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Kitchen floor insulation

3K views 3 replies 2 participants last post by  Gary in WA 
#1 ·
I thought I'd already posted this question, but I don't see it so... I live in a 100+ year old house. Removed old linoleum covering kitchen floor only to find a fir subfloor which finished beautifully. However, it is always cold. The kitchen sits on top of a low-ceiling cement 'room;' an unheated crawl space goes under the remainder of the house.

I thought insulation under the kitchen floor might make the kitchen (and maybe the rest of the house) warmer, but the pink fluffy stuff on a roll (marked "attic") does not seem to have done the trick. I thought I saw someone install under-floor insulation that looked more like stiff sheets of drywall or thin, rigid foam core on an HGTV/DIY program. Did my handy person use the wrong stuff? If he did, can we just nail the right stuff (stiff sheets of insulated boards???) on top of the pink fluffy stuff or do we have to rip out the pink stuff so critters won't make their homes there? Also, is a vapor/moisture barrier needed, and if so, where and what kind? I live in Oakland, CA.

Thanks a lot.
 
#4 ·
If you add the foil faced polyiso board to the joist bottoms, many B.D. will accept the foil as a fire-stop, rather than covering foam board (without foil) with drywall. Check locally for sure. The foil is a vapor barrier. Leave the pink intact.

Gary
 
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#2 ·
You had tacked it on to a three year old thread, it is sleeping now after I found this new one. It was in a different forum section, no problem.

The fiberglass is not the best insulation out there...... http://www.diychatroom.com/f98/biggest-loser-fiberglass-insulation-90438/

As it is already installed, yes, you can add rigid foam board to the joist bottoms; http://www.buildingscience.com/documents/insights/bsi-009-new-light-in-crawlspaces/ You will notice a difference with that. So, no heat source down there? Good to go...

Gary
 
#3 ·
Reply to Kitchen Floor Insulation

Hi, Gary -

Thanks so much for your informative reply to my kitchen floor insulation question.

I'm assuming the pink fluffy stuff I have is fiberglass, which as you point out is not the best, but since it is already there, I guess I will leave it and add the rigid foam board to the joist bottoms as you suggest. While the furnace and hot water heater are located down there, it is not a heated space and it does have some little square vents with mesh over them to the outside. I will have to look down there and see whether the rigid foam can be installed w/o disturbing the duct work from the furnace to the upstairs. Is there any need for some kind of vapor or moisture barrier?

Thanks again for your help.

Carol
 
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