Resources

In Flagstaff, closed crawl homes with floor insulation used 20%Iessenergy than the controls while those with foundation wall insulation used 53% more. Cyrus Dastur, the AE building scientist who directed the research, concluded that, without floor insulation, heat radiated from the home's conditioned space to the cold ground in the crawl. He believes that floor insulation is the best strategy for closed crawls in a cold climate. Prepared by GreenBuilder

"Guidelines for constructing a closed crawl space with an insulation system that includes thermaX or styrofoam brand rigid insulation on interior crawl space walls, a continuous poly vapor barrier to prevent evaporation of ground moisture into the crawl space, and a means to condition the crawl space to keep the relative humidity below 70 percent to mitigate mold and mildew growth." Prepared by DOW

"Installing impermeable rigid insulation keeps the wood framing warm and provides a low perm layer that addresses the upward vapor drive." Prepared by Joseph W. Lstiburek