Boiler floor rads - insulation on outside wall

Mel68

Hello,

We moved to our house about 7 years ago. It has a 57 year old gas powered water boiler. We have floor rads throughout the house. The outside of the house has a foam barrier along the area where there are floor rads behind it. We assume, of course, this is what helps insulate the rads from freezing up etc.

As you will see in the photo, we need to fix it. We have no idea who did this or if it was the homeowner who did this. The corner has bumped up and we can’t seem to just push it back down. We will have to get all of the interlocking brick torn up but how do we fix this protective barrier? Do we remove the brown rubber membrane that incases the foam? Where do we buy the rubber membrane? The foam seems to be hard to push down but perhaps with the bricks removed it will be easier.

Has anyone seen this before?

psb75

Where are you located. What is the climate in this region? Need to know this for giving pertinent advice.

Mel68

Southern Ontario, Canada. We have the four seasons with winters averaging below zero most of the time and the warmest in the summer reaching over 30 degrees C.

STEVEusaPA

Well that sure looks ugly. Looks like something you would see for a water problem, not an insulation issue. Don't understand what that could do for you insulation-wise, or why it would've been needed.
Maybe a contractor/carpenter could pull some of it off to see what it is actually (or supposed to be) doing.

Do you mean baseboard radiators? Otherwise I'd be curious to see a picture of 'floor rads'.

If it was possible (or maybe even now) the previous homeowner could've told you why it was done.

ChicagoCooperator

Do you have a basement or slab on grade? To me that looks like additional foundation insulation which has been frost heaved up a little bit.

Jamie Hall

Surely does look like a frost heaving problem. The good news is that it doesn't seem to have affected the house...

You will need to remove enough of the patio brick to get down below frost level -- probably three to four feet -- and replace whatever is in there now with coarse stone extending about a foot out from the foundation wall. Encase the stone in drainage fabric, so fine material from the soil can't migrate in. Then figure out how water gets into that area, and eliminate or at least reduce that problem. Replace the patio brick and replace the dislodged brown material.

Mel68

These are the baseboard rads that are inside our family room (see pic). There is no basement underneath this room which means it’s on a paved grade surface. What we have noticed is that the floor had been sinking a bit (built in 1961) as there is about a 1/8” - 1/4” between where the bottom of the baseboards are and the floor is. This concerns us as water must be getting underneath. We have noticed too that the interlocking brick has sunk in the corner of the house thus rising the brown rubber barrier.

Wherever there are floor rads inside the house on ground level there is the brown barrier (hard foam between that and the house) on the outside of the house. So this is why we thought they were to help insulate the rad pipes.

mattmia2

It looks like someone saw the drawing with slab edge insulation and tried to make it happen without doing something to get the insulation under the finish materials. It probably accomplishes that but it is a really ugly way to go about it.

It looks like there are water problems with that driveway and the grade and elevation of the brick with respect to it but that is really hard to tell from a picture.

Mel68

Yes, I agree that it’s not something we have ever seen before. There is water problems for sure as the bricks have sunk below the driveway grade so the water will pool there. We also have to keep placing sand in between the bricks but the water will eventually bring it back out again. No one seems to know what to do with the brown barrier.