Details of Crawl Space Insulation

A crawl space is a narrow space in your house, usually located either in the basement or the attic, which allows repairmen access to your wiring or plumbing. But a crawl space can also hike a homeowner's energy bills since heat and cold can be lost through the floor or ceiling, forcing the cooling or heating system to work harder.

A crawl space is a narrow space in your house, usually located either in the basement or the attic, which allows repairmen access to your wiring or plumbing. But a crawl space can also hike a homeowner's energy bills since heat and cold can be lost through the floor or ceiling, forcing the cooling or heating system to work harder. Moisture can also build up in a crawl space, creating a hazardous mold problem. And, since there is nothing beneath the floor to absorb the sound, your floors can become noisy. These are all good reasons to put some crawl space insulation into your home.

How you install crawl space insulation depends on whether your crawl space is ventilated or unventilated. Today, building codes usually require vents to be placed in crawl spaces to prevent moisture problems from developing. More recently, professional builders have come to the conclusion that unventilated crawl spaces, or crawl spaces with closed vents, are best when they're not actively being worked on. When a crawl space is ventilated, it is hard to heat in the winter, and the warm moist air of summer can actually cause moisture to accumulate rather than dry. It is much easier to install insulation in unventilated crawl spaces.

From here you need to determine whether or not you can handle this crawl space insulation project alone, or if you should call in professional help. If you have to do the crawl space insulation by yourself, make sure to take precautions. Wear safety gloves, protective eye gear and a shirt with long sleeves. You need to make sure that you have enough Batt insulation to cover your space, using an R-value of 10 if your space is ventilated and an R-value of 20 if it is not. The R-value determines the effectiveness of the insulation, with a higher number being most efficient.

Prior to putting the insulation in the crawl space, be certain that the space does not have any drafty gaps and that any access point from the outside is securely sealed. A smart move would be to seal any way in that leads outside and instead make an access point that leads to the house. Take this time to prevent any moisture problems as well. You can place a vapor barrier on the floor of your crawl space to keep soil moisture at bay.

Unventilated crawl spaces get a bit of a break: the foundation walls are all you need to install the insulation in. If your crawl space is ventilated, then you will probably need to get some insulation in spaces under the floor. If you have pipes inside of your crawl spaces, they'll need to be covered in a layer of insulation so that they do not put out heat or freeze.

It may not seem so, but if you haven't done it yet, applying crawl space insulation is very necessary. Properly installed crawl space insulation can make life more comfortable for you and yours and it will save you money on heating and cooling.

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