Home Improvement: How to Insulate the Floor of Your Home
Adding additional insulation to your home is almost always a good idea. If that insulation goes under the floor of your home, you may immediately notice your floors feeling warmer when walking with bare feet in cold weather. Insulating the floor of your home will prevent the air trapped under your house from penetrating into your living space as easily. It should help lower heating and cooling bills.
Decide on the type of insulation that you want to use.
While all insulation is not the same, it will all work about equally well if installed correctly. Generally, the type of insulation that you choose to use will depend on personal preference, your ability to install it, and cost. Batting is somewhat easier to move about and get into position, but you have to deal with many pieces of insulation over the long stretches that must be insulated under a house. Roll insulation will allow you to move along without having to reach for more supplies as often, but the roll can be difficult to maneuver in tight places. Spray insulation is quick and efficient, but you need special equipment besides a stapler to apply it. It will also require slightly more skill.
R-factor is not such a huge deal under the floor.
Unless your house is exceptionally drafty, you should find that almost any good insulation will make a great difference. While thicker insulation gives you more of a blanket to seal up your house, the air beneath your home does not have quite the huge degree of temperature ranges that the air outside of your home may have. Consult with the home centers in your region for more specifics about what R-factor is best where you live.
Locate the access to the crawl space.
Almost everyone knows where the entrance to the crawl space is for their home. Start the project by assessing how much space you have to enter your crawl space and how much room to maneuver will be available after you are inside it. This will help decide what type of insulation will be easiest for you to install on your house.
Use plastic sheeting to navigate on to help stay cleaner.
It will be easier on your clothing if you pull some plastic sheeting under your house and spread it out to crawl and work on top of. Crawl spaces tend to be either muddy or dusty. Neither of these are the best work space. You should be much happier at the end of the project if you use plastic.
Use a face mask.
All types of insulation can be dangerous to breathe. Whether it is fiberglass, cellulose or a spray product, you can have serious harm to your lungs if your inhale too much of the dust and fiber from the insulation. Since you will be working in a confined space with inferior air circulation, wear a face mask to protect yourself.
Determine how you will anchor the insulation to your floor joists.
Unless you are spraying on the insulation, you will need to use staples or some other form of fastener. You can staple the insulation directly to your floor joists. Another option is to install some type of cross member for the insulation to rest on top of. If you choose to use staples, consider investing in a low cost electric stapler unless your are having to wade through water to install the insulation.
The insulation will be installed between your floor joists.
Start at one end of the gap between your floor joists and install the insulation continually until you reach the other end. Continue this process until you have covered the entire underside of your home. Keep any gaps small and few for best results.
