All I said was wow! Never seen this before, but have heard of it. This was supposed to be the work of a remediation specialist which just completed mold clean-up. All of the insulation which was taken down was underneath the new vapor barrier on the dirt floor, they completly covered the floor joist, and there was still visible fungi growth. All I can see here is a recipe for more problems…What do you think?
Is it actively vented with a blower or fan or something?
No…nothing. Only two small vents at the rear of the home.
She’s a beauty Tim—
A 10 for sure ;).
This house probably has nothing to do with me getting sick as a dog tonight either.
Concern #1: Get rid of the old insulation
Concern #1: Make sure there is sufficient CS ventilation (1 sf per 150 sf of floor area)
Concern #3: Make sure the material fastened to the bottom of the joists can breathe
What if it is conditioned space on the other side of the coin?
Crawl spaces are subject to many debates on whether to insulate, seal off or vent.
Personally I think crawl spaces and venting is a think of the past. I live in a very old house with a crawl space, vented and with a “soil / sand” floor. It’s a challenge with respect to winters and venting… Pain in the *****
I believe it’s where you reside in the country and how you condition the space.
No one system is perfect for the entire country.
Check out this link:
www.buildingscience.com/documents/reports/rr-0401-conditioned-crawl-space-construction-performance-and-codes/view?searchterm=Crawl spaces
As for the photo. I believe it maybe the wrong approach due to condensation that will be trapped on the “plastic” (if it is) attached to the (cavity side) surface to joists… Warm moist air from the living space above will settle on the plastic surface in contact with wood and if the crawl space is vented. More problems…
Hmmmm
As the title says Pat.
How interesting you brought this up at last nights meeting ,so perfect timing.
Crawlspace should have a protective barrier but in the photo it is not only on the ground but also attached to the joist which will promote moisture damage to the structure in my opinion.
Paul, I agree with you 100%. I would like to see them take down the barier from the floor joist and add foam board to the foundation and insulate the band joist. This would help, and they would not be at such a high risk of creating more damage.
Nothing more than someone who read about sealed crawl spaces but failed to read the whole article…just enough to be stupid.
I actually inspected a sealed crawl yesterday…other than a few tears (slices) in the barrier it was nice. Of course I had a heart attack when I thought my IR fell out of my vest and I couldn’t find it for about a half hour…I was sick.
Turns how I had actually zipped it into one of the compartment of my vest before I entered the crawl (good habits paying off) and didn’t realize it was safe after all. One thing for sure…I crawled every inch of that crawl at least 3 times. lol
Jeff