Crawl space spray foam insulation in St. Albert is usually a job about one section of a house rather than the whole of it. The split-level and multi-level plans that were popular when much of this city was built step down with the ground, and the lowest step frequently sits over a shallow void rather than over the basement.
The lowest step of a split level is over nothing much
On these plans the family room or the lowest bedroom sits half a storey below the main floor and half a storey above the basement, which means the floor under it is not over heated space and not over a proper foundation either. What is down there is a low void, often reachable only through a hatch in a cupboard, and it was built to the standard of a space nobody expected to visit. That is why one room in an otherwise comfortable St. Albert house has a cold floor and the rest do not.
What is usually already down there
Batt pushed up between the floor joists, sometimes held with wire, frequently fallen in places, and occasionally a piece of poly stapled over it. With cold air still moving freely underneath, that material does far less than its rating suggests, and where it sits against a damp floor structure it holds moisture there. Moving the insulation from the floor above down to the perimeter, and closing the space off, is what changes the room above.
Bringing it inside the building, ground first
The old approach was to vent one of these year round on the theory that airflow keeps it dry. In this climate it does the opposite for most of the year: cold air for five months and humid air for three. The current approach is to seal the perimeter and bring the space inside the building envelope, and it begins with a sealed barrier over any exposed ground, because bare earth releases moisture continuously and closing a space over it produces damp rather than cold.
Access is genuinely the hard part
These voids are low, the hatch is small and awkwardly placed, and there is frequently ductwork and plumbing filling what room there is. That affects what can realistically be done and it affects the price, and it is the reason a St. Albert crawl space cannot be quoted from a description. Somebody has to get in there and look, and occasionally the answer is that a partial scope is the sensible purchase.
Crawl Space Spray Foam Insulation St. Albert: Common Questions
Why does only the lowest room in our split level have cold floors? That room is over a shallow void rather than over the basement, and that void is where the work goes.
Is insulation between the joists already enough? With cold air moving below it, it does little, and against a damp floor structure it can do harm.
Should the vents stay open? No. The space gets sealed and brought inside the envelope, starting with a barrier over the ground.
Does a partial crawl space still count? If it is reachable, yes. Even a short St. Albert crawl space under one room needs the correct ignition barrier or thermal barrier over sprayed foam.
Size the assembly with the R-value calculator, then get a free St. Albert quote. More on Crawl Space Spray Foam Insulation Alberta.