Crawl space spray foam insulation in Three Hills turns up a building type that is particular to the prairies: the structure that was moved here. Houses, cabins, small halls and farm buildings have been winched onto trailers and relocated across this country for as long as there have been tractors to do it, and a moved building sitting on a new crawl space has a problem no originally built house has.
A moved building does not sit flat on its new wall
The building was framed on one foundation and set down on another. Whatever the new wall was built to, the sill of the building has its own history — it has sagged, it has been patched, it has pulled out of square — and the two surfaces meet in a line that is level in some places and open in others. On a reasonable job that line gets shimmed and the gaps packed. On most jobs it got shimmed and the gaps did not. The result is a continuous, irregular opening right around the building at the exact height where the warm floor meets the cold ground, and it is the first thing we look for.
Why that single detail dominates the space
Because it is at the bottom of the building. Cold dense air arrives low and the stack effect pulls it in there: warm air rising and leaving through the upper part of the house lowers the pressure down low, so the crawl space is not drifting air in and out, it is being drawn into continuously whenever the house is warm. Everything in the crawl is downstream of that. The dirt or gravel floor, the pipework, the ducting, the underside of the floor above — all of it is sitting in a current of outdoor air that never stops while the heating is on.
Ground cover first, then the perimeter
The order matters and it is not negotiable. A bare earth floor is a moisture source; soil gives up water vapour continuously and in a sealed space that vapour has nowhere to go but into the structure above. So a proper vapour-retarding ground cover goes down first, lapped and turned up the wall. Then the perimeter: closed-cell foam on the inside face of the crawl space wall and across the rim where the floor framing lands, carried right through that irregular sill line so the gap is closed by the same continuous layer that insulates the wall. That is the move that makes a moved building behave like one building instead of two.
Not the floor above
The instinct is to insulate up, between the floor joists, because that is where the cold floor is felt. On a space like this it is the wrong surface. Batt pushed up between joists leaves the pipes, the ducts and the ground below it outside the heated envelope, so the plumbing is still exposed and the ducts are still running through outdoor air. It also tends to sag and trap moisture against the subfloor. Treating the perimeter brings the whole void inside, which is both the cheaper correct answer and the one that protects the water line.
The old vents, and what to do with them
Older crawl spaces were built with vents on the theory that moving air dries a space out. Where the ground is a moisture source and the air outside is cold, those vents deliver cold air that cools every surface and then condenses on it. Sealing them is part of the work, not a shortcut around it, and it only makes sense once the ground cover is down and the space is connected to the house.
We take care of the work
We take care of crawl space spray foam insulation Three Hills end to end -- the assessment, the quote, the scheduling and the spraying. Our crews do the work.
Crawl Space Spray Foam Insulation Three Hills: Common Questions
Our house was moved onto this foundation. What should we expect to find? An uneven line where the building's sill meets the new wall, with gaps in it. That line is usually the biggest single opening in the whole crawl space.
Should the insulation go on the walls or under the floor? The walls and the rim, in nearly every case. That brings the pipes and ducts inside the envelope instead of leaving them out in the cold.
Do the crawl space vents get closed? Yes, as part of sealing the space, and after a proper ground cover is in. Venting a damp space with cold air makes condensation rather than preventing it.
How much does crawl space spray foam insulation cost in Three Hills? Perimeter area and depth set the base. Access and headroom set the rest, because a space you can only lie down in takes far longer to work in than one you can kneel in.
How do I choose a crawl space spray foam contractor in Three Hills? Ask whether they intend to put a ground cover down before spraying. If that is not in the scope, the moisture source has not been dealt with.
Size the assembly with the R-value calculator, then get a free Three Hills quote. More on Crawl Space Spray Foam Insulation Alberta province-wide.