We had the power company come and tell us how we can give them less money today, which I must say was fun at least conceptually. The good news is that for best efficiency they don’t recommend replacing our single pane original windows - they say there’s a lot more return on investment for attic insulation, air sealing fixtures, etc. And there were a few other things, like the Missing Fireplace that Keeps On Giving (responsible for the burned floors when we took up the carpets and evidently for some of our heat loss).
One thing they pointed out was under the house where there’s a cut for the plumbing to the main bathroom. They said to seal it up. I smiled and nodded and like an idiot didn’t say “okay and how would I do that?” The attic stuff we’re going to get somebody to quote us on because we also want a real vented bathroom fan, not just a “pooping as a guest” bathroom fan which is what we have now. But I doubt “Attics R Us” also does this small crawlspace job.
It looks like there’s just a cut in the crawlspace “ceiling” for these pipes. Can we just go down there with some foamcore insulation and that foil tape stuff, or will that not hold? Does it need to be caulked?
Are the pipes insulated? Do they have that black foam stuff around them? It might be worth doing that as well when you are down there to avoid pipe freeze in the winter. Otherwise, just seal all the cracks with that great stuff foam.
No, I don’t mean there are circular holes cut for the pipes, I mean there’s a big rectangular piece gone. Well by “big”, by the pictures maybe a foot by two feet.
ETA - I don’t know what’s “gone” technically - this is not my area of expertise - obviously there’s a FLOOR in the bathroom, there’s crummy vinyl over I assume plywood, but it looks like for the rest of the crawl space there’s that and then an air gap and then another piece of plywood. I thought the part the vinyl is on is the “subfloor” but maybe that’s this piece. Anyway, the piece that would be the ceiling of the crawlspace has been cut away around where the pipes go in.
Yes, you can cover it with a piece of foam. However, you should consider the effect of moisture that may condense on the pipes. Right now it’s dripping down to the ground and not causing a problem. I have to run, will get back with more details.
So you have to consider where any moisture that accumulates will go. 4-6 inches between the actual floor and the bottom covering sounds kind of low, but some of that space will be taken up by pipes. Foam will be waterproof, but can still get moldy. You can wrap insulation around the pipes to reduce condensation. If there’s plenty of space on at least one side of the cavity then there may be enough air space and circulation to keep everything dry. You could put a drainage hole in whatever you install.
Are these just drainpipes? If you have water supply pipes there and they haven’t frozen yet then you probably don’t get extreme cold. In that case maybe you just want to cover the hole with waterproof tile board instead of insulation.
Any chance you could share the photos the inspector took? It would be odd to only have a 4 or 6" gap between the subfloor and the bottom of the joists. It’s also kind of odd to close in the bottom of the joists in a crawl space.
