Crawl space insulation, as a neighborhood of overall home air sealing and insulation, helps maintain your entire home’s energy efficiency. Without insulation, heat and funky air are easily lost through the ground. Insulation also helps to preserve air quality and reduce energy costs. There are two sorts of crawl spaces – ventilated and unventilated – and every requires its own sort of insulation. The goal, however, is the same: to surround the space during a thermal envelope.
Crawlspaces should be designed and constructed as mini-basements. Crawlspaces shouldn’t be vented to the outside. They ought to have their floors uninsulated, the bottom vapor sealed, their walls insulated and air sealed, and their air conditioned with indoor air.
Traditional vented crawl spaces are often damp, mouldy, and inhabited with pests. They need almost universally been found to be connected to indoor air through many small unintentional air leaks within the floors, partitions, and ducts. Therefore, to make sure both durability and indoor air quality (and save energy), a crawlspace must be kept dry, conditioned to regulate temperature and humidity, and sealed tight to be pest free. This is often particularly important for crawl spaces that contain mechanical equipment—a situation that’s practically guaranteed in buildings that have a crawlspace. Mechanical systems shouldn’t be installed outside of a range in unconditioned space unless there’s no practical alternative. Crawl Space walls should be insulated with non-water sensitive insulation that forestalls interior air from contacting cold basement surfaces—the concrete structural elements and therefore the rim joist framing.
Insulating crawl spaces
The best way to insulate a crawl space would be to try to do it from the bottom up and consider it just a part of the conditioned space as you’d with any basement. We at Eco Spray Insulation recommend spray foam because of the following reasons:
Spray foam is completed quickly, it’s a high R-value, provides an air and moisture seal, and fills all the small holes. This is often not a DIY job so you should call us and our team will finish the job quickly and professionally. Since it’ll act as a vapour barrier, there’s no got to lay down poly before time; it can go right against the dirt.
When it involves insulating the walls, there are a few of the way to travel about this – code requires any crawl space quite 5 feet high to possess fire protection covering any foam products, during which case you’ll frame a 2×4 or 2×6 wall 1 inch faraway from the concrete wall; sitting it on small chunks of froth will keep it from being in touch with the bottom and absorbing moisture. Spray foam is then applied to the walls behind the studs and into the cavities, you’ll leave enough room to try to do any wiring if required.
The foam must then be covered with the drywall as fire protection, which may be attached to the stud wall. No vapour barrier is required additionally to spray foam. Building codes change and may vary by region, so confirm this locally, but currently, The National code in Canada for instance allows foam insulation without fire protection on crawl space walls that are but 5 feet tall.
Crawl Space Issues and Solutions
A crawl space is an area of limited height underneath the floor of your house. It typically allows just enough room for someone to crawl underneath, hence the origin of its namesake.
Excess water often invades crawl spaces, which can lead to mold and other issues. If moisture is a problem, it is important to identify the source of water. If the moisture is the result of poor circulation, consider installing a plastic vapor barrier on the floor. This will help keep the space dry. If water is coming through the foundation, you’ll need to repair the foundation, something that requires professional help. Once any cracks are fixed, consider installing a French drain around the perimeter of the house to direct water away from the foundation.
It is important to consistently maintain a crawl space. If the process of checking under your home every few months becomes arduous, then you may want to consult a professional who will provide routine maintenance.
Crawl Space Vapor Barriers and Encapsulation
Installing a vapor barrier in your crawl space can cut moisture problems in half, leaving your home better shielded from mold and water damage.
Not only are crawl spaces typically located underneath a home where water runoff is more common, but they’re also often designed with dirt floors, making them a tract for moisture and mould. Installing a correct vapor barrier or crawl space encapsulation can help in preventing basement moisture.
What happens when crawl spaces are neglected?
Crawl spaces are dark, dank, musty, and sometimes moist. Because they’re underground, crawl spaces are a natural breeding zone for the subsequent unpleasantries when neglected.
- Moisture
Moisture within the crawl space can come from a myriad of sources: running water, standing water, or moisture evaporating from the ground. In high-humidity areas and people susceptible to flooding, moisture is even more of a threat. and therefore the more moisture that builds up within the space, the greater the likelihood of the inevitable beast: mold.
Moisture and mold within the crawl space have the potential to rot structural elements, seep into the house and torment your indoor air quality. Even when the crawl space is closed faraway from the house, conditioned air flows steadily between the 2 under the proper conditions. And while venting your crawl space can aid in deterring the smell, the proper variance in humidity between indoors and out forces moisture to evaporate up through the ceiling and into your home.
- Dust and dirt
Dust and dirt are not any stranger to crawl spaces. And, when left to their own devices, can wreak havoc in significant ways.
Any exposed dirt within the crawl space may be a prime vehicle for holding moisture. Installing a vapor barrier to shield exposed dirt from moisture is the initiative to eradicate negative consequences. Additionally , if any of your HVAC piping or ducts reside within the crawl space, they seem to be a guaranteed transporter of dust and dirt particles into your home unless the availability and return ducts are properly sealed.
- Rodents and insects
Everyone’s favorite topic: the creepy-crawlers and four-legged buggers roaming around within the crawl space. But they’re doing quite just roaming down there. First, any existing vapor barriers, insulation or ducts are threatened by termites, rats and other critters looking to chew. Second, these critters use the crawl space as their home, which suggests their residue is within the air, headed into the house through any poorly-sealed ductwork. Air quality: beware.
Out of sight, out of mind — right? Hardly. The damage done by neglecting a crawl space is probably affecting you quite the attention can see. But, there’s still hope for the crawl space
Benefits of insulating your crawl space
Don’t write the space off as a campaign just yet. there is a solution to your crawl space woes: crawl space insulation. Properly installed insulation will provide the subsequent benefits.
- Improved comfort
If the rooms above your crawl space often feel warmer or colder than the remainder of the house, the crawl space is the likely offender. Insulating the crawl space will cause fewer drafts and cold spots within the rooms above, as the temperature is regulated.
- Improved air quality
We mentioned the potential that exists when dust, dirt, moisture and rodents are left to their own devices. Pollutants in your air often cause health issues like asthma or allergies. Fret not; the air you inhale is going to be cleaner with a well-insulated crawl space. Insulation will protect the walls and ductwork to stay the bad air out.
- Save energy
Each time a duct leaks or condensation builds within the crawl space, your HVAC equipment is forced to overcompensate, working hard to manage the air in your home. This equates to a big loss of energy and an overall inefficient system. Proper insulation helps regulate the crawl space’s atmosphere, and is known as by Energy Star because the second largest opportunity to save lots of energy in your home, second only to insulating attics.
- Save money
By ensuring the efficiency of your heating and cooling systems and thereby decreasing energy usage, you will be delighted at the savings on your monthly bills. Additionally, proper vapor barriers, venting, and insulation will create a proactive defense against the openings that rodents and insects use to enter the house, decreasing the likelihood of frequent calls to pest control pros.
