ᐅ Does installing a foundation insulation make sense for our situation?

Hello everyone,

I would like to insulate the base area of our detached house.

Our basement is not completely underground; on the north side, it extends about 10-15 cm (4-6 inches) above the ground. On the sides (east/west), it is partially exposed up to half a meter (sometimes more, sometimes less), and on the front side, the basement exterior wall is uncovered in many places, meaning it is not embedded in the ground.

I have done some research but couldn't find a clear recommendation on how many centimeters of insulation make sense in the base area. Would 15-30 cm (6-12 inches) be sufficient? That would save me a lot of work since essentially only the north side would need to be partially exposed. I could probably work without any problems on the other sides. Should I use standard facade insulation for the other exposed sides? From what I understand, perimeter insulation is usually only applied when the exterior wall is below ground level.

Our basement is not used as living space. I cannot imagine that any waterproofing was installed in the basement area back then; however, I have not found a single wet or visibly damp spot in the basement.

Does it even make sense to insulate only the base area? I would like to do this because we renovated the house two years ago when we bought it and installed underfloor heating. We fully insulated the basement ceiling with rigid polyurethane foam, as we didn’t have much space below the underfloor heating due to ceiling height. To balance this, I would like to insulate the base area from the outside.

Thank you

Unfortunately, I wasn’t quick enough to edit in time.
On the north side, the basement protrudes about 17cm (7 inches) above ground level.
On the other sides, it is at least 25cm (10 inches).