I have an enclosed 12 x 14 sunporch attached to our house that we use as a greenroom in teh winter. The foundation is about 4 ft deep block construction. The concrete pad is poured over rubble fill and is about 1′ above grade. I’d like advice on the least expensive way to insulate this pad without having to tear it out and start over.
TIA
Rdtsang
Replies
Greetings rd, Welcome to Breaktime.
With a 4ft foundation wall I take it your location is in the cold north.
How well insulated are you planning to make the pad?
Not so cold actually. S.E. Pa - Zone 7b. We aren't planning on using it as a living room, more like an atrium or greenroom, we do orchids and ferns. Minimum temp somewhere around 55-60 F, however I'd like to severely reduce the heating costs.
TIA
Bob
If you scroll down in the lower left corner of your screen there is a search function that will take you to previous threads dealing with whatever you type in the search bar.
I typed in 'insulate slab' and got a good supply of data on the subject.
<severely reduce the heating costs.> Key word severely might dictate severe action on your part.
If room height permits, possibly sleepers and foamboard insulation with a new floor.
If willing to go as far as to demo and pour a new slab then perhaps a radiant tube heating system might be in order.
The exposed above ground stem wall needs insulation on the outside and perhaps foamboard run horizontally out from the foundation wall and buried underground to provide a buffer to the frost depth which transmits cold to the interior.
With the use as a greenroom for plants I would imagine a goodly amount of glass in the room.
Seeing the great panes (OK pun intended) you are willing to take to curtail the heat expenses a good look at the windows would be in order.
Don't know if insulated windows might affect plant growth but single pane windows are big losers to heat.
This would warrant a web search for various passive solar heat techniques as the closing off of windows at night to retain the daylight heat and subject matter such as heat sink mass to hold the warmth.
Generally it is a matter of many of the little things done that contribute to the whole function that will perform.