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In this video I introduce DRICORE Insul-Armor, the lightest, easiest to install DIY basement subfloor product I've ever tried. Insul-Armor insulates your basement floor while also acting as a vapor barrier, preventing warm indoor air from condensing against the cold concrete floor. Raised circular sections on the underside also stop small amounts of liquid water from damaging your finished floor. Even though DRICORE Insul-Armor is only made of foam, it's strong enough to withstand the weight of a truck driving over it without damage, as you'll see in this video.
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0:00
Back in 2020, a new kind of basement subfloor panel appeared in the market
0:05
and I've been getting a steady stream of homeowner questions about it ever since
0:09
In this video, I'll recap the four most common questions I see and offer
0:14
insights into the all-foam, drycore InsulArmor panels that I've been discussing with people by email. For most situations, InsulArmor is the best I've
0:24
seen so far for creating the foundation of a warm, mold-resistant, finished
0:29
basement floor on concrete. And as I mentioned, InsulArmor is an all-foam
0:34
panel, that's what makes it unique, and this single feature leads to the most
0:38
common question that I get about the product. Is this foam really strong
0:43
enough to walk on? Yes, InsulArmor is strong enough when installed properly as
0:48
part of a hard surface flooring system. It's denser and stronger than most rigid
0:53
foams on the market, so much so that you don't even need a second layer of plywood on top of the foam, as is required if using regular foam as part
1:01
of a floor. With InsulArmor, you can apply a hard surface floor, such as laminate or
1:06
vinyl, directly on top. And both are excellent options for basements, by the
1:11
way, regardless of what's underneath of it. Numbers show the higher strength of
1:15
drycore InsulArmor too, and in the world of rigid foams, density is one measure of
1:21
firmness and strength. So regular sheets of extruded polystyrene and expanded polystyrene foam, that's the two kinds that are most common out there, and you'd
1:31
find this stuff from building supply outlets. They all have a typical density
1:35
of one pound per cubic foot, and sometimes two pounds for heavy-duty
1:40
foams. InsulArmor, by contrast, has a density of three pounds per cubic foot
1:45
and this makes a big difference. The moment you pick up a piece of this stuff
1:49
you know it's no ordinary foam. InsulArmor has a rated compressive strength of 3,650 pounds per square foot. So what does this mean? Well, imagine you
2:00
cut a 12 inch by 12 inch piece of plywood, you set it on an InsulArmor
2:05
panel that's on the floor, then you took a mid-sized car, mm-hmm, and stood it up
2:09
on end, resting entirely on this piece of plywood. Even this extreme loading will
2:15
not crush the foam or leave a dent. And while it's not exactly practical to do
2:21
this kind of test, seeing is believing. So take a look at the test I ran for
2:25
exploring just how supportive InsulArmor is under a lot of weight in the real
2:30
world. Watch me drive on some InsulArmor panels in various situations right now
2:36
with my pickup truck, and let's see what happens. So this is the test setup I've
2:40
made to actually test the Dricor InsulArmor under something like real conditions. I mean, this is far more rigorous than you'd ever encounter in a
2:50
basement, but I just wanted to explain what's all about here. We've got a
2:53
piece of quarter-inch plate steel. I didn't want to put the foam right on the
2:57
road. It's kind of rough. I didn't think it was too accurate that way, so we got
3:01
the smooth base. These ramps on and off the steel are hot melt glued in place
3:07
because it wouldn't really be fair to drive up over the edge. We want to get
3:11
get up before we start on the flooring. This is engineered click flooring right
3:17
here of the kind that would be great for a basement, and then this is the
3:20
InsulArmor panel underneath. So I'm gonna drive over this, and then we're gonna
3:26
take it apart and see what happens. So I really don't know for sure how this is gonna turn out. Let's take a look. So
3:43
far it looks okay. Let's see. Wow. Look at that. Absolutely no compression
3:55
whatsoever. Yeah, that's what I would have expected from the numbers, and it looks like it's worked out that way. Let's try driving over it
4:04
again without the flooring on, just for fun. Let's see if we can damage this stuff driving directly on the foam
4:13
Well, I'm even more impressed with this strength than I was before. I mean, even
4:27
