ROI on Conditioned Crawlspace

[printmanjackson]

I'm looking at the cost to change my crawl to a conditioned space. This is a 5,000 sq/ft 1 1/2 story house in west Tn. I haven't measured the first floor space yet but I would guess it at 2500 sq/ft. The house is only 5 yrs old. The crawl is only 30-36" tall and there is no water problems under the house. I know I'm having the stack affect going on because I have felt the cold air coming in on supper cold days. I can feel it most in the master bath around the tub. I think if I'm feeing it here as much as I am then it's coming in everywhere. The thing I need to figure is how do I figure at what price is it worth to correct? I was talking to a contractor that is a friend of mine and we were comparing utility bills. Our houses are about the same size but his has a conditioned basement and his bill was half the cost of mine. This just confirms what I'm thinking.

Your thoughts please?

[Moose]

Air seal & insulation are an investment that keeps on giving back... check out buildingscience.com for procedures & info. :)

[cmajerus]

find someone to do a blower door test for you, this will tell you where your drafts are coming from for sure, and then you will spend the $$ where it is most needed. Likely insulation for the crawl, but you may need sealing around outlets, light fixtures, sill plates,windows, ect. before anything else is done.

[Kevin O'Neill]

Try his link for instructions on how to do it. It is very labor intensive, prices can be all over the place. Get bids and see what they are for your area.

http://contractingbusiness.com/mag/cb_imp_7253/

[printmanjackson]

I was talking to one of the contractors here that does the spray foam insulation about doing my crawl. He said for the same money he would not do the crawl but do the roof instead. He said I would get a faster return on my investment there. I'm going to meet with him again Friday to work out details and a price.