Insulating Basement Walls

[jbos333]

Hi everyone,

I am looking for the best (cost effective) way to make a walk out block basement qualify as "living" space, insulation wise. It will be new construction. What I am looking to do is have the 3 sides that are below grade insulated enough to meet the energy code - is it R-19? Does anyone know if it has to be R-19 even though its below grade? And what do I do with the 2-3 feet of wall that will be above grade?

I should explain that I'm looking to leave the block wall finish on the inside for that "industrial" look, maybe just a coat of paint. I don't mind running conduit or BX cable and surface mount boxes. So, outside insulation and/or the core-fill stuff might work. I figured someone on here might have been involved in something similar.....

Looks like R-10 is my minimum based on a chart I found online...

[MountainDon]

http://energycode.pnl.gov/EnergyCodeReqs/?state=New%20York

The R10 is continuous like sheet foam (footnotes) That's the minimum. More could be better long term

[jbos333]

Thanks for the link, MtnDon. My county is zone 6 so it looks like 15/19 for me. So R15 polyiso sheets should do it. Or some combo of smaller r values.




I was also wondering if the fact that I'm going to be using it as living space makes any difference.?