I live in a very old house(100+) part of the house has a full basement (field stone walls & cement floor.The other part has a dirt crawl space about 2 feet. I would like to know the best way to insulate these spaces. would it be a good idea to put vapour barrier on the dirt floor? I recently had a new heating system installed and the part of the house over the crawl space is now heated by hot water baseboard radiators.the plastic water pipes are hanging in the crawl space uninsulated.would it be worth my time to cover these pipes with the styrofoam tubes they sell at the hardware store?
Answer:
Crawl space is a major source of mildew but that can be corrected. First, all insulation has to be removed from the crawl space ceiling - house floor. The whole dirt floor, with all its irregularities, has then to be covered with an impermeable material (6mm polyethylene, an old swimming pool liner, etc.). This has to be firmly and permanently sealed to the existing, well applied perimeter wall vapour barrier – which should be covering insulation rated at least R-20. It also has to be taped to all perforating structural components (plumbing, support posts, etc.). That looks after the crawl space for most of the year. The vents on the walls have then to be adjusted so they can be opened and closed from the outside. This will negate the need for anyone to crawl around down there for seasonal adjustment of ventilation. I would not insulate the hoses unless you have some other form of heat in the crawl space because parasitic heat is enough there and some heat is all but necessary.
