How to Remodel Basement Walls

Remodeling the walls can make a basement more attractive and more energy efficient.

Many basements are catch-alls for junk and other items that have nowhere else to go. In addition, unfinished basements can be major sources of heat loss and inefficiency in a home. By getting rid of unwanted stuff and renovating your basement walls, you can improve the efficiency of your home, save money on heating and create more useful space. There are two common ways of remodeling and insulating basement walls.

Things You'll Need

• Sheets of rigid foam, 2-by-8 feet
• Rigid foam adhesive
• Utility knife
• Measuring tape
• Steel L-brackets
• Stainless steel concrete screws, 3 inches long
• Hammer drill
• Drywall sheets, 4-by-8 feet
• Drywall tape
• Spackle
• Spackling trowel
• Sandpaper
• Studs, wood or steel
• Screws, 2 1/2 inches long
• Drill
• Fiberglass insulation batts
• Mineral wool insulation batts
• Primer
• Finish paint

Instructions

Apply Rigid Foam

1. Apply 2-by-8-foot sheets of rigid foam directly to the concrete wall. Stick them to the wall using rigid foam adhesive. Six or eight blobs of adhesive spread around the surface of the sheet is sufficient.

2. Install steel L-brackets in the joints between the sheets of rigid foam. These will serve as a base to which you can screw the drywall that goes over the rigid foam. Secure the L-brackets by drilling pilot holes through the bracket and rigid foam and into the concrete wall using a hammer drill and driving in stainless steel concrete screws.

3. Install 4-by-8-foot sheets of drywall over the rigid foam, arranging them so that each 4-foot-wide sheet of drywall covers two 2-foot-wide sheets of rigid foam. The joints of the drywall will overlap the metal L-brackets, and the drywall can be screwed into these using self-tapping metal screws.

4. Tape, spackle and sand the drywall to create a smooth wall. Prime and finish paint the drywall, and you have a finished wall.

Frame a New Wall

1. Frame a wall situated directly in front of the concrete wall, using wooden or steel 2-by-4 studs. In the confined space of a basement, you may have trouble building the wall on the floor and standing it up, as is usually done. In this case you can build the wall in place, by screwing the top and bottom plates of the wall into place, then adding the studs individually.

2. Infill the spaces between the studs with batts of fiberglass or mineral wool insulation.

3. Install drywall on the inner face of the stud wall.

4. Build out the frames of any windows and doors so that they are flush with the surface of the new interior wall.

5. Tape, spackle and sand the drywall to create a smooth wall. Prime and finish paint the drywall.

References

• Bob Vila: A Complete Basement Remodel
• Hammer Zone: Finishing a Basement
• Handy Canadian: Basement Framing