driving over the bare foam, except for just that, I don't know if you can see that
4:34
tiniest little compressions here from the tire treads. Really very irrelevant, and you're not gonna be driving over this stuff bare in your basement anyway
4:43
But there's nothing like taking something to the extreme to just show
4:48
what it's capable of, and as I said, this stuff is hard and strong for sure
4:54
Can't I just put regular foam sheets on my concrete basement floor, then finished
4:59
flooring on top? No, not exactly. The higher density of InsulArmor means it
5:05
can support hard surface flooring directly without the help of another layer of plywood. The numbers you've seen now just show how regular sheets of
5:14
foam have only one to two-thirds the density and compressive strength of
5:18
InsulArmor, so these regular foams need the help of plywood or OSB on top before
5:25
the finished flooring goes down. You can certainly use regular foam sheets in
5:30
this way as part of your basement subfloor, but you will need to put a
5:34
second layer of something on top first before the finished flooring goes down
5:37
And as I explained to people who inquire about this, InsulArmor has other
5:42
unique strengths and benefits too. First, the product has a raised bottom profile
5:49
and this creates an airspace so the product can tolerate small amounts of
5:53
leaked water that may get into your basement. Without this airspace, even the
5:57
tiniest basement leaks can rise up and ruin your finished flooring. The presence
6:03
of an airspace creates a kind of grace zone, if you will, that makes all the
6:06
difference with small leaks. The same leak without a raised subfloor could
6:11
mean tearing out and replacing all your finished basement flooring when you
6:16
might not otherwise have to if you had the airspace on your side. Another
6:19
advantage is the smaller size of InsulArmor panels compared with the size
6:24
of regular foam sheets. Regular sheets of foam are typically two feet wide and
6:29
eight feet long, and that's pretty big to wrestle into your house. InsulArmor is
6:33
half the size, which is just about the limit for convenient carrying downstairs
6:37
Is InsulArmor suitable under all types of flooring? No, it's not. If you have your
6:44
heart set on carpet in your basement, and I don't recommend it, you'll need to put
6:48
down a layer of plywood or OSB on top of the InsulArmor first, followed by
6:53
underlaying carpet. If you insist on installing carpet in your basement, then
6:57
you'd be better off using one of the more traditional OSB and plastic
7:01
subfloor panels, because these don't need additional wood on top. Also, any kind of
7:07
flooring that needs to be fastened down, as opposed to click, edge glued, or loose
7:12
lay flooring, is not convenient for use over InsulArmor. And to be honest, this
7:18
isn't the handiest thing to do over any kind of foam insulation, simply because
7:23
the foam doesn't offer anything strong enough to anchor to. This is why free
7:28
floating options, such as luxury vinyl plank and tile, laminate, and engineered
7:33
click hardwood, are the best options to use over InsulArmor, and they just
7:38
happen to be the best for basements in general, too. Is InsulArmor worth the
7:42
extra money? InsulArmor costs 10 to 20 percent more than the typical OSB panels
7:48
for a given floor area, and for most situations I think this extra is more
7:53
than justified, because of the advantages of the product. At R4.1, InsulArmor offers the most insulation value of any commercial basement
8:01
subfloor panel that I've seen. It's also much lighter in weight than traditional
8:06
OSB subfloors, and that means easier to carry downstairs, and by a long shot, by
8:10
the way. InsulArmor also comes in panel sizes that are twice as large as OSB
8:16
panels, so you cover ground more quickly during installation. I also know from my
8:21
own experience that the tongue and groove edges on InsulArmor come together super easy, with no need to use a mallet, protective edge blocks, or
8:29
anything like that. Cutting couldn't be easier either with InsulArmor. It's so
8:33
dense and rigid you just score a line with a utility knife and straightedge
8:37
then snap the panel over your knee to break it. You can't do that with OSB
8:42
panels, nor regular foam. It's getting easier to finish basements properly, and
8:47
this comes down to the availability of innovative products that address the
8:51
unique conditions found when finishing a basement. Do your homework, choose the
8:55
best products, then enjoy the kind of warm, dry, comfortable, and enduring value
9:01
of an inviting and properly finished basement space
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