Small question: is there a way to insulate the junction between the concrete foundation and the basement steel beam ( in pocket or directly on top of foundation wall with top bearing open joist resting on the beam) ? Is it a negligable heat loss or should the detail be adressed?

thanks

Steel has on the order 1000x the conductivity of most insulation materials, 100x that of wood, 10x that of concrete, so yeah, it's an issue, even though the cross sectional area isn't huge.

Insulating the exterior with rigid foam could be a huge improvement. A better picture of how it all fits together might evoke other possible options.

I was thinking of something like that http://www.nachi.org/gallery/foundation/general/beam-end-foundation.jpg
but with a steel beam. Is there a way to insulate this?

Posted By Alexis on 03 Nov 2012 08:30 AM
I was thinking of something like that http://www.nachi.org/gallery/foundation/general/beam-end-foundation.jpg
but with a steel beam. Is there a way to insulate this?

Insulating the exterior of the foundation wall (all of it), is the only reliable way to provide a good thermal break on something like that.