JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
"BobK207" wrote in message
...
On Feb 28, 6:34 am, "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:
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.
Joe-

Cut out a couple more cinder blocks to get proper (temporary) access
to the space.

I assume that once through the block there's enough room to work?


There's only about 18-24" from the beams down to the dirt. That would mean
hugging the fiberglass the whole time. No thanks. I'd rather do it from
above.



I'm with you- I hate crawlspaces, especially shallow ones. Almost
didn't buy this place because of the (thankfully deep) crawl under the
addition, but talked myself into it because of the low price and basic
good condition of everything else. I really need to wall-insulate my
crawl down to the footer, but the access hole is borderline for my
oversize body. And natch, although the addition is badly designed, the
poured-wall foundation is done quite well. Replacing that
installed-backwards basement window that is the only access from outside
would cost me several hundred for concrete cutting, just like the hole I
had to pay for from original basement to extend HVAC out here and get
rid of wall furnace.

aem sends...