Recently my wife and I acquired a 3 season cottage on the Rideau River near Kemptville (ON). It has a concrete block foundation with a three foot crawl space. I have insulated this with rigid insulation and installed a vapour barrier over the insulation and sand base. I have now installed radiant heat tubing within the floor joists. The heating will be hot water from a boiler system. Do I have to now install a reflective vapour barrier under the joists and tubing or will the heating of the crawl space not be a factor since it is already insulated? Is the reflective barrier going to be redundant?
Answer:
There should be enough parasitic heat from the tubes to heat the crawl space as much as it needs to be. Be careful not to install double vapour barriers over insulation.
Courtesy of Ren Molnar, Construction Consultant at HomeFocus.com. I can also be reached at (613) 748-3003 and Home Focus phone-in is broadcast live 8 to 10 A.M. (Ottawa, Ont. time) on Saturdays on www.cfra.com.
