Imagine this: You have a big wall in your kitchen. Pick a 10 ft section of
it and push it out 10 feet, as if you were doing it with CAD software.
That's my dining area, jutting off from one side of the kitchen. It connects
with the side of the garage like a breezeway, but it was never actually a
breezeway (at least per the town's permit department, which shows no records
of modifications to this house, built in 1956). In the garage, there's a
masonry wall where the kitchen meets it on the other side.

Under only this 10x10 area, there's a crawlspace. It's closed to the outside
(sits on cinder blocks like the rest of the house, which has a basement). In
the basement, there are two rectangular access holes to the crawlspace. The
holes are 9" high by 18" wide. Two feet below the floor, there's just dirt
in the crawlspace. No insulation. There's fiberglass insulation in the attic
above the space, but I assume there's nothing in the walls because the area
is like a refrigerator. 12 degrees colder than the rest of the house.
Ridiculous.

The whole kitchen's vinyl floor needs replacement, so after it's torn out,
it would be a good time to rip out the wood subfloor in the jutting-out
portion. I'd be able to stand right in it and do whatever it needs. I
*believe* I need to put plastic over the dirt, and then fill the area with
fiberglass bats. This raises questions.

- Two contractors have suggested simply blowing cellulose into the
crawlspace. No need to rip out the floor. This sounds fishy to me, however
it *is* based on something scientific: It's winter, and they need the work.
Ha.


- If I have to tackle just one job at a time, where will I get the most bang
for the buck (and the time involved)? Deal with the crawlspace, or tear down
the walls and put in fiberglass? They're plaster, and replacing with
sheetrock would be pretty straightforward. I have another area I can use for
dining temporarily, and I can easily seal the area to contain the mess.

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
- Two contractors have suggested simply blowing cellulose into the
crawlspace. No need to rip out the floor. This sounds fishy to me, however
it *is* based on something scientific: It's winter, and they need the
work. Ha.


Blowing cellulose over a dirt floor just sounds crazy to me. I agree with
you about the plastic as a moisture barrier. Filling with spray urethane
foam may be OK as that would act as the moisture barrier also.

On Feb 7, 10:57 am, "Edwin Pawlowski" wrote:
"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
snip

Filling with spray urethane foam may be OK as that would act as the moisture barrier also.

Might be hard to find a contractor for such a small job, in which case
foil faced foam between the studs should be good alternative. Pick the
R value you want and keep the foil to the warm side. Upping the R
value in the walls would yield a space that could easily be heated by
just the two candles you and your bride use for romantic dinners G

Joe

On Feb 7, 2:12 pm, "Joe" wrote:
On Feb 7, 10:57 am, "Edwin Pawlowski" wrote: "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message

snip

Filling with spray urethane foam may be OK as that would act as the moisture barrier also.

Might be hard to find a contractor for such a small job, in which case
foil faced foam between the studs should be good alternative. Pick the
R value you want and keep the foil to the warm side. Upping the R
value in the walls would yield a space that could easily be heated by
just the two candles you and your bride use for romantic dinners G

Joe

Why would you want to tear down the walls to put fiberglass in?
Sounds like this would be a place to use the blown in insulation or
expanding foam.

wrote in message
oups.com...
On Feb 7, 2:12 pm, "Joe" wrote:
On Feb 7, 10:57 am, "Edwin Pawlowski" wrote:
"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message

snip

Filling with spray urethane foam may be OK as that would act as the
moisture barrier also.

Might be hard to find a contractor for such a small job, in which case
foil faced foam between the studs should be good alternative. Pick the
R value you want and keep the foil to the warm side. Upping the R
value in the walls would yield a space that could easily be heated by
just the two candles you and your bride use for romantic dinners G

Joe

Why would you want to tear down the walls to put fiberglass in?
Sounds like this would be a place to use the blown in insulation or
expanding foam.


In my previous house (built 1942), the plaster on one exterior wall was 90%
bad, so I took down the wall. I found short crossmembers between some
vertical beams. How do you deal with those when blowing in insulation? If
I'm going to do this, it's going to be perfect, or it's not gonna be done.

How much is sheetrock for 3 walls, 10' long by 8.5' high? I own the tools
already. Seems cheap, in return for seeing exactly what the final result
will be.

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:

SNIP

In my previous house (built 1942), the plaster on one exterior wall was 90%
bad, so I took down the wall. I found short crossmembers between some
vertical beams. How do you deal with those when blowing in insulation? If
I'm going to do this, it's going to be perfect, or it's not gonna be done.

How much is sheetrock for 3 walls, 10' long by 8.5' high? I own the tools
already. Seems cheap, in return for seeing exactly what the final result
will be.


You could locate any firestops/bracing with stud finder or
by dropping a weight down the upper hole you will drill anyway.

If you're up to 'rocking the walls, go for it. It will give you
an opportunity to apply a vapor barrier film behind the wall surface.
And an opportunity to run every wire you've ever wanted :-)
or at least put pull-wires in each stud space for future use.

Jim