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<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">I
have a deep energy retrofit project on an old framed house where there was no
excavation for the crawls space.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>The result is that the front, downhill side of the house has adequate
room for installing insulation.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>However, much of the house has less (18”-24”).<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The floor condition is good enough that
we are not considering removing the floor.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>The room height is insufficient to consider adding insulation to the top
of the floor.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>How do I insulate the
floor.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><?xml:namespace prefix = o
ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">For
the rest of the house, we are planning on installing new ceiling rafters
parallel to the roof pitch to define 14” space to fill with open cell foam.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We are installing furring strips
installed with 2” gap in front of old wood siding.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We are adding continuous 2.5” closed
cell foam to fill the gap.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The old
plaster is gutted.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We can fill with
adhered cellulose or open cell foam in the 2x4 framed walls.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>On another similar job, I came to the
inside of the foundation to continue closed cell foam thermal barrier and came
across the ground with closed cell foam.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>All of that was covered with the high cost spray ignition barrier.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In hind site, with that job, I would
have preferred to use rigid board insulation such as XPS.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I would create a ground plane with
combination of digging high spots and filling low spots with crush and run
(small gravel), lay one layer of extruded board to provide puncture protection,
a layer of poly for continuous vapor barrier and another foam layer.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I put osb on top for cheap ignition
barrier that protects the foam from traffic damage.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The whole house is provided with HRV for
fresh air.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">However,
this house does not have adequate space to work in.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Do
I need to hand excavate to a minimum clearance for the work? If we did that, I
could install either of the approaches describe above.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I was wondering if I could fill the whole
space with open cell foam.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I
realize that 1/2 # open cell foam is not a vapor barrier, therefore likely not a
good idea.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">I
am encouraging my client to use a mini split heat pump to avoid the need for
ductwork in the crawl space.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Therefore, I can define the thermal barrier at the floor plane instead of
the ground.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Because we would still
have moisture issues below, I am leaning towards ground insulation.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>However, a closed cell foam application
to the bottom of the framing could provide the vapor barrier to protect the
wood.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Below that the stone and
concrete surfaces are not vulnerable to humidity. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Right
now, I consider the hand excavation to be the most likely scenario. Because the
mini split will cool the house, I am against the traditional ventilated crawl
spaces with fiberglass batts in floor framing because the cool shadow will pull
in hot humid air and cool it to dew point creating humidity problems.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">This
is a common situation with old house.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>I hope our list can offer some good ideas for cost affective ways of
upgrading to a high standard.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Eli
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 16pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><A
href="http://www.conservationarchitect.net/">www.conservationarchitect.net</A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>