Getting basement ready for finising

[gshoup]

I have a a couple of questions about getting my basement ready for finishing and was hoping someone might be have some suggestions.
I dont consider my basement very wet but I do have a few spots on my walls that get moist when we get a heavy rain. I think this is a result of the soil around my foundation settling and I am trying to correct this now with some grading and maybe some drylock. When I do get some water it mostly just trickles down the wall and into the gap between the wall and floor and never gets out on the floor. I also have never had any problems with water coming up thru the floor.
My first question is that I have read on this site that you should seal the gap along the bottom of the wall but I'm afraid if I do this the water will have nowhere to go if I was to get some seepage in the future after the basement is finished.
Any ideas on this ?

My second question is that my contractor frames his walls about 6 inches from the wall, then adds 3 1/2 inches of faced fiberglass and leaves the rest as an air gap that will allow the poured concrete wall to breathe.
Any ideas on this set up ?

Thanks,
Glenn

BTW, the house is in Maryland if that makes any difference

[stevea]

In the 25 years I have been drying basements - 1/3 of all the basements our company has worked on had already been finished off. I recommend highly that you have our Basement System dealer in MD give you a free written estimate.

Go to www.basementsystems.com and find the dealer covering MD. I believe that it will be worth having them look at the basement and make recommendations. I hope this helps.

ps. I do not ever recommend sealing the floor / wall joint.

SteveA

[Onpoint247]

Take it from an expert you don't want to just invest good money into finishing your basement just to have it slowly distroyed. You see basements are not inheriently dry. They are not ment to be finished. You must modify your basement first. Your contractor that is finishing your basement won't tell you this because he dosen't know or he just wants your money. Basements can be so called dry for years then once water finds it's path it keeps taking it. More than 1/3 of the basements that get waterproofed start out dry then leak after it's been finished. Often times unnoticed till it's too late. Dry wall is mold candy! So you need a quality vapor barrier sealed and fastened to the top of the foundaton. Next you need to drape it down the wall and tie it to a sub-floor drainage system. Yes that's right you have to install this system even if the floor does not leak yet. If you have to do this step after you finish say goodbye to your lovely walls. A good basement contractor can go under a wall thats no more than 1" away from the foundation. After tieing the sub-floor drain system to a sump you need a quality back up system. Don't get the home depot special it's a waste of money. Because you live on the east coast you have to deal with the humidity. Simply leaving air space behind your walls is not enough. Your basement is naturally cool inviting moisture to condense on the floor, walls, cold water pipes, steel support post, ect... Again if you try to get a dehumidifer from home depot, lowes, sears or your local hardware store. You are wasting money. A 40 pint dehumidifer is ment to function in a area that is at least 80 degres. Your basement is never 80 degres or more. You need somethig that functions in a cooler enviroment (sani-dry)

[stevea]

Thanks for the post , stevea