I own an older home in south florida (high humidity & high heat), which unusual for the area, has crawlspace under my old red oak wood floors. I have not seen any literature regarding insulating guidelines, but does anyone see a problem insulating it similarly to how you would an attic (hopefully to reduce the heat that rises through the old wood floors)?
Thanks for any help.
Edited 4/27/2005 1:46 pm ET by Aiki
Edited 4/27/2005 1:48 pm ET by Aiki
Replies
Today's my day for recommending the Building Science website. Here's what they have to say about crawl spaces in the South:
"Crawl spaces are real simple to understand and deal with. When you vent crawl spaces you bring in hot, humid air and cause moisture and mold problems. The ground surface is typically colder than the dew point temperature of the exterior air. The underside of crawl space floor insulation is radiation coupled to the ground surface and is very close to the same temperature of the ground. Moisture droplets can be seen all over the top surface of typical polyethylene ground covers as well as hanging from the bottom surface of the crawl space floor insulation. Gee, I wonder how all the water got through the poly ground cover? It must have leaked through the walls. Give me another break. Now, when the moisture is in the insulation where do you think it wants to go? Where is the air conditioning? Moisture moves to the cold surface. Venting crawl spaces made sense only when you had no air conditioning and no insulation and no crawl space walls.
Interested in unvented design strategies? It will take a while to change common practice as builders and contractors learn to adopt new approaches. Be sure to consult local experts and code officials before attempting unvented attics or crawl spaces on your own. Many design details that cannot be covered here are important to achieve best performance. See Houses That Work (http://www.housesthatwork.com) for more information. "