trader_4 wrote in
:

On Monday, December 28, 2015 at 5:40:01 PM UTC-5, Boris wrote:
I live in an elevated rancher built in 1978. I just removed
carpeting and linoleum from my breakfast room, kitchen, dining room,
and living room, all of which are open to each other. I had 3/4" red
oak planking installed over the existing plywood subfloor.

Winter season has come, and it has been unseasonalbly cold, and I
really notice it in the rooms mentioned above. I don't know if it's
because the wood transfers hot/cold more than what was on the floors,
or because of the really cold weather. I'm in the S.F. Bay area,
where winters are normally mild (40 - 50), and my furnace usually
heats the house fine, but now it takes an hour or so to heat the
house (20 year old gas heater, forced air, below in the garage).
When I wake in the morning, the house is 56 - 60, and overnight temps
were mid-30's to low 40's.

I'm considering insulating the crawlspace under the house, under the
new wood flooring. I have good access to all areas under the new
wood flooring, and to all exterior walls.

Access to exterior walls, usually that isn't the problem. The problem
is the insulation would need to go in the walls and that doesn't have
good access. Considering it was built in 78, the wall cavity should
already have insulation, no?

Yes, the exterior of all living space is insulated. I'm talking about
exterior walls of the crawlspace. It is defined as a crawlspace, but
it's really tall. As a matter of fact, there's a standard size door that
connects it to the garage, both of which are below the first floor. From
the garage, I walk into the 'crawlspace'. It's a hoarder's paradise
under there. (Me no hoarder.) Anyway, the foundation sill has the
standard 2 x 4 on top of it, and on top of that are the 2 x 4 exterior
wall studs, unfinished (no sheetrock). The exterior is stucco. In some
places, these walls are 4' tall, and in others they are 8' tall. The
house is built on a slope. From the sidewalk view, the left side is
higher, and the land slopes down to the right. The right hand walls are
the taller ones.



I can walk under the entire area.
The floor joists are 2 x 10 (1 3/4 x 9), and the wall studs are 2 x 4
(1 3/4 x 3 1/2). I've been reading a lot about insulating
crawlspaces, and some say just need to insulate between all the
joists, and others say best to insultate just betwee the studs. Of
course, doing just the studs would be much easier, since it's doesn't
have to be 'hung', and less expensive, since the insulation wouldn't
have to be as thick.

Any suggestions?

Assuming the studs you're talking about are the exterior wall studs,
No, these are the unfinished (no sheetrock) exterior walls in the
crawlspace
how are you going to get easy access to put that insulation in?
Usually putting insulation between the joists in a crawlspace is
trivial compared to getting insulation into wall cavities. No
insulation in those exterior walls already?