Newbie here-
I live in northern california, and I own a 100 year old stucco house, concrete foundation with a 3 foot cripple wall. I have some chronic termite problems which to properly correct will cost too much for me now. The termites not only can get into the cripple wall studs, but will occasionally find a floor joist to eat too.
I am thinking of putting in r13 fiberglass insulation in the basement ceiling between the floor joists. I’m having a hard time finding out if this makes sense. Will it help keep my first floor warmer? I know it will make it difficult to monitor termite damage to the floor joists. Also, if I put in the r13 insulation (with a moisture barrier touching the subflooring), will I have to also put some sort of covering on the basement ceiling so there is no exposed fiberglass?
I noticed in the current Fine Homebuilding that there is an article on finishing a basement and they don’t include insulating the basement ceiling. They do include insulating the cripple wall.
My basement has good airflow, if that matters.
I appreciate the responses.
-Gizmo
Edited 2/13/2005 1:55 pm ET by gizmo
Replies
Depends on what the temp is in the basement. If it's heated, or at least not terribly cold then the insulation above won't help much. If it's 50F all the time (or even colder, due to ventillation) then insulation will help warm the floors above, at least slightly.
My guess is it's probably around 50 degrees in the basement on average. The furnace and hot water heaters are down there so I'm sure they give off some heat to keep it a little warmer.If I insulate, could I just cover the exposed insulation with plastic sheets stapled to the floor joists? Any reason not to?gizmo
In those circumstances the plastic would probably be OK, but there is a very slight danger of condensation on the plastic during the summer. A better choice would be Tyvek or just landscape cloth (though test the landscape cloth for flammability first).