Insulating basement

Red Squirrel

When framing a basement and insulating, should the insulation go all the way down, or should I leave a few feet of uninsulated wall? Does some heat need to go in the foundation to keep it from cracking in winter?

Also when putting the vapor barrier would I just make it go all the way down, and also cover the floor where the bottom studs would lead to ensure I don't have wood directly on cement?

Whatever rule applies to full basements can it also apply to crawlspaces? When I search for anything related to crawlspaces I get really nasty looking ones (and I thought mine was bad!). This is a fairly clean crawlspace especially now that I've cleaned it all up of spider webs and stuff. Not much moisture (just some humidity and lime deposits)

Some pics here to get an idea: http://gal.redsquirrel.me/?level=picture&id=502

I'd like to frame all the perimeter and insulate it at some point.

Yoyizit

The deeper you go underground the more constant the temperature becomes, so in principle you need less R value the deeper you R.
I've seen a graph of this once, so it's probably on the Web somewhere.
Your frost line depth is one indicator of this.

http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?...sulation_table

Red Squirrel

Ah I see. This foundation is not that deep so chances are it's almost all within frost zone. I know the garage foundation is as they had issues previously and had to open up a hole in it and add a heater.

Gary in WA

I like: http://www.buildingscience.com/docum...ent-insulation

And: http://www.rd.com/57548/article57548.html

For the garage: http://www.oikos.com/esb/43/foundations.html Be safe, G