Here's another thought. (oh and btw, i don't see where a cold floor makes a
room useless). Put a heating duct into the crawl space and there, you have
radiant heat on the floor. Done.

s


"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
The dining area of my kitchen is built over a crawl space that's enclosed
by cinder blocks like the rest of the house. In the basement, there are
two openings to this crawl space, but they're only 6" high x 18" wide. I
assume they were put there for ventilation purposes, since they're useless
for anything else. The area in question juts out from the main kitchen,
and is 12x12 feet.

In winter, the floor is ice cold, so that dining area is useless. I
believe the traditional first step for dealing with this is to lay a
plastic vapor barrier on the soil underneath, followed by fiberglass
insulation. The vinyl flooring needs replacement, so I could also rip up
the wood underneath in that area and have total access to do the work.
Replace the sub-floor afterward, install new vinyl or tile, and it's done.

BUT: Someone suggested an interesting alternative: When the vinyl
flooring is removed, drill access holes in the sub-floor and pump the
space full of foam. It's already a form of plastic, so it should form its
own vapor barrier. And, it'll insulate. Progress could be checked via the
access slots in the basement. Makes sense, but there's always a "gotcha".

Your thoughts, please.