I have a very old home with rock walls in basement. I would like to finish the walls but dont know where to start. The walls are very uneven. I would like a cost effective way to finish them.
Answer:
If you have no moisture down there, you should be able to frame and finish to your heart's content. If, on the other hand, you have a moisture problem that cannot be rectified with ventilation, you had better look into doing a number on the drainage medium on the exterior of the footings before you do anything else. If it's dry, try this: When insulating any below-grade masonry wall it is best to build (in place) a 2X4 structure with studs 16" O.C. and pull it an inch and a half from the wall in order to accommodate R-20 fibre insulation bats without compressing them. The insulation actually goes from the sub-flooring above to within eight inches of the concrete floor and the 6mm polyethylene vapour barrier goes two inches lower so it can be pinched and stapled to each side of each stud. This keeps the insulation bats from sliding down and at the same time, the system avoids a lot of condensation problems. It also permits a bit of heat loss to the drainage tile along the exterior perimeter of the footings. In areas where frost is a problem, it is important that drainage at this point not be impeded.
