My house (ranch) is built entirely over a basement except for an 8x8 part of
the kitchen which serves as the dining area. That section is built over what
I'll call a crawl space, although only a cat could crawl into it. Its only
openings are to the basement through two "slots" in the cinder block, each
about the height of a shoe box and twice as long. The house is one of 20
similar ones in the neighborhood, built in the 1950s, and I suspect the
builder offered a few options for saving money.

Anyway, the floor's pretty chilly. I could toss a rug in there, and since
it's not actually in the cooking area, I'd be OK with that. But, I'm open to
other thoughts. The flooring in the entire kitchen needs replacement, and
I've seen a few people here mention heated floors. Is that insanely
expensive? Does it require tile or stone, as opposed to the usual "soft"
flooring materials?

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
My house (ranch) is built entirely over a basement except for an 8x8 part
of
the kitchen which serves as the dining area. That section is built over
what
I'll call a crawl space, although only a cat could crawl into it. Its only
openings are to the basement through two "slots" in the cinder block, each
about the height of a shoe box and twice as long. The house is one of 20
similar ones in the neighborhood, built in the 1950s, and I suspect the
builder offered a few options for saving money.

Anyway, the floor's pretty chilly. I could toss a rug in there, and since
it's not actually in the cooking area, I'd be OK with that. But, I'm open
to
other thoughts. The flooring in the entire kitchen needs replacement, and
I've seen a few people here mention heated floors. Is that insanely
expensive? Does it require tile or stone, as opposed to the usual "soft"
flooring materials?

dig it out far enough so you can insulate? rip up the entire floor,
insulate, and replace the floor with new?

heated floors are expensive to run. water or electric. you can put them
under wood, tile, stone, linoleum, etc.

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
My house (ranch) is built entirely over a basement except for an 8x8 part
of
the kitchen which serves as the dining area. That section is built over
what
I'll call a crawl space, although only a cat could crawl into it. Its only
openings are to the basement through two "slots" in the cinder block, each
about the height of a shoe box and twice as long. The house is one of 20
similar ones in the neighborhood, built in the 1950s, and I suspect the
builder offered a few options for saving money.

Anyway, the floor's pretty chilly. I could toss a rug in there, and since
it's not actually in the cooking area, I'd be OK with that. But, I'm open
to
other thoughts. The flooring in the entire kitchen needs replacement, and
I've seen a few people here mention heated floors. Is that insanely
expensive? Does it require tile or stone, as opposed to the usual "soft"
flooring materials?



Radiant floor heat is the most comfortable there is. It's slightly
expensive to install, but the hydronic (as opposed to electric) is fairly
cheap to operate. It can be run off your water heater through a heat
exchanger to keep the potable water and the heating water separate.

You can heat almost surface ( I really can't think of a surface you can't
heat!), tile/ceramic, hardwood, or carpet.

"Charles Spitzer" wrote in message
...

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
My house (ranch) is built entirely over a basement except for an 8x8
part
of
the kitchen which serves as the dining area. That section is built over
what
I'll call a crawl space, although only a cat could crawl into it. Its
only
openings are to the basement through two "slots" in the cinder block,
each
about the height of a shoe box and twice as long. The house is one of 20
similar ones in the neighborhood, built in the 1950s, and I suspect the
builder offered a few options for saving money.

Anyway, the floor's pretty chilly. I could toss a rug in there, and
since
it's not actually in the cooking area, I'd be OK with that. But, I'm
open
to
other thoughts. The flooring in the entire kitchen needs replacement,
and
I've seen a few people here mention heated floors. Is that insanely
expensive? Does it require tile or stone, as opposed to the usual "soft"
flooring materials?

dig it out far enough so you can insulate? rip up the entire floor,
insulate, and replace the floor with new?

Now there's a good idea. The existing floor doesn't have the right stuff
under the "congoleum", at least not by modern standards. I could change the
subfloor in this spot with a couple of 4x8 sheets, and then put "the right
stuff" (whatever that is) on top of it.

"HeatMan" wrote in message
...

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
...
My house (ranch) is built entirely over a basement except for an 8x8
part
of
the kitchen which serves as the dining area. That section is built over
what
I'll call a crawl space, although only a cat could crawl into it. Its
only
openings are to the basement through two "slots" in the cinder block,
each
about the height of a shoe box and twice as long. The house is one of 20
similar ones in the neighborhood, built in the 1950s, and I suspect the
builder offered a few options for saving money.

Anyway, the floor's pretty chilly. I could toss a rug in there, and
since
it's not actually in the cooking area, I'd be OK with that. But, I'm
open
to
other thoughts. The flooring in the entire kitchen needs replacement,
and
I've seen a few people here mention heated floors. Is that insanely
expensive? Does it require tile or stone, as opposed to the usual "soft"
flooring materials?



Radiant floor heat is the most comfortable there is. It's slightly
expensive to install, but the hydronic (as opposed to electric) is fairly
cheap to operate. It can be run off your water heater through a heat
exchanger to keep the potable water and the heating water separate.

You can heat almost surface ( I really can't think of a surface you can't
heat!), tile/ceramic, hardwood, or carpet.



I'm leaning toward tile because the kitchen is also the first entryway into
this house. It takes a beating.

In alt.home.repair on Fri, 10 Dec 2004 21:55:16 GMT, you or "Doug
Kanter" wrote:

My house (ranch) is built entirely over a basement except for an 8x8 part of
the kitchen which serves as the dining area. That section is built over what
I'll call a crawl space, although only a cat could crawl into it. Its only
openings are to the basement through two "slots" in the cinder block, each
about the height of a shoe box and twice as long. The house is one of 20
similar ones in the neighborhood, built in the 1950s, and I suspect the
builder offered a few options for saving money.

Anyway, the floor's pretty chilly. I could toss a rug in there, and since
it's not actually in the cooking area, I'd be OK with that. But, I'm open to
other thoughts.

I have NO experience in this, but I'd look into insulating foam that
is installed with a wand (usually in walls). If you can get a 9 foot
wand, it will reach the farthest corner of the space, but maybe
shorter wands would push the stuff into the corner as the space became
filled.

I'm sort of assuming the whole crawl space is only the height of a
shoe box, not just the entry holes.

This would be quick and easy, if it works.

If there are parts that can't be reached, maybe small holes could be
drilled in the floor in the corners.

My grandmother's house, built in the 30's maybe, had a crawl space
under the living room. When I went back to visit 10 or 20 years after
she moved out, the new owner had found shooting targets at the end of
it, and shells on the dirt where the shooter would stand. My
grandmother moved in there in the 1950's or more likely the 40's, so
someone had used it for target practice before that.


The flooring in the entire kitchen needs replacement, and
I've seen a few people here mention heated floors. Is that insanely
expensive? Does it require tile or stone, as opposed to the usual "soft"
flooring materials?



Meirman

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