Fun in the Crawl Space

Argh!

My feet are cold!

Then maybe your crawl space is lacking a little insulation.

Here is one.  It does have some insulation, but not enough.  The biggest problem though, is some pesky vents in the outside walls.

Back when this house was built (1960), the code called for vents into the crawl space.  So in the summer you open the vents, and in the winter you close them.  But those vents are only 1/16" tin, so a "closed" vent isn't going to keep the cold out... at all.

So, let's seal up everything.

Start with the headers.  You can lose a lot of heat through these.

We put a layer of R14 batt insulation...

Followed by a layer of 2" extruded polystyrene.  Total R-value is 24.  The edges are sealed with spray-foam.

The walls are covered floor to ceiling with the same 2" insulation.  The seams are taped and all edges/joints are sealed up with spray-foam.  We are looking to make the space air-tight.

A nice rolling cart helps, too.  The space is only 4' high, so a seat with wheels and a tray help to get around without wrecking your knees.

Sometimes you have to get creative.  This is the valve for the exterior hose bib.  Can't cover that up.

And there it is.  Clean, dry, and warm.