Expert views needed: Building an addition on piers in DC on a semi detached house - can it be done?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The space will be harder to heat and cool if built on piers. In the winter you may risk pipes freezing.

Read this article: https://www.buildingscience.com/documents/insights/bsi-009-new-light-in-crawlspaces

Almost no one knows how to insulate a crawl space properly, they usually end up as a moldy mess.

This most contractors don’t know how to insulate at all, let alone properly do a crawl space.

We just built a house in a humid climate and the methods that subs wanted to use were laughable. Then when you would point out them what they were neglecting to address, they were shocked. So it wasn’t like they were trying to get away with shortcuts, they genuinely had no idea.

Yep. And even though I used a specialized insulation contractor, they couldn't grasp basics like which walls were exterior and which ones weren't. And they acted like I was some sort of weirdo when I wanted them to do the job properly.

[Anonymous]

We have an end-unit row house and recently tore down the enclosed sleeping porch and dug out the crawl space under the shabbily-constructed sleeping porch. The old room had been built on piers over a crawl space. The insulation was terrible and the floor was always freezing in the winter. Long story short, these days they may be able to do it right, but beware poorly insulated rooms (both in the summer and winter!)