Luke_Y
Second Unit
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2001
- Messages
- 424
Finishing Basement, relocate service panel or leave it?
First, I post this question here because this is where most of the heavy duty construction goes on. There will be a HT in the basement but this question isn't directly related to it as the panel is in the area that will be the gym.
Let me see if I can explain my situation and question without confusion...
I currently have an unfinished basement and plan to start the finishing of it soon. The service panel is currently mounted to a large piece of plywood which is in turn anchored to my poured concrete foundation wall as I believe is standard.
My plans call for the exterior foundation walls to be insulated with 1" 4x8 sheets of XPS rigid foam insulation adhesed to the walls, with a standard stud wall then built to the interior side of that.
My concern is the service panel. Should I leave it as is and just insulate to the edges of it or the plywood, and frame an opening for access to it in the new stud wall (covered with an access door)? Or, should I pull the service panel lose, ditch the plywood, and mount the panel in the new stud wall as would be standard in a finished wall?
If I plan to remount it I guess I could stop the insulation at the plywood edges and after the wall is built and panel remounted I could try and slide some cut insulation panels behind the wall and service panel where it used to be mounted.
I am worried that if I plan to remount it there wont be enough slack in the existing wiring to move it out the 4-5 inches required, or that it will somehow be more difficult than imagined.
What is standard? Should I just leave it and avoid the trouble?
First, I post this question here because this is where most of the heavy duty construction goes on. There will be a HT in the basement but this question isn't directly related to it as the panel is in the area that will be the gym.
Let me see if I can explain my situation and question without confusion...
I currently have an unfinished basement and plan to start the finishing of it soon. The service panel is currently mounted to a large piece of plywood which is in turn anchored to my poured concrete foundation wall as I believe is standard.
My plans call for the exterior foundation walls to be insulated with 1" 4x8 sheets of XPS rigid foam insulation adhesed to the walls, with a standard stud wall then built to the interior side of that.
My concern is the service panel. Should I leave it as is and just insulate to the edges of it or the plywood, and frame an opening for access to it in the new stud wall (covered with an access door)? Or, should I pull the service panel lose, ditch the plywood, and mount the panel in the new stud wall as would be standard in a finished wall?
If I plan to remount it I guess I could stop the insulation at the plywood edges and after the wall is built and panel remounted I could try and slide some cut insulation panels behind the wall and service panel where it used to be mounted.
I am worried that if I plan to remount it there wont be enough slack in the existing wiring to move it out the 4-5 inches required, or that it will somehow be more difficult than imagined.
What is standard? Should I just leave it and avoid the trouble?
