room so commonly attached to the back of brownstones and townhouses. The problem is the floor is freezing. I plan on ripping it up when the weather gets warmer and insulating it. Under the tiles, I’m expecting to find plywood sitting on top of 2×6’s on top of raw earth. Is this probably correct? If so, can I just lay down a heavy duty waterproofer/vapor barrier and then stuff insulation between the joists?

thetinkerswagon | 9 years and 3 months ago

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we ripped one up some years ago, and yes, it was steel joists and then earth about 24″ below those. and the brick ran down below the earth to an imaginary footing down below. is there a radiator in the laundry room? if the answer is no, you are always going to have heat issues in there as unheated space is unheated space. if you have a radiator and that floor is still cold, I would wonder if there is air getting into the crawl space some place. I have lived in houses with simple crawl spaces (closed on all sides) and in some which are open and it seems to me that the crawl space in itself should provide pretty good insulation. I have never really seen anyone insulate between joists and in a properly sealed crawl space have found it to be unnecessary. perhaps you can make an opening from your basement into that crawl space to allow some warmth to get in there? and inspect the area to see if there are any voids to the outside. I am afraid if there is some other issue, the insulation may not dot it. why not rip the tile up and put down radiant heat? forget ripping the rest up. Steve

kassie319 | 9 years and 3 months ago

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I ripped mine out recently. 2″x6″ joists, wood decking (5/4″ x 6″ possibly, I can’t remember) and concrete on top. Joists were sitting on soil, all rotted, decking was rotted and the concrete was cracked and collapsing where joists had failed. No footings or proper framing for the walls exist – I don’t understand how the thing stands up! I’m considering pouring a slab and installing foundation wall and then framing the inside, but I may just tear it down.

Arkady | 9 years and 3 months ago

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I had the same experience as chinatownred so I just tore down the whole thing & built new.

thetinkerswagon | 9 years and 3 months ago

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wow, kind of why I referred to an “imaginary” footing. I actually believe that there was a footing at the bottom of the wall we were dealing with, but I did not trust it was what it should be. Steve

daveinbedstuy | 9 years and 3 months ago

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Your likely to find not much of a perimeter foundation and footings. Reconstruct this as a deck with a ledger board off the main house. Dig it all down 2′ and set two footings at the outer corners and build a deck structure to carry it all. Then, skirt the outside of the deck structure with 2″ rigid foam board that goes about 6″ below ground and stucco it for looks. The insulation along the perimeter of that “foundation” is all you need. As far as heat, radiant would be best either as pasrt of a baseboard water system or an electric “blanket.” In that case you would want to insulate directly underneath it.

sqhaexgkh | 9 years and 3 months ago

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Same experience as Chinatownred and Arkady, tore it down and rebuilt with radiant heat floors.

kidbklyn | 9 years and 3 months ago

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Same experience as HelloBrooklyn12345.

thetinkerswagon | 9 years and 3 months ago

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FYI: everyone is saying rip it out, which is what we did on the floor we did. but I am not sure there is not another way to insulate that. can you get into that crawl space another way? I am not even sure the foam is necessary. of course, if budget is not so much an issue and the floor has other issues, unstable, cracked, etc, the best course would be to rip it. Steve