On 6 Oct, 13:34, Jules Richardson
wrote:
On Wed, 06 Oct 2010 01:54:46 -0700, geraldthehamster wrote:
PROGRESS! There's a solution here, it just needs a bit of fine tuning.

To lay the access thing to bed - I haven't measured the depth of my void
(so to speak), but it's no more than 18 inches.

If that's 18 inches below the joists, you have no problem. If it's 18
inches including joist depth then it's tight, but probably still do-able.
People often under-estimate how small a space they can squeeze into - but
I note your point about not liking small spaces :-) *

We did a partial house rewire the other week and that was around 9" of
void below the joists - but the horizontal space was larger (around 4'
between supporting structure). The major pain with that one was the
discarded lumps of jagged concrete from some previous structure which
were littered around on the ground. Oh, and getting in's a lot easier
than getting back out :-)

re. spaceblankets, maybe you need a couple of metal straps holding the
blanket tight against the joists? Couple of nails/screws on the side
faces of the end joists would do it I'd think - if it's a big room then
it might still sag an inch or two in the middle, but I wouldn't expect
that to be a problem as the insulation layer would still be tight against
the joists at the ends, so heat would still be retained above the blanket
layer.

In my own case, I would also need to feed each run of space blanket
through the four-inch gaps where the joists sit on the dwarf walls. This
might be doable with stick and bits of wire, but again, needs a bit of
finesse.

Is the ground below reasonably flat? If so, small RC car to pull a rope
or two through, then tie the rope to the blanket to pull that through?

cheers

Jules

Thanks Jules. I was thinking along the lines of a couple of straps
running longitudinally each side of the batt of encapsulated space
blanket, which could be pulled tight and fixed at each end. If the
space blanket were quite thick, and slightly wider than the gap
between joists, that might pull it in nicely. I'd maybe aim to remove
a board every 3 feet or so, and do it in 3 foot chunks.

I'll measure the depth of the void tonight, just for interest. You
won't catch me trying to get in and out of it; besides which I'd need
to take up more adjacent boards to get in, than I would separate
boards to try the thing with the batts. And you're right about the
getting out; I'm not as limber as once I was, though I have lost a
fair amount of weight lately.

Cheers
Richard

Otherwise, I like idea of the the radio-controlled car ;-)