Basement insulation in Davenport IA - a warmer basement with walls kept dry

Most people call us about a cold basement, a cold floor in the room above it or a power bill that climbs every winter. The price moves with how much wall there is, whether water has to be fixed first, what we put against the concrete and how much rim joist needs work, and the schedule mostly turns on that water repair and how much you'll need to clear away from the walls. I come out, look at the walls and write the estimate myself, and we work in Davenport and cities on both sides of the river, in Iowa and Illinois. If the cold is really coming down from above, attic insulation may be the better place to start, and I'll tell you so.

I start by looking hard at the walls, because if they get wet, we talk about stopping the water before anything goes on them. Insulation over a damp wall is money wasted. Then we do the air sealing, closing the gaps and openings through the foundation wall, so the new insulation isn't fighting a draft. We put up a material that can handle sitting against concrete, and we give the rim joist, the band of wood that sits on top of the foundation, extra attention because it's a spot that gets skipped a lot. Once the wall is covered the way you want it finished, my crew cleans up and I walk the basement with you to check the work.

On most basement walls, closed-cell foam insulation, a dense foam that blocks moisture, is what I'd pick. It costs more than batts, and I think it's worth it down there because it seals the air and insulates in one layer right against the concrete. Open-cell foam insulation is softer and costs less, and we use it in walls and rooflines upstairs, but I keep it off basement concrete because it lets moisture through.

The City of Davenport requires permits for building improvements and for electrical and plumbing work. Its list names remodels and windows but doesn't mention basement insulation, so the list alone doesn't settle whether your job needs one. If it does, we take care of it with the city and tell you up front, and if you'd rather ask yourself, the city's Building Counter at the Public Works Center is the place.

A lot of what we see around Davenport is older houses with block or poured walls, a damp corner or two and old batts behind paneling that have gone musty, so we pull back whatever's there and look before quoting anything new. We find the same kinds of basements on jobs in Bettendorf and across the river in Rock Island, and we handle them the same way.