# Finishing Basement: DRIcore and walls?



## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

First see if you can even get the Dri-Core localy. It's made in Canada and is suppost to be special ordered by Home Depot. When I checked into it Home Depot had never heard of it and once they called to get pricing it was priced so high I went with sleepers instead.
There are also several other companys that make the same type of product. Just do a key word search on "basement floor" on the net.


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## oppie2005 (Dec 30, 2011)

my local Lowes store carries DRIcore, priced at $5.97usd per square.


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## oppie2005 (Dec 30, 2011)

just a little more information about my basement. I have a trench/weeping? system installed, and cannot anchor the walls to the concrete floor since it would penetrate into the trench system. My thought was, if i layed the 2'x2' dricore squares, and anchored the walls to the squares, then the squares would be able to be anchored to the concrete floor, as they would be wide enough to miss the trench.


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## Gary in WA (Mar 11, 2009)

You want a sill sealer for a capillary/thermal/air break, fig.1;

If no foam board in front of the concrete wall- you need to air seal the Dricore air from reaching it, fig.2: http://www.buildingscience.com/documents/insights/bsi-003-concrete-floor-problems?full_view=1

Much easier to frame the wood wall with p.t. bottom plate on a sill sealer, then run the product up to that leaving the required expansion space per install instructions.

Gary


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## oppie2005 (Dec 30, 2011)

Thanks Gary. I intend on placing the blue foam board on the concrete block walls like the pictured here below. With that foam board on the wall, do i still need to lay a sill sealer? I still intended on using p.t. wood for the bottom plate, whether or not it was on the concrete floor, or whether i built the walls on the Dricore. The reason i was asking about building the wals on top of the dricore was to have a way to achor the wall to the floor since i have the weeping/trench system installed around the interior perimeter of my basement. Is there a way to anchor the walls to the floor without having to shoot something into the concrete? Or would it be the best bet to build the walls on top of and anchored to the dricore squares and anchor the dricore squares to the concrete floor on the sides that would not penetrate the trench system? Or is there another option all together for anchoring the walls that im not seeing? Thanks again for your help.

Dustin


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## Gary in WA (Mar 11, 2009)

"I intend on placing the blue foam board on the concrete block walls like the pictured here below. With that foam board on the wall, do i still need to lay a sill sealer?"------ I would; to stop the cold concrete slab from acting as a "heat sink" when warmed by the room heater. The p.t. plate is not water-proof; http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com...ressure-treated-sill-plates-and-building-code
You should hold the drywall up 1/2" above the slab not to wick moisture from there, air seal the drywall at the bottom edge with caulking as per code, and even air seal the drywall to the studs (recommended, not required). ADA =http://www.buildingscience.com/documents/information-sheets/air-barriers-airtight-drywall-approach/

Very important to air seal the rim joists, a major source of air movement; http://www.buildingscience.com/documents/information-sheets/critical-seal-spray-foam-at-rim-joist/

The foam board needs to be of the right thickness and seams taped, with canned foam/caulking at the bottom gaps. You cannot let ANY basement air get to the concrete to condense or make convective loops: http://joneakes.com/jons-fixit-database/743

The trench system should be deeper than the 1" fastener into the slab.....

Problem with wall on Dricore is trying to stop the air circulating freely in the Dricore from getting out near the foamboard.

Have you researched foamboard on the slab, yet? 

Gary


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## j kuzma (Jan 2, 2012)

Hi Oppie, you can make your own dricore type floor by using the dimpled plastic foundation membrane - tape all seams and then overlay with 5/8 or 3/4 T & G OSB. Tapcon into your concrete and you are good to go. Also way less than Dricore and doesn't flex as much as there are less seams. Dricore is not a full 2 X 2 - that includes the tongue - so you have to buy extra to get full coverage. 
You can also use rigid foam (pink or blue) with taped seams and the OSB. You can build walls on top of both of these systems. 

Good luck with it!
Jim


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## canoes (Sep 30, 2011)

I'm not familiar with dricore. However, I have french drains if that's what you mean by trenching system. I'm about to finish my basement also and spent a lot of time figuring out if/how I could build on top of the french drains. Finally found the company that installed them (b-dry) and they said the system can be built on top of using liquid nails to adhere the frame to the floor. Aquaguard, who installs similar system said same thing.

My warranty is void ( Aquaguard voids theirs too) if any holes are put into the drain or the base that goes around the bottom of the wall. Contractors who gave bids thought it was fine to use it. I have plumbing pipes thru my system and will haave them come check the systme during construction.

they also recommend one inch between new framing and the concrete wall for an air space.

BTW, Gary, thanks for the info on building science in another thread.


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## cleveman (Dec 17, 2011)

why do you want the funky dry-lock floor?

If you can't secure your bottom plate to the floor, then you might just put a 2x4 strap against the wall and toenail the studs to this. If you don't want to hold the wall out 1 1/2 out from the masonry, then you can put 2x4 blocks in between the studs and secure these to the masonry.

But you should be able to screw the bottom plate down. You only need to go down an inch or so. What kind of funky drainage tile do you have that is so close to the top of your floor?


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## oppie2005 (Dec 30, 2011)

canoes said:


> I'm not familiar with dricore. However, I have french drains if that's what you mean by trenching system. I'm about to finish my basement also and spent a lot of time figuring out if/how I could build on top of the french drains. Finally found the company that installed them (b-dry) and they said the system can be built on top of using liquid nails to adhere the frame to the floor. Aquaguard, who installs similar system said same thing.
> 
> My warranty is void ( Aquaguard voids theirs too) if any holes are put into the drain or the base that goes around the bottom of the wall. Contractors who gave bids thought it was fine to use it. I have plumbing pipes thru my system and will haave them come check the systme during construction.
> 
> ...


How do you secure it to the floor using liquid nails and put down a vapor barrier? if you lay down the vapor barrier first and then build the walls, wouldn't you just be liquid nailing the walls to the plastic sheeting? I've never done this type of work before so please excuse me if there is something im missing.

[edit] Oh, and yes, it is french drains


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## princelake (Feb 19, 2012)

if you ever have water issues in your basement and you have to pull the up the dricore it will be a nightmare trying to pull that floor up with your walls screwed down to it. also if you did that you'd probably have to tapcon the dricore to the floor then attatch your bottom plate. if you want your dricore to run all the way to the foundation walls then do that and when framing the wall add a 2x4 to the side of your studs and shim and tapcon it to the wall so the wall actually isnt attatched to the dricore. i work in resortation and i've gutted and redone ALOT of basements. i'd normally frame my walls then run the dricore to it. ive done quite a few jobs with dricore and its a great product and it goes down fast and i recommend using it.


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