We have a green house attached to the side of our house that we would like to enclose and insulate to use as a dog room. The bottom half of the walls are made up of concrete blocks. The top half is 4x4's covered by corrugated fiberglass panels.

We are planning on using 1/2 inch plywood, house wrap of some kind and wood siding to enclose the outside, but are not sure how best to insulate the walls. Do we need to build an interior wall floor to ceiling and insulate to make sure there is insulation on the bottom half of the walls which are concrete block? If yes, would using spray foam or solid foam work best? If spray foam is best, Open or closed cell?

I'm assuming that there should be no plastic used on the interior wall over the insulation because the concrete block being porous might cause moisture to wick into the insulation and the plastic would trap it in there. Is that correct?

We haven't decided what to use on the interior to cover the insulation, but it would be nice to have something that would be ok getting wet. We plan on having a dog washing sink in that room and possibly even the washer and dryer too.

Thanks in advance for the help!

imho... on the inside of the building,i would install
1 1/2 in fur strips, insulate the block with 1 1/2 in foam board attach the fur strips with screws to block
insulate the upper wall with fiberglass insulation
. paint block with a block sealer first. attach
vapor barrier over the studs before sheet rock
if your interior is going to be a damp area then sheet rock with green board,
if not a damp area but a WET area
dura rock [concrete board] up the wall 4ft, and tile
others might have better ideas
i am not a pro.builder i'am a plumber

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Frodo,

Got any pictures?
Would be best if you went back and added your location to your profile when asking insulation questions.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: joecaption,

I'm in agreement with Frodo's suggestions except I would skip the vapor barrier between the studs and drywall. In going back and doing remodeling or repairs I have found that an interior plastic vapor barrier that is in front of a block or concrete wall tends to collect measurable amounts of moisture tat will then migrate towards the bottom of the vapor barrier. This moisture then collects in enough volume to cause some rot damage.

You don't mention a couple of other things:

1. Framing spacing above the block. With 4x4's, I'm sure there is no problem with structural strength. However you should still have 24" OC at most and preferably 16" OC to hold your exterior sheathing and siding as well as to make it easier to install batt insulation.

2. Going from an 8" block wall to a 4' framed wall means that you will have a ledge somewhere. If it's on the exterior, then it will need to be capped and sloped to allow water drain off. It it's on the interior, then you'll have a stagger in your inter wall covering. This could work to your advantage as you could cover the interior lower portion with a more waterproof surface.

Hello again and THANK YOU for the replies so far. I live in Northern California near Sacramento, so we get VERY hot summers and not so bad winters.

Frodo I didn't even think about cement board and tile on the interior I think that's an EXCELLENT idea! Thanks!

Jaybee......
I do believe that the 4X4 are 16OC. Yes there is a ledge on the inside, so that is why I thought I could put up a wall on the inside of the block and fill the gap with more insulation.

I was planning on using Drylock on the inside of the concrete block, but wondered if I should do any waterproofing on the OUTSIDE of the concrete blocks or not.

It's far more important to waterproof a wall from the outside.
Why wait until the water has soaked though the block then deal with it?

What would you do for waterproofing Joe? I'm looking for suggestions since this is something I'm not familiar with .

I've been reading and I think that it will be very possible to do an interior weeping tile system. On most of the exterior walls (three since it's up against the house on one wall) there is no cement floor and the gap is just filled in with rock. Our plan was to remove that and fill in with concrete. So since it's already open it will be a quite easy to drill holes in the concrete block, put in weeping tile and a bucket with a sump pump.

I am laughing my ass off right now.....
This is a green house attached to the main house and unless this is partially or fully underground how would water seep through the block.?
Is this a flood zone.?
You would treat this no different then a house on blocks, the exterior plywood would come down even with the outside of block. This will leave you with a lip inside, if you wish to build outward to hide it by all means do. You could also install a shelf on this lip. Normal tyvek or tar paper for house wrap, normal insulation for interior and normal drywall, or plywood, UNLESS........ You plan on having the inside with a wash down. In this case you will need the proper wall inside as well as a floor drain.
Note: fill tops of block with concrete and don't forget to add your termite shield.
Will this enclosure have a dog walk.?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ron45,

Ron,
To answer your question......Yes we can get flooding here where we live. So I am concerned that there has been no waterproofing on this structure.

It will be very simple to put in an interior weeping tile system because on the inside perimeter of the walls are dirt trenches filled with lava rock. Our plan was to remove the lava rock and fill in with gravel and cover with concrete. So if we need to just drill some holes in the concrete block and add PVC piping along with a bucket and sump pump that will be a simple fix.

I would like to add a drain in case I want to wash down that room, so I am thinking that I might put in a perimeter drain that will run into the PVC pipe. Just haven't thought of how to do it. I guess that I could put several drain covers along the perimeter of the walls. I wonder if digging a 4 foot deep hole just below the bucket for the sump pump and filling it with rock would work. I could drill holes in the bottom of the bucket so that when the water level enters the bucket the sump pump could kick in.

What do you guys think?

to install a pit for the water to drain to will work
a 5 gallon bucket is not enough. a 100 gallon
concrete pit with no bottom. sittingf on 3ft of 1 inch size rocks. also fill the pit 1/2 way up with rock. this size seep well will suffice for a wash down floor drain. ONLY water can be drained into this pit. NO soapy water. NO poo poo NO gas or oil or the plumbing authority and the epa will smack the back of ur head

Actually I do have a drain in the green house for the utility sink that is in there If I am going to put in the interior weeping tile I will have to dig up the concrete around that drain, so could I have the weeping tile tie into the existing drain instead of into a bucket with a sump pump? Then maybe instead of covering the weeping tile entirely with cement I could put in drains along the wall.