I'm not sure if I placed the thread in the right category, feel free to move it if it's wrong.
I live at my mother's house in a row house chain that has built-on sheds for each house section, the sheds are divided in the middle, one for one house, the other part for the neighbor, etc.
When we moved in a couple of years ago, the sheds were just newly built, completely uninsulated with chipboard for the floor. So I and a good friend who is a carpenter (I myself am an electrician) insulated the walls, the ceiling, and made it into an extra room for the house, where I now have my bedroom.
The only problem we didn't actually think about when we were in the building swing was the floor, this is just a couple of layers of chipboard, and regular click flooring on top of it.
Now to the problem:
Under the shed, there's about 1-1.5 m empty space straight down to the wells, so the floor becomes incredibly cold during winter, the room temperature last winter was around 13-14°C, with the radiator on. So not very livable.
I really don't want to tear up the whole floor to "start over" from scratch.
I've been considering if I could spray insulation like you do in attics since there are two "ventilation holes" in the foundation, below the paneling. See the image below.
http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/4955/img0428tx.jpg
What would you have done? Is there any simple solution to the problem?
I live at my mother's house in a row house chain that has built-on sheds for each house section, the sheds are divided in the middle, one for one house, the other part for the neighbor, etc.
When we moved in a couple of years ago, the sheds were just newly built, completely uninsulated with chipboard for the floor. So I and a good friend who is a carpenter (I myself am an electrician) insulated the walls, the ceiling, and made it into an extra room for the house, where I now have my bedroom.
The only problem we didn't actually think about when we were in the building swing was the floor, this is just a couple of layers of chipboard, and regular click flooring on top of it.
Now to the problem:
Under the shed, there's about 1-1.5 m empty space straight down to the wells, so the floor becomes incredibly cold during winter, the room temperature last winter was around 13-14°C, with the radiator on. So not very livable.
I really don't want to tear up the whole floor to "start over" from scratch.
I've been considering if I could spray insulation like you do in attics since there are two "ventilation holes" in the foundation, below the paneling. See the image below.
http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/4955/img0428tx.jpg
What would you have done? Is there any simple solution to the problem?
Getting underneath will be difficult, as there is no basement at all in the house. The reason they excavated so much was to lay new pipes to the property.
The only way to get underneath is probably to cut a hatch in the floor.
How will moisture and similar issues be if one were to spray insulate the entire foundation?
/thanks for the move!
The only way to get underneath is probably to cut a hatch in the floor.
How will moisture and similar issues be if one were to spray insulate the entire foundation?
/thanks for the move!
Not so easy to fix.
You can't spray loose-fill insulation and fill the entire space. Then you will have problems with poor ventilation and eventually mold. The two air holes are extremely important not to block. You probably need to place the insulation between the floor joists or both between and under the floor joists to get sufficient thickness of insulation.
Is it possible to cut a temporary small hatch in the foundation wall so that you can crawl in?
Have you installed a vapor barrier in the floor? If not, you should probably do it if you're going to have thick insulation in the floor. Then unfortunately you might have to tear up the floor.
You can't spray loose-fill insulation and fill the entire space. Then you will have problems with poor ventilation and eventually mold. The two air holes are extremely important not to block. You probably need to place the insulation between the floor joists or both between and under the floor joists to get sufficient thickness of insulation.
Is it possible to cut a temporary small hatch in the foundation wall so that you can crawl in?
Have you installed a vapor barrier in the floor? If not, you should probably do it if you're going to have thick insulation in the floor. Then unfortunately you might have to tear up the floor.