You might be surprised to learn that pouring concrete over rigid foam insulation is just as easy, if not easier, than pouring concrete without insulation. Installing rigid foam insulation panels is relatively easy, effective, and will add years of useful life to the concrete pad.
When a concrete pad is poured without the benefit of rigid foam panels, often a 6mm plastic vapor barrier is installed in its place. A vapor barrier is required by most building codes, but rigid foam panels are not. The result is often a dry, but uncomfortable floor.
Installing rigid foam insulation also offers other options, like installing a radiant floor heating system. The best concrete pads incorporate PEX tubing throughout the pad, which is supported by special rigid foam panels. As warm air or water is circulated through the PEX tubing, it warms the entire room and keeps the concrete from getting chilly.
Here we will discuss the highlights of pouring concrete over rigid foam insulation. We’ll suggest why rigid foam is the best insulation for a concrete pad and how the installation process works.
Why Is Rigid Foam the Best Insulation For Concrete?
Rigid foam is really the only insulation that has been proven over time to perform best under a concrete pad. Although it is theoretically possible to build a form that could protect other forms of insulation, like fiberglass, cellulose, and mineral wool, the process would be wasteful. Rigid foam insulation is the most effective, easy to install insulation under a concrete pad.
Rigid foam insulation panels are generally made from either EPS, which is an acronym for expanded polystyrene, or XPS, also known as extruded polystyrene. EPS is likely the most common, capable of supporting 360 lbs/sq.in. of weight in a 2” thick panel.
Rigid Foam Insulation Is Relatively Inexpensive
Rigid foam is not expensive to manufacture, but some panels will have extra features, like a built in subfloor. Others may be designed to house and protect a hydronic heat system, with built in standoffs for the PEX tubing.
Rigid Foam Insulation Installs Easily and Quickly
Rigid foam is usually available in rectangular sheets with lots of straight edges. The straight edges align easily with rectangular structures, like houses, garages, and storage buildings.
Rigid Foam Insulation Is Very Adaptable
Rigid foam panels are available in a large number of sizes, thicknesses, designs, and shapes. Whether you are planning a drain or stamping and coloring the concrete, you can find the combination of rigid foam insulation to fit.
Why Would I Add Rigid Foam Insulation Under Poured Concrete?
There are a number of reasons why you would install rigid foam insulation before a concrete pour, including increased value and increased use. Insulating a concrete pour is easy if done in the correct order, but adding it later can be very difficult.
Insulated concrete pads are more valuable, and add equity to your home. A concrete pour that includes hydronic heating as well can be converted to living space very easily. Rigid foam insulation also adds a vapor barrier to the pad once it is taped, saving a step of work.
If you don’t include rigid foam panels as part of your concrete pour, you limit the usefulness of the pad. Not to say a normal garage pad couldn’t be converted to living space, but installing rigid foam and a hydronic heating system make the conversion much easier.
How Does Rigid Foam Insulation Make a Concrete Pour Easier?
We’ve already mentioned that installing rigid foam panels under your next concrete pour is actually easier than not using them. Perhaps a more accurate statement would be to say using rigid foam is more practical.
Uninsulated Concrete Pours
A typical, uninsulated concrete pour will include a substrate (usually compacted gravel or sand), grade stakes, rebar, steel lattice, and a plastic vapor barrier. Because the grade stakes are driven through the plastic, some of the water that should evaporate is actually absorbed by the gravel or sand underneath.
When concrete is deprived of water too quickly, a process known as crazing can occur. Crazing appears like many tiny cracks in the finish and is actually done intentionally for visual effect. However, these tiny cracks are faults in the surface and will eventually become the first sections to break off.
Installing rigid foam insulation under the concrete pour helps prevent crazing by forcing the water to rise to the top as the concrete is troweled. The water evaporates slowly, allowing the chemical bonding to cure. This is one reason why concrete should be poured in warm, dry weather whenever possible.
Insulated Concrete Pours
Insulating a concrete pad is like replacing a worn out $3.00 part on your car. The process is cheap and easy if you have the engine in pieces anyway, but if you put it back together and change your mind later, you will need an expensive solution to a cheap problem.
Rigid foam insulation replaces the vapor barrier, so that labor is instantly saved. Some rigid foam panels even snap together. Some panels, like tapered panels used around a drain, even snap together. Some even come with a printed map showing where every color coded panel is to be placed.
Installing rigid panels will probably require some prep work on the substrate, but that is a normal step in pouring any concrete pad. So are expansion joints, grade stakes, rebar, and lattice. Rigid foam panels replace some of those requirements in a single, 4’ x 8’ sheet, so labor is often saved in the installation.
Adding the rigid foam panels also provides the smoothest, flattest surface for the concrete, which makes gauging the thickness much easier because the foam is uniform, stable, and flat.
In the end, installing rigid foam panels usually takes less total time than pouring an uninsulated pad. The downside, of course, is the expense. However, when you install hydronic heating as well, your pad will actually be dually purposeful as both storage and living space.
How Do I Pour Concrete Over Rigid Foam Insulation?
The actual process will vary depending on which type of rigid foam insulation you are using, but the process will be similar. For example, some systems also incorporate a plastic vapor barrier that extends up behind the wall covering. Be sure to read and follow the directions for your rigid panels because not doing so could cause a problem.
For example, if your panels do not require a separate vapor barrier or explicitly advise against it, don’t install one. It can be tempting to over engineer the installation and install a vapor barrier in the wrong location. Doing so could trap water between it and the panels.
This water might freeze or be absorbed by the concrete, two situations you should avoid. If the instructions require or even recommend taping the seams, do so. The vapor barrier feature of the panels could be compromised if the seams are not properly sealed.
