Crawl spaces are typically found in the attic or in the basement and, as their name suggests, they’re a pretty tight fit; repairmen use them to get to your plumbing or electrical wiring. Crawl spaces are guilty of losing both heat and cold, however, and making heating and cooling bills much larger than they need to be, and causing your home’s systems work harder than they should. Moisture can also become trapped in your crawl spaces, which can result in toxic mold. If they’re in the basement, the crawl space can cause your floor to become noisy because there’s nothing to absorb all that sound. The importance of crawl space insulation should be clear to you once you consider all this.
There are differing methods of installing your insulation; which one you choose depends on your crawl space’s ventilation. Almost all building codes specify that crawl spaces need to be ventilated in order to avoid ongoing moisture and mold problems. However, building professionals have since come to realize that it is best to either build unventilated crawl spaces or to shut the vents after allowing the crawl space to dry out when construction is finished. During the winter, a ventilated crawl space is hard to heat, and in the summer, moist air can become trapped inside of the crawl space and make your moisture issues worse, instead of dehumidifying the space. An unventilated crawl space is easier to install crawl space insulation in.
You will need to decide if you want to call a professional to install the insulation or install it yourself. If you decide to install it on your own, take proper safety precautions. Make sure you wear a long-sleeved shirt, safety gloves, and protective goggles. 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 insulation’s effectiveness, so the higher, the better.
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. If you have an exterior crawl space entry, you may even want to consider sealing it up and creating an entry in your home. Also think about ways to control the moisture in the space. Apply a layer of vapor barrier on the floor to prevent soil moisture from rising into the crawl space.
In an unventilated crawl space, it is only necessary to put insulation in foundation walls. For a ventilated crawl space, you might need to install insulation in the empty spaces beneath the floor also. And if your pipes are located in the crawl space, you will need to wrap them in a layer of crawl space insulation as well, to prevent them from freezing or leaking heat.
The installation of crawl space insulation can be a crucial improvement to your home. Properly installed crawl space insulation can make life more comfortable for you and yours and it will save you money on heating and cooling.