Crawl Space Insulation Near Portland, Vancouver, Salem, Eugene, and Roseburg
While most individuals think about attic insulation, you can also save a lot of money by making your crawl space airtight. Crawl spaces are shallow structures installed beneath your home. While providing a protected place for utilities and plumbing pipes, crawl spaces can soak up the natural cold air beneath your home and transfer it into your living areas.
When that happens, your energy bills will suffer because of the fluctuating temperatures. For your crawl space insulation to perform as it should, it’s essential to properly encapsulate the crawl space, install the right type of insulation, the right amount of insulation, and use the correct installation technique. For customers in the Western Oregon and Southwest Washington areas, Josh Lowe’s Dr. Energy Saver can help.
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In this video, Dr. Energy Saver solves home comfort problems caused by an unsealed, uninsulated crawl space. Watch to see how to make your crawl space more energy efficient!
Signs of Poor Crawl Space Insulation
To know what needs correcting at your home, you must know the signs of inadequate crawl space insulation. Common signs include:
- The floor above the crawl space is unpleasantly cold in the winter.
- During cold weather, you have to keep the heat going constantly to be comfortable in rooms directly above the crawl space.
- Mice or other pests have moved into fiberglass insulation installed between joists in the crawl space.
- Fiberglass batt insulation has fallen out of place from between floor joists in the crawl space.
- The crawl space smells moldy, has visible signs of mold, and/or is damp all the time.
Protect Your Home with Rigid Foam Insulation
The traditional insulation approach in a crawl space — fiberglass batt insulation between joists, with vents in the crawl space — is outdated and ineffective. This combination creates as many problems as it solves because fiberglass doesn’t respond well to the moist conditions common in crawl spaces.
That is why Josh Lowe’s Dr. Energy Saver recommends protecting your crawl space with rigid foam insulation. That will boost your R-value while lowering your energy bills and your frustration level. The benefits include:
Long-lasting. Rigid foam insulation can’t be damaged by moisture and won’t degrade in appearance or R-value over time. In a crawl space, it’s usually installed against the interior face of foundation walls.
Benefits of insulating your crawl space with rigid foam
- Stable and reliable. Unlike fiberglass insulation, rigid foam won’t compress, fall out of place or lose its R-value over time. It’s definitely a “once-and-done” improvement.
- Effective air sealing. When joints between foam panels are taped, rigid foam stops air leaks that can waste energy. Fiberglass insulation can’t stop air movement.
- Moisture-proof. Rigid foam won’t absorb moisture or be damaged by it.
- Unfriendly to mold. Unlike fiberglass insulation, rigid foam won’t compress, fall out of place or lose its R-value over time. It’s definitely a “once-and-done” improvement.
- Stablereliable. Mold can’t take hold on rigid foam because it contains no organic food source and it doesn’t hold moisture.
- Better ductwork performance. Ducts located in the crawl space benefit from rigid foam installed against crawl space walls.
In addition to outperforming fiberglass insulation in a crawl space, rigid foam panels are manufactured in different thicknesses for multiple levels of protection. Panels are secured with adhesive or mechanical fasteners. These panels will deliver the same performance and benefits in Year 15 as it does on Day 1.
Trust Josh Lowe’s Dr. Energy Saver to Protect Your Crawl Space in Western Oregon and SW Washington
Call 541-485-2282 or contact us online to schedule a free estimate for crawl space insulation in Eugene, Salem, Hillsboro, Portland, Keizer, Woodburn, and their surrounding communities. Josh Lowe’s Dr. Energy Saver is your trusted insulation company serving the Western Oregon and Southwest Washington areas. We also offer a comprehensive home energy audit, which we use to fully diagnose the causes of your home’s energy issues.Frequently Asked Crawl Space Questions
- Can I encapsulate my own crawl space?
- We’ve heard about people doing this, and even had one client call us after they had started doing it themselves and realized how difficult it was going to be to do a quality job! If you attempt to do it (buying all the materials and the tools needed, plus the spray foam equipment to spray foam the crawl space cement walls), without the experience and the correct tools, there’s a giant chance it won’t be done correctly. And that means you won’t have the benefit of the encapsulation. Counting your time and the spray foam equipment you will need to get, it likely will cost you more, too.
- Can I put a regular dehumidifier in my crawl space?
- A dehumidifier specifically designed for a crawl space is what we recommend. It removes up to 100 pints a day of water! Most dehumidifiers for your inside your home can remove only half of that. If you do not remove enough moisture in the air to get it to under 75% relative humidity, mold can grow.
- Can pipes freeze in crawl space?
- In general, when the outside air temperature is 20 degrees Fahrenheit or lower, those pipes under your home can freeze. There are different solutions to preventing this, including encapsulating your crawl space.
- Does encapsulating a crawl space increase home value?
- With the many benefits that come from encapsulating a crawl space, it does make your home more valuable. The indoor air quality is better, your home is less humid in the summer, floors are warmer in the winter, pests have no fiberglass to nest in, and the crawl space is now less likely to grow mold.
- How common is mold in crawl space?
- Mold needs humidity in the air, and something to perch on and use as a food source such as wood beams, and a crawl space gives it both. Dirt crawl spaces tend to be breeding grounds for mold. Any type of mold growing under your home is bad since up to 50% of the air you breathe on the first floor of your home comes from the crawl space.
- How do I protect my crawl space from water?
- Each home is unique and has water coming in from different areas and for different reasons. Your best solution is to start with an evaluation of your crawl space. Solutions to the water include sump pumps, crawl space dehumidifiers, and an encapsulation.
- How long does crawl space encapsulation last?
- It last much longer than just adding fiberglass batts to the crawlspace; fiberglass will have to be replaced over and over. Our company warrants for 25 years the special liner to be free from holes and tears, and to be free from groundwater on top of the liner (when a complete drainage system is installed).
- Is a dirt crawl space bad?
- It’s amazing houses are still built this way, but they are. About half the air you breathe on the first floor of your home comes from the crawl space. A moist crawl space leads to mold growth and wood rot, and then you are breathing in the mold. An encapsulation, or spraying the underfloor with closed-cell spray foam, both help tremendously.
- Who fixes water in crawl space?
- At Josh Lowe’s Dr. Energy Saver, removing the current water in a crawl space and then implementing solutions to help prevent it from coming back in is a specialty of ours. Mold can easily grow in a wet crawl space, and then you will start to breathe in the spores as they enter your house. Don’t wait to get this addressed!
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