Why does nobody talk about the weird frost line surprises you find in Edmonton basements?

I was finishing my basement in Mill Woods last winter and my contractor found a patch of concrete that had never been properly insulated, leading to a cold spot and some minor frost heave we had to fix before we could even think about drywall.

3 comments

3 Comments

rileynelson1mo ago

Wait, you found actual frost heave inside the house? That's wild. I figured those cold spots just meant a draft, not the ground moving.

hugo_schmidt1mo ago

Yeah @rileynelson, it's a real pain when the ground shifts like that. We ended up putting in some extra insulation and a vapor barrier to stop the moisture from freezing. Fixed those cold spots for good, lol.

joelwells1mo ago

My buddy in Terwillegar had a corner of his rec room that was always freezing. He pulled back the carpet and found the slab was cracked and damp. Turns out the footing insulation was missing for a three-foot section. The ground had frozen right up against the foundation wall and pushed the floor up almost an inch. Cost him a fortune to jackhammer and fix.