navy_joe
Member
- Location
- Greeneville TN
Job is to upgrading a basement area to a finished room. Area to be upgraded is 1/2 open to grade level. The original area was wired using conduit and steel boxes mounted to the cinder block. Two inch foam was added later which put all of the existing boxes flush with foam surface, conduit was covered by foam. Now part of the area is being converted to a living space by adding a studded wall, additional insulation, and sheetrock. This will require additional outlets and extending the switchboxes out 4 inches since you can't just extend the original wiring to a new box and covering the old box behind the wall.
Hopefully I have explained this enough to give you an idea of the arrangement.
Here is something I am trying to think out. The existing boxes are steel and attached to the block and basically very cold in the winter (last night it was zero). I can't just bury the boxes and insulate them, they have to be extended BUT I am afraid they will sweat and wet the insulation. Also a lot of cold air actually comes thru those boxes ( was somewhat surprised at this but cinderblock is porous and when the wind blows you can feel a light draft). Have any of you encountered this? You can easy extend a steel box using extenders, but is there any way to have a thermal break there? Surely someone has encountered this before or am I just worrying needlessly. Just trying to not cause a mold or mildew problem in the future.
JD
Hopefully I have explained this enough to give you an idea of the arrangement.
Here is something I am trying to think out. The existing boxes are steel and attached to the block and basically very cold in the winter (last night it was zero). I can't just bury the boxes and insulate them, they have to be extended BUT I am afraid they will sweat and wet the insulation. Also a lot of cold air actually comes thru those boxes ( was somewhat surprised at this but cinderblock is porous and when the wind blows you can feel a light draft). Have any of you encountered this? You can easy extend a steel box using extenders, but is there any way to have a thermal break there? Surely someone has encountered this before or am I just worrying needlessly. Just trying to not cause a mold or mildew problem in the future.
JD