I would like to know what would be the best product to insulate a floor. Rancher on 3′ crawl. 14 yr old house. the crawlspace is insulated on the perimeter but not heated, and no floor ins. Concrete floor in crawl, very cold floor in house. Lots of mechanical to work around. I dread the thought of crawling around down there dragging fiberglass batts around.
Suggestions please
Cam
Replies
. No floor insulation is needed, as the walls are insulated.
Edited 6/4/2005 6:25 pm ET by Hube
Not needed? That's what I thought, after all it was apparently built by a reputable builder. But after spending a winter here with cold feet I'm starting to wonder. If the crawlspace walls are insulated does the crawl have to be heated and what about the vents down there letting in cold air.?
Cam
Those vents do make a floor cold. If the perimeter is insulated then vents kind of defeat the purpose of perimeter insulation. And there is no telling how the concrete is shielded from the ground below. What I mean by that is is there a visqueen layer between the concrete and the sand the concrete was poured on? Then you can close the vents off, the concrete isn't going to wick ground moisture up into the crwalspace, necessiating venting. I would have a icynene crew come in and spray a foam layer under the floor deck regardless. That is what I did in my 2 feet crawlspace and the difference was amazing. The floor was the same temperature almost as the room temperature where before the floors were very cold. I have a vented crawlspace. The icynene guys wanted to spray a perimeter band but I overruled them, despite being able to save some money vs. insulating the whole floor deck. I just don't see any benefit to having the floor exposed to a 55 degree ground temp even if it is conditioned. As far as I am concerned, the ground constitutes an outside face of the building envelope.Handyman, painter, wood floor refinisher, property maintenance in Tulsa, OK
Ok, NOW you say there are VENTS. This now becomes a whole different picture, but still easily cured.
To make it simple, in order to have the floor(above) be warmer, CLOSE the vents in the cold season,...this should make the floor above a little more warmer.
Another simple alternative is to keep the vents OPEN all year, install insulation (r-20 min) in the floor joists with a Vapor barrier up to the warm side..Note; doing it this way makes the existing wall insulation useless.
Doing any one of these alternate methods are your most economical, and easiest solution to a warmer floor above, but it could open up some wild discussions as being contrary to the "Bldg. Science's" approach.
Any ways, best of luck to you in making a warmer floor.