Insulate Your Crawl Space To Save On Summer Cooling Bills

(HIT) - After a long winter, many homeowners look forward to tidying up their yards by removing branch and leaf debris, planting flowers, cleaning outdoor furniture and getting their air conditioning units ready for the warmer months ahead. One area that shouldn't be overlooked, according to the CertainTeed Home Institute, is the crawlspace.

Insulating the crawlspace is a relatively easy project that can help you save on energy bills and add to the comfort of your home in the months ahead.

Most crawlspaces should be insulated with a minimum of 6-1/4" thick R-19 fiber glass insulation. If your crawlspace is not insulated, you should consider doing it yourself or hiring a professional insulation contractor to do the job.

There are two ways to insulate a crawlspace and both are equally acceptable methods. The method you choose, however, depends largely on whether your crawlspace has water pipes and/or ducts in it. In both cases, start the project by covering the ground with four or six mil polyethylene sheeting. Then use bricks or rocks to hold the material in place.

Next, if your crawlspace does not contain pipes and ducts, insulate the crawlspace floors. To insulate the floors, press insulation between the floor joists starting at one end and working out. Insulation with a vapor barrier should be used with the vapor barrier facing up and in contact with the subfloor.

Insulation may be held in place by stapling chicken wire to the bottom of the joists, by lacing wire back and forth among nails in the bottom of the joists or using special insulation support.

In any event, be sure the ends of the fiber glass batts fit snugly up against the band joists, and the batt itself fits up against the bottom of the floor. This will prevent loss of heat from convection currents.