I am trying to finish my basement where there was flooding due to sewage backup and the drywall has been removed and the whole area professionally treated which costed about 15K. The wooden studs have been left as is where they are fixed to the cinder block basement wall. The studs are 2 by 2's and the issue is that they are not equally spaced like 16 inches. At some place the gap is 10 inch or even 8 etc. Have read a lot of options on the insulation and the best is the purple foam board followed by the spray. A lot of articles over the net cover foam board to be put in first before the studs which keeps me wondering, even if i cut pieces that stick them in between the current studs, would it be effective enough for the investment. Any ideas on how to go about this and achieve proper insulation for the monies worth. Thanks. BV

Hi, I mentioned at week or so ago I was insulating my rim joists and discovered there are no rim joists, just the clapboards nailed directly on studs. Well, going into the attic it became clear to me that this obviously continues all the way up the wall, so no rim joist in the basement and no sheathing on the wall. I mentioned that when doing the "rim joists" I was not going to seal at least the horizontal portions of the cavity before installing the rigid foam board. I'm keeping the rigid foam about half an inch from the clapboards to allow some drying airspace. I'm assuming most agreed at least not sealing the clapboards to the bottom plate of the wall and sill was a good idea. I'm also working in the attic to air seal. Aside from the normal things to seal in the attic, I was looking at the exterior top plates and wondering whether or not I should be sealing the outside side of the exterior top plate (i.e. between the exterior top plate and the clapboards) or just the inside side. I was going to either spray those seams with foam or fill in the gaps with caulk. Concern is that I'm cutting off some mechanism by which those wall beneath are drying. The walls very likely have no insulation and certainly no air or vapor barriers. The house was built in '33. When the siding is eventually replaced in the next decade, the plan is to do a thorough rehab of the walls with exterior foam, possibly sheathing them, etc., so I prefer to not mess with the walls until that time since, IMO, what I do now may either do more harm than good or may, at minimum, limit my options in the future. Therefore, at this time, I'm just sticking with air sealing and trying to do no harm. So, if the walls have no sheathing and no insulation, would your suggestion be to seal the exterior top plate on both sides, one side, or not at all? Thanks for your suggestions.