Basement & Foundation Insulation in Reading, PA

Basement and foundation insulation targets the line where a Reading house sits on its foundation. In older homes, that is usually a wood sill resting on fieldstone or brick. The joints between stone and sill, sill and rim, and around every pipe and wire are full of gaps, and cold air comes in all winter. The first floor stays cold and pipes near the wall can freeze.

Closed-cell foam

Two to three inches of closed-cell foam, at R-5 to R-7 per inch per HomeGuide, seals and insulates the sill and rim in one step. It does not absorb water and keeps warm air off cold wood. HomeGuide puts a typical rim joist foam job at $2,000 to $2,500.

Stone walls need to dry

Old stone foundations let some moisture through and need to dry. We usually foam the sill, rim and upper wall, which loses the most heat, and leave lower stone alone unless it is dry. If water is coming in, it gets fixed first.

Floods and wet basements

Wikipedia notes that the lower precincts of Reading along the Schuylkill have been inundated repeatedly, including by Hurricane Agnes in 1972 and a smaller flood in June 2006. Basements near the river or near creeks like Wyomissing Creek may have moisture history. Insulation that got wet should come out.

Limestone and sinkholes

Parts of Berks County sit on limestone. Sinking Spring is named for a spring that sank into the ground, and the borough has many underground streams that have formed sinkholes. Ground movement can crack foundations and open new air paths at the sill. We seal those gaps; structural cracks need a structural repair first.

Rowhome basements

Rowhome basements are narrow, with shared walls on each side. Only the front and back walls and their sills face the outside. Foaming those sills and rims is quick and makes a real difference on the first floor.

Code targets

PHRC lists R-10 continuous or R-13 cavity insulation for basement walls in the Central zone. For existing homes it is a guide.

What a basement visit looks like

We walk the basement with a light, following the sill and rim along every exterior wall and checking each place a pipe, wire, vent or old coal chute passes through. We look for daylight, moving cobwebs, staining, efflorescence and damp stone. Then we measure the rim length and wall height and write up which areas get foam, how thick, and what we leave alone so the stone can dry.

Fire barriers

Foam in a basement used as living space usually needs a thermal barrier like drywall. We explain what applies. Get a free estimate