Heating Room Above Crawl Space
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Anonymous
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The 15' by 20' family room in our ~40 yr old house has a 2-3' crawlspace (rather than basement) underneath. We've found this room is about 4 degrees warmer than the rest of the house during the Summer and 6 degrees colder than the rest of our house in Winter. The summer difference is manageable, but the winter temp difference is harder to live with given how much time we spend in that room. Last winter we used an electric space heater to make the room comfortable for our family. But I'm always worried about forgetting to turn off the heater and we have a 3 yo that plays in that room. There is no roof above this room (there is a second floor above) so its NOT a matter of attic insulation.
Besides looking for ways to improve the insulation, is there a safer and better way to heat this room (aside from using an electric space heater). Curious what others do with the same problem? The HVAC vents do seem to be weak in terms of air flow. |
Anonymous
| OP here. I should add that the crawl space insulation (beneath the family room) looks super thick... like well over a foot deep and well secured. |
Anonymous
| We have an electric baseboard heater (hardwired and attached to wall) in our addition. It's pretty old so I bet you can find something more modern. It exclusively heats our 20 x 10 room |
Anonymous
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If you have the funds, a minisplit can do heat and cooling
For my chilly basement, I got this to replace inefficient baseboards https://www.amazon.com/Stiebel-Eltron-074058-Mounted-Electric/dp/B001AHOA6M/ref=sr_1_100_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1538009216&sr=8-100-spons&keywords=fan+heater+wall+mount&psc=1 and its a dream. Hardwired in, has a thermostat, no timer. Heats up the basement in 5 minutes |
ZachF
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Your crawlspace needs to be completely sealed. The term is, encapsulated. It should have at least a 2" thick foam insulation board adhered to all the exterior walls and at least a 20 mil thick liner fully covering the ground and adhered to the foam board with no gaps in the liner at all.
If the crawl has vents, they need to be sealed and the insulation should be removed from between the joists. Last step is adding a high capacity dehumidifier and drainage system if you have any water collecting in the crawl. No doubt you are venting in warm air in the summer (cold in the winter) which then raises the humidity in there as warm, moist air cools and the relative humidity goes way up. The insulation traps the moisture against the joists and sub floor which can lead to wood rot, termites, rodents and other creepy crawly things, not to mention sagging joists as they get weakened. If it were properly sealed, including a well built, insulated crawl door that forms a seal when it is shut, you would not need insulation and you would find it much easier to heat and cool using less energy. Allowing the wood to dry out will also insure you don't get termites or carpenter ants plus you won't have rodents nesting and breading in there. |