Hi, I’m looking for some help. I live right outside NYC. My house, built in the 1990s, is built into a hill, with half the basement below grade and the other half almost at grade, with two stairs stepping from below grade to grade. Unfortunately the driveway slopes to the house and we had major water in our basement from hurricane Ida. We just had flood cuts done about 1.5 feet up, and discovered there is NO insulation in the basement at all. The foundation walls seem to be blocks, with some wood framing and some metal framing.

When the flood cuts were made we discovered some very strange things. There was plastic sheeting underneath the drywall, kind of just “hanging there” and absolutely NO insulation whatsoever (you can peer up and see right to the floor above.) This explains the very clear sound transmission to the rooms above the basement. My kids say the house is “made of cards”)

In putting the basement back together, what can we insulate the walls with that will not get moldy if there is another flood but that will provide greater sound dampening? And what kind of sheetrock can we fill in with that is less prone to mold?