Insulate a Subfloor

LESLIE: Ron in North Carolina is calling in with an insulation question. What can I do for you today?

RON: Hey, I wanted to ask about insulation under my floor. I have a subfloor for my house.

TOM: OK.

RON: I have a crawlspace. And the insulation was washed out during a hurricane one time and I had the subflooring put down and I had 3/4-inch plywood put down as a new floor. And I’m wondering if it’s cost-effective for me to put that insulation back and what kind of insulation would I put back under there if I was to do that.

TOM: Well certainly it’s very cost-effective to insulate your crawlspace floor because that’s what keeps your feet warm and keeps the heat in your house and keeps it much more comfortable in the colder weather. What you want to do is remove all of the old insulation and then the next thing you want to do is add unfaced fiberglass batts. You’ll support them with …

LESLIE: The little insulation hangers, right?

TOM: Insulation hangers. And you want to put those about every 12 to 14 inches. And I think that you’ll find that it’s a project – as long as you can get access to the crawlspace – that’s not that difficult to do and one that gives you a great return on investment.

RON: And it’s unfaced insulation, you said?

TOM: Unfaced fiberglass batts. Correct. Unfaced.

LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Mm-hmm. It’s just the pink, fluffy stuff on both sides; no foil covering.

RON: OK. And it could be a do-it-yourself job?

TOM: Absolutely. Not that hard to job.

LESLIE: Yep. You can get under there; you can do it.

RON: OK. Yeah, there’s plenty of space under there for me to get there. Is there a certain kind or make or model or …?

TOM: Owens Corning makes excellent insulation products. For more tips, why don’t you go to their website at OwensCorning.com. They also have a website – I believe it’s called InsulateandSave.com – that’ll help you figure out exactly how much insulation you need for your part of the country.

RON: OK, great. Thank you very much.

TOM: You’re very welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.