Dealing with Old Insulation in Evansville, Indiana Crawlspaces

Old Insulation? No Insulation? Creating a Healthy and Energy Efficient Crawlspace in Evansville, IN

Old Insulation

One of the most common complaints in homes with crawlspaces and unfinished basements is cold floors. In the past, cold floors were addressed by shoving fiberglass or similar insulation between the subfloor joists. Initially this seems like a great solution. The insulation will help keep the floors warmer, right? Unfortunately, that isn’t really the case. Most old insulation, including fiber glass, can trap moisture. This trapped moisture makes the floor cold and can cause sagging, squeaking, bowing, and warping of the wooden subfloor, which is often worse than the initial cold floor problem. Fiber-based insulation is also attractive to pests like mice, crickets, and more because it is a moisture rich source of bedding and food—especially when the insulation begins to mold.

Removing Old Insulation

Many homeowners would like to remove the old fiber-based insulation from their subfloor because of these moisture related concerns, but it is important to know a few things before proceeding. The two most important things to consider:

1. How old is the insulation?
2. What is the insulation made of?

Depending on how old the insulation is, it could contain asbestos or other harmful materials and would require specialized removal techniques. Asbestos is a mineral fiber. It can be positively identified only with a special type of microscope. There are several types of asbestos fibers. Insulation dating from the 1930s through 1950s could contain asbestos, so it is a good idea to have a specialist check things out if you are concerned. If disturbed, asbestos material may release fibers, which can be inhaled into the lungs.
Do I need to be worried about asbestos in my home?
Houses built between 1930 and 1950 may have asbestos as insulation, but virtually all cases of this have been remediated since the late 1990s in Evansville. So, it’s really only a matter of what you might run across as you do home improvements on older homes.

No Insulation?

Crawlspaces with no insulation also suffer from cold floors. What can you do to correct that problem? Thankfully, there’s very little debris removal in these cases. You do need to create an isolated, energy efficient crawlspace to achieve warmer floors.

Warmer Floors with Healthy Spaces!

Warmer floors are just a few easy decisions away with Healthy Spaces. We have two products specifically that isolate your crawlspace from unconditioned outside air, which makes your heater work harder and your floors feel colder in the winter. The two products that really pack an energy efficient wallop are CleanSpace and SilverGlo.

Cleanspace is a vapor barrier engineered for energy efficiency and resiliency that actually brightens your crawlspace at the same time. Imagine an antimicrobial pool liner that would seal the entire crawlspace and lock out the fluctuating heat cycles of outside air, allowing your heating and air conditioning system to operate cleaner, better, and for less money. It’s also guaranteed against rips, cracks, tears, and other strains for 25 years! It’s a great product that can really transform a crawlspace into a healthy space.

You can also pair SilverGlo with your CleanSpace installation for a double whammy! SilverGlo is a specialized foam board insulation that has been shown to reduce the conduction in concrete walls and has an R-value of 11! SilverGlo can be applied to your crawlspace walls behind CleanSpace to create a sealed, energy efficient system that turns your crawlspace into a conditioned space. Using SilverGlo in crawlspaces with a CleanSpace system will drastically reduce that cold floor feeling!

Are you interested in creating a healthy space out of your crawlspace? Contact our team of healthy space experts today!