Insul Armor Q&A

Back in 2020 a new kind of basement subfloor panel appeared on the market

and I've been getting a steady stream of homeowner questions about it ever since

In this video I'll recap the four most common questions I see and offer

insights into the all foam dry core insole armor panels that I've been

discussing with people by email. For most situations insole armor is the best I've

seen so far for creating the foundation of a warm mold resistant finished

basement floor on concrete. And as I mentioned insole armor is an all foam

panel that's what makes it unique and this single feature leads to the most

common question that I get about the product. Is this foam really strong

enough to walk on? Yes insole armor is strong enough when installed properly as

part of a hard surface flooring system. It's denser and stronger than most rigid

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

of a floor. With insole armor you can apply a hard surface floor such as

laminate or vinyl directly on top and both are excellent options for basements

by the way regardless of what's underneath of it. Numbers show the higher

strength of dry core insole armor too and in the world of rigid foams density

is one measure of 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 find this stuff from building supply outlets. They all have a

typical density of one pound per cubic foot and sometimes two pounds for heavy

duty foams. Insole armor by contrast has a density of three pounds per cubic foot

and this makes a big difference. The moment you pick up a piece of this stuff

you know it's no ordinary foam. Insole armor has a rated compressive strength

of 3,650 pounds per square foot. So what does this mean? Well imagine you cut a

12 inch by 12 inch piece of plywood you set it on an insole armor panel that's

on the floor then you took a mid-sized car mm-hmm and stood it up on end

resting entirely on this piece of plywood. Even this extreme loading will

not crush the foam or leave a dent and well it's not exactly practical to do

this kind of test. Seeing is believing. So take a look at the test I ran for

exploring just how supportive insole armor is under a lot of weight in the

real world. Watch me drive on some insole armor panels in various situations

right now with my pickup truck and let's see what happens. So this is the test

setup I've made to actually test the Dricor insole armor under something

like real conditions. I mean this is far more rigorous than you'd ever encounter

in a basement but I just wanted to explain what's all all about here. You've

got a piece of quarter-inch plate steel. I didn't want to put the foam right on

the road it's kind of rough I didn't think it was too accurate that way so we

got the smooth base. These ramps on and off the steel are hot melt glued in

place because it wouldn't really be fair to drive up over the edge. We want to get

get up before we start on the flooring. This is engineered click flooring right

here of the kind that would be great for a basement and then this is the insole armor panel underneath. So I'm gonna drive over this and then we're

gonna 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

far it looks okay let's see Wow look at that absolutely no compression whatsoever

Yeah that's that's what I would have expected from the numbers and it and it

looks like it's worked out that way. Let's try driving over it again without

the flooring on just for fun let's see if we can damage this stuff driving directly on the foam

Well I'm even more impressed with this strength than I was before. I mean even

driving over the bare foam except for just that I don't know if you can see

that tiniest little compressions here from the tire treads really very irrelevant and you're not going to be driving over this stuff bare in your

basement anyway but there's nothing like taking something to the extreme to

just show what it's capable of and as I said this this stuff is is hard and

strong for sure. Can't I just put regular foam sheets on my concrete basement

floor then finished flooring on top? No not exactly. The higher density of insole

armor means it 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 foam have only one to two-thirds the density and compressive

strength of insole armor so these regular foams need the help of plywood

or OSB on top before the finished flooring goes down. You can certainly use

regular foam sheets in this way as part of your basement subfloor but you will

need to put a second layer of something on top first before the finished flooring

goes down and as I explained to people who inquire about this insole armor has

other unique strengths and benefits too. First the product has a raised bottom

profile and this creates an airspace so the product can tolerate small amounts

of leaked water that may get into your basement. Without this airspace even the

tiniest basement leaks can rise up and ruin your finished flooring. The presence

of an airspace creates a kind of grace zone if you will that makes all the

difference with small leaks. The same leak without a raised subfloor could

mean tearing out and replacing all your finished basement flooring when you

might not otherwise have to if you had the airspace on your side. Another

advantage is the smaller size of insole armor panels compared with the size of

regular foam sheets. Regular sheets of foam are typically two feet wide and

eight feet long and that's pretty big to wrestle into your house. Insole armor is

half the size which is just about the limit for convenient carrying downstairs

Is insole armor suitable under all types of flooring? No it's not. If you have your

heart set on carpet in your basement and I don't recommend it you'll need to put

down a layer of plywood or OSB on top of the insole armor first followed by

underlay and carpet. If you insist on installing carpet in your basement then

you'd be better off using one of the more traditional OSB and plastic

subfloor panels because these don't need additional wood on top. Also any kind of

flooring that needs to be fastened down as opposed to click edge glued or loose

lay flooring is not convenient for use over insole armor and to be honest this

isn't the handiest thing to do over any kind of foam insulation simply because

the foam doesn't offer anything strong enough to anchor to. This is why free

floating options such as luxury vinyl plank and tile laminate and engineered

click hardwood are the best options to use over insole armor and they just

happen to be the best for basements in general too. Is insole armor worth the

extra money? Insole armor costs 10 to 20 percent more than the typical OSB panels

for a given floor area and for most situations I think this extra is more

than justified because of the advantages of the product. At R4.1 insole armor offers the most insulation value of any commercial basement

subfloor panel that I've seen. It's also much lighter in weight than traditional

OSB subfloors and that means easier to carry downstairs and by a long shot by

the way. Insole armor also comes in panel sizes that are twice as large as OSB

panels so you cover ground more quickly during installation. I also know from my

own experience that the tongue and groove edges on insole armor come

together super easy with no need to use a mallet, protective edge blocks or

anything like that. Cutting couldn't be easier either with insole armor. It's so

dense and rigid you just score a line with a utility knife and straight edge

then snap the panel over your knee to break it. You can't do that with OSB

panels nor regular foam. It's getting easier to finish basements properly and

this comes down to the availability of innovative products that address the

unique conditions found when finishing a basement. Do your homework, choose the

best products then enjoy the kind of warm, dry, comfortable and enduring value

of an inviting and properly finished basement space