Crawl spaces are not thought of very often, but can be negatively affecting the air quality in your home. Many crawlspace entrances we see have doors with large gaps letting bugs, rodents, and cold air in.
As you heat your home during the winter months a (chimney) stack effect is occurring. The warm air rising pulls in cold, dirty air from your crawl space into the living area resulting in higher heating bills and less than desired air quality.
As you heat your home during the winter months a (chimney) stack effect is occurring. The warm air rising pulls in cold, dirty air from your crawl space into the living area resulting in higher heating bills and less than desired air quality.
Crawl Space Vapor Barrier
We offer two types of crawlspace plastic, clear 6 mil for when we are working with a tight budget and a 12 mil product designed for crawl space floors. Pictured to the left is the 12 mil Dura-Skrim fiber reinforced crawl space plastic with the seams being taped. The plastic is installed 3 to 4 inches up the walls so the closed cell foam makes a good seal, not allowing moisture in. (pictured below) |
Should I insulate the walls or the floor?
Its good to think of your crawl space as a mini basement. Plastic is laid under a basements concrete slab to keep moisture from seeping up into the living space much like the plastic installed over the crawl space floor. Also as in a basement the exterior walls are insulated keeping pipes and heat/air ducts in a conditioned environment. There are times that insulating the underside of the floor is the best option. An example would be if a wet crawl space is impossible to fix and will not stay dry at all times. Spraying closed cell foam to the underside of the floor would separate the house from the water. |
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