Colorado Springs had a record breaking winter! There’s snow on the ground that hasn’t melted in over a month, and the low temperatures are making us crank that heat up high.
In fact, the heat has been a big problem-- particularly for those of us with crawl spaces. Did you know that in Colorado Springs over 50% of all homes have dirt crawl spaces?
Some of these crawl spaces are vented, dirt floor spaces that span the entire house. In many cases, we keep our furnaces, water heaters, hot water pipes, heat vents, and similar utilities in those old, dirty, dusty spaces. That’s a big problem when temperatures plummet at night!
Our poor furnaces are sucking in frozen air and dust, making them work extra hard to heat the air they then force through cold ducts and into your home.
So much energy is lost in that process! By the time the air has reached your bedroom or bathroom, 23.7% if its heat is lost. This means that your furnace is kicking on more often to bring up the temperature.
What does that really translate to? Well, let's say that you want to heat your bedroom to 70 degrees. The furnace kicks on and heats the cold outside air to 70 degrees, but by the time that it forces the air into your bedroom, that air is only 53.4 degrees. The furnace says on, blowing lukewarm air until the thermostat finally registers that the temperature in the bedroom is 70 degrees.
Here’s what’s really frustrating: let's say that your bedroom is on the first floor. That floor is basically the top of the crawl space. All the cold air that the furnace is sucking in happens to be swirling right under your bed.
That air is cooling the floorboards, which means that heat in the air can't counteract all the cold under the floor! No matter how high you turn up the heat, your floor will be leaching heat and making your room feel cold.
What do we do about this problem? The best solution is to isolate your home from the dirt and cold air.
We do this by installing the CleanSpace encapsulation system. It's a really thick, very strong system that can help you with heat loss and energy savings. CleanSpace allows your furnace to work more efficiently, by blocking off the cold outside air and allowing and warmer air in the home to be recirculated.
I’ve noticed that the overall indoor air quality in a home that has CleanSpace installed is higher than one with an exposed dirt crawl space. This is because there isn’t as much dirt and dust blowing through the air ducts. It also reduces the icy floor issue -- the one that makes a room feel like 53 degrees instead of 70.
Interested in learning more about CleanSpace? Click for more information about crawl space encapsulation! Or, if you'd like to meet with a professional crawl space crawl space contractor in Colorado Springs, Pueblo, or anywhere else in southeastern Colorado, contact Peak Basement Systems today for a FREE crawl space repair quote!
Add comment to this post:
 |
 |
 |
 |