go to www.getpink.com or call 1-800-get-pink. I'm a residential contractor
and Get-Pink is the best free resource that I ever deal with.
-B

"ebvolk" wrote in message
...
I read the insulation discussion from tonite with great interest. Quite
frankly, I am tired of writing $250+/month checks to our gas company
during
winter to heat our 2200 sq. ft. ranch house. We live in Indianapolis in
a
brick ranch style home built in the 1940's or 50's. It is built on a
crawl
space and has a gas burning hot water boiler system made by Bryant (its
about 14 years old). We love the moist baseboard heat it provides.

The crawlspace is about 4 ft high (3 ft. below ground and 1 foot above.)
and
is concrete. We have plywood decking with hardwood floors throughout the
house.

First, do we need to insulate the crawl space walls? If so, with what?

Second, should we insulate between the joists on the "ceiling" of the
crawl
space? With what? The pink foam boards? Will I need the "vapor barrier"
(what is that, btw?)?

The footprint of the house is about 30 x 75 in a rectangle shape. What's
a
ballpark figure on how much this will cost us to do each (the crawlspace
walls and the crawl space ceiling)?

If we insulate the crawl space ceiling , are we then running the risk of
having some of our pipes which are located in the crawl space freeze and
burst? Speaking of pipes (especially the ones carrying the hot
water/steam
to the floor registers) should those all be insulated down there?

Sorry for so many questions, but I am tired of writing checks continually
to
our Gas Co., as you might guess.

Now, the attic. We have a low-pitched roof...one that makes it almost
impossible for me to be up there anywhere other than on the center line
plank boards on my hands and knees. There is some fiber-fill (?)
insulation
up there (about 6 inches deep or so, given that most of the joists show
with
an inch or two to spare. I would estimate that, since we've been in the
house 8 years now and haven't added any insulation that we need to address
this now. Also, there are some spots where I'm not sure there is ANY
fiberfill at all, but can't tell for sure as it is out on the perimeter of
the attic. Obviously, we have electrical fixtures popping up every so
often
above the fiberfill.

Additionally, the house was retro-fitted about 15-20 years ago with an AC
system that is in the attic and deliver the cool air thru flexible tubes
covered in foil that are in the attic and let the cool air fall down.

What should I do? Add more fiberfill? How much? How do I get it spread
out to the edges if I can't get more than a couple of feet out from that
center line? How much will all this cost? How soon (roughly) to cover
our
expenditures in saving?

Also, what about the under side of the roof? Pink panels?

What about the foil venting tubes?

Thanks, and sorry for the letter length.

Eric Volk