Yeah....all that moisture in the basement and that heavy plastic overhead....she better wear her raincoat when she goes down in the basement.
Well, generally the moisture barrier goes down before the underlayment is nailed on the joists and the insulation is
below it! In a basement, nowadays there's another moisture barrier under the concrete floor thus eliminatin' the problem with moisture. She states that some of the floor is nothing more than brick on soil. Bricks absorb moisture like a sumbitch, so she will always have a prob!
He is correct in this case, intallin' the insulation first and then installin' a moisture barrier is the best idea. The problem will be makin' sure you get rid of any moisture
before ya install the moisture barrier. If not, mold will definitely be a prob. Didn't she say she has allergies?
I would be inclined to install insulation on the "walls" in the basement, rather than the floor of the livin' quarters above. It has been my experience the average temp of a basement floor is well above 45°.
The earth has a pretty constant temp below 6' all over the world. The walls are where the cold is comin' from. Dependin' on where ya live the frost line can go as far as 4' below the surface, and is 32° or lower! Much more area space losin' heat in the walls than the floor, and quite a bit of a temp diff which means higher cost per square foot.
It is undoubtedly way more area to have to insulate, but is the best bang for your buck and less a chance for a moisture/mold problem. Just depends if ya wanna do the job
right.
ETA:
Yeah....all that moisture in the basement and that heavy plastic overhead....she better wear her raincoat when she goes down in the basement.
Yep, basically yer makin' a greenhouse in the basement! It will weep
foreva!!!
