Re-working crawl space

[Reel Draggin Tackle]

Looking for some advice from anyone who had re-worked their crawl space.

I did some research and found that most "experts" now recomend that you seal a ventalated crawl space, then place insolation down the walls and cover the floor with plastic.

Well, I also did some research on an encapsolated crawl space and i opted to do my own encapsolation job. I pulled all of the old insolation, put in R19 faced, back into the floor joysts, and I am about to line the walls and floor with 6mil plastic from the house frame, down the walls and over the stone floor.

My space is dry. We have a sump and a back up. I sealed every hole I could find with spray insolation foam.

Does all of this sound right? The first thing we noticed was the house smells like dirt. I have not got the plastic on the floors yet, its a bigger job than a weekend thats for sure! I am hoping that the dirt smell will go away when it is all sealed.

I am interested in any comments, recomends and/or warnings!

Thanks...

[night nurse]

I think the "Dirt" smell will go away when you put the floor plastic down. am I correct that it's a sealed / vented crawl space? So you are venting it through the air handler?

[Reel Draggin Tackle]

Yes; that is corrrect. It was vented but I have sealed all vents and foamed in every hole I could find. What I discovered last night is that there was a fair hole in one of the ducting runs from the heat pump. So, when the air handler was on it was drawing air from the crawl space and pumping it in the house. We have had the air handler off for the last 18 hours or so, and there is no dirt smell.

Do I need to pump heat/air from the air handler into the crawl space?

[StepChild]

[QUOTE=

Do I need to pump heat/air from the air handler into the crawl space?[/QUOTE]


Yes. That's what makes it a conditioned crawl space such as air conditioned or heated. However, it's not like heating or cooling it to 70 degrees...it just keeps the humidity level down and constant.

Andy

[Reel Draggin Tackle]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll have to figure out the best way to do that. I discovered blocked off ducting that ran to the garage; I could just run that into the crawl space.

[night nurse]

You don't need a BIG vent just a little one will do , remember you are just looking to keep a positive pressure in the craw space to constintly keep the humidty low. Healthy house one the way

TED

[Reel Draggin Tackle]

Thanks Ted. I plan to fit a small vent into the extra duct work that was down there. I will re-run the ducting to the middle of the crawl spave vice the garage. That should do the trick.

[Hammer Time]

I own a restoration company and we do crawlspaces all the time removing mold and encapsulating wood. A trick we use to kill odors in dirt is to spread LIME in the dirt before you add the moisture barrier. The lime neutarlizes the ph in the soil and kills the odor. BTW I out fished all on pier F at sunset in july this summer thanks to some of your tackle.....even after some guys at the pier said you dont need all that fancy tackle.....well after we out fished them I sent them your way

[Reel Draggin Tackle]

Thanks for the info Hammer Time. I got the job done; it took a lot longer than I thought it would, but I am happy with the results. Appreciate the tackle plug and its even better to hear of your fishing success with our tackle! Cheers.

[27 sailfish]

We do a few crawl spaces each year. Most times the joists allow R-30 ( 10 inches ) to be installed. The facing goes towards the floor. We'll put a 1/4 inch foam board over the joists - stapled in place. This helps with any drafts plus keeps most critters out of the insulation. Others who have to crawl in also like the no itch foam.

6 mil poly is then spread out and spray glued/taped to the walls as well as any posts and seams are overlapped 12 inches.

FWIW: I like to see some vents left open. If the insulation is in correctly - the house is sealed off.