We had the initial energy audit done in March of 2012. One of the recommendations in the audit was to condition the crawlspace.
“Your crawlspace can cause major air quality and energy issues in your home. The vents in this area should be sealed. A vapor barrier laid and sealed on the floor, and R-19 vinyl faced fiberglass batt installed on the walls. Pay special attention to air sealing and insulating rim joist areas.”
Covering the dirt in the crawlspace is also part of the radon mitigation process. Since we found out that the exterior of the concrete walls is covered with 4″ of xps foam, more insulation on the crawlspace walls is not a priority, but covering the ground was an important step in adding the crawlspace to the “conditioned” space in the house.
When we purchased the polyiso from Repurposed Materials, we also picked up a couple of heavy vinyl former billboards. We happened to buy 36 x 10.5 ft size–although I had not measured and was not looking for a particular size, one sheet was exactly the width and length of the larger side of the crawlspace. The second one was cut to fill in the rest of the space.
Vinyl over cleared out dirt
The vinyl has a 4″ “edge” where it was mounted to the billboard with pipe–this will be caulked to the concrete walls. All the perforations such as the beam supports and the plumbing will be taped to prevent air/radon escaping into the area.
Taped around plumbing
The vinyl is cleaner and makes it much easier to crawl over than over the raw dirt.
Clean vinyl covers dirt
Here is the second piece of vinyl being installed.
Second piece of vinyl
While installing the first piece, I drug it around under the floor–unfolding it was difficult and time consuming. For the second piece, I cut it and refolded it above ground to make it easier to spread into the space. The colored advertisement portion of the billboard is facing down.
Spreading out the vinyl
The narrow area under the hallway to the bedrooms, has a bit of extra vinyl at the edge. It can be extended over the edge of what is left of the master bedroom’s original concrete slab.
Vinyl in the narrow “hallway” area
I still have some taping and the caulking to finish the floor but it feels like quite an accomplishment to finally get the vinyl installed almost three years after the house was purchased and the initial energy audit recommendation.