Crawl Space Insulation -- What Are Your Options?
You know what a crawlspace is, don't you? All those small, barely accessible areas -- found especially in attics and below rooftops -- and they can be a real challenge to insulate properly. One of the challenges of installing crawl space insulation is dealing with various types of electrical fixtures and cables that may be there. For example, you may have a ceiling fan in your attic, or overhanging wires or incandescent bulbs that hang down from the rafters. In general, you do not want to install crawlspace insulation up next to any electrical fixtures that generate a lot of heat. If necessary you can install baffles or barriers around these fixtures in order to ensure that your crawl space insulation does not come any closer than 3 inches to the device. You should also replace any heat-generating incandescent bulbs your attic with fluorescent bulbs, which will provide a great deal of light but which will also greatly reduce the amount of heat generated as well. Another challenge when installing crawl space insulation is the danger from exposed nails, which come through to the underneath side of your roof. It is very easy to scratch oneself on these exposed nail points. A good remedy for this would be to install some sort of expanding foam insulation between the rafters. The expanding foam insulation will, of course, expand and fill this area and cover up the exposed nail points providing not only insulation but protection for your head as well. Another option for crawl space insulation material are various types of rigid insulating panels. You can purchase them in sections which are sized to fit your wall cavities -- called a "batt". These insulating batts can be mounted underneath your roof sheathing, or in the inside wall cavities of your exterior walls. You can also purchase these rigid insulating panels and use them as crawl space insulation by cutting them down to size yourself and mounting them into place. An advantage of this type of crawl space insulation material is that they are easily cut and will not rot, and although they are very light they are very strong, and in addition to providing crawl space insulation they also will help to provide a sound proof barrier as well. Another easy-to-use crawl space insulation material is the blown in insulation type. This is particularly easy and convenient to use, as a flexible pipe can be placed into the attic area and the insulation blown in, where it will settle in between the rafters providing insulation. Blown in insulation is great for crawlspaces, as these areas usually get very little traffic (if the attic area it is not finished) and so the blown in insulation will not be disturbed. Blown in insulation is typically manufactured from recycled materials and is inexpensive -- so it can be purchased in large quantities to cover your entire attic floor. |
