What Are the Advantages of Kansas City Crawl Space Insulation?

If you've got an uninsulated or under-insulated crawl space lurking underneath your Kansas City, KS home, you may be wondering if this is the right time to consider Kansas City crawl space insulation installation services—and whether insulating your crawl space will actually provide worthwhile benefits for your property and household. Those are important considerations, and your local Kansas City insulation experts have some advice and information to help you make an informed decision about what's best for your home.

Whether you need your crawl space or attic insulated, or any part of your building in between those two points, rely on the team of experts at Koala Insulation of North Kansas City. Our reliable insulation services will keep your home toasty warm all winter and cool all summer, which gives both your hardworking HVAC system and your wallet a break from increased energy consumption.

Will Kansas City Crawl Space Insulation Installation Benefit My Household?

Before investing in a project like installing crawl space insulation, Kansas City, KS homeowners often want to get a clear picture of how it's going to benefit their home and family, which is completely fair. That's especially true when it comes to Kansas City crawl space insulation because a lack of insulation down there isn't necessarily as immediately noticeable as it would be if you didn't have attic or wall insulation installed. A lack of crawl space insulation may not leave you shivering under a pile of thick sweaters and blankets, but it can cause some major problems for your household. That means correcting the problem with Kansas City crawl space insulation installation can eliminate those problems and help you save money, avoid major costs in the future and keep your home more comfortable overall.

Reduce Energy Costs

If you're looking for ways to reduce the charges on your monthly energy bills and you have an uninsulated crawl space, you're sitting on the proverbial gold mine. Kansas City crawl space insulation can make a big difference to your energy savings by doing a lot to prevent energy loss. But if your crawl space is not even part of the livable space inside your house, how can insulating it (or not) have a noticeable impact on how energy efficient the building is?

The answer to that question comes down to heat transfer, the natural process by which thermal energy always attempts to move from a warmer place to a colder place. Your flooring material isn't impervious to the effects of heat transfer—though some types of flooring are certainly better at resisting it than others. In the winter, cold from an uninsulated crawl space will seep up through the floor, and that doesn't just make the floor uncomfortably cold on your bare feet. It also changes the temperature in your house, so your furnace has to turn on more frequently and operate longer to compensate. That additional operation means it has to use quite a bit more fuel than it would otherwise, and that's reflected on your utility bill each month.

In summer, the same basic effect occurs in reverse when you don't have Kansas City crawl space insulation. Heat gets trapped under your house and builds up to sweltering temperatures—and as we all know from elementary school, heat rises. It comes up through the floor and raises the temperature inside while you've got your air conditioning on, creating the same problem that your furnace experiences in winter and increasing your energy costs. You may also have HVAC ductwork in your crawl space that can benefit from insulation. By adding adequate Kansas City crawl space insulation to your property, we can prevent or greatly reduce heat transfer. In turn, that reduces the amount of time your HVAC system needs to operate and creates a significant reduction in your energy costs over time.

Other Advantages of Kansas City Crawl Space Insulation

Saving money on energy charges is, of course, a big perk—but it's not the only way that Kansas City crawl space insulation can provide some major benefits to your household and property. Here are a few more big advantages of calling the Kansas City insulation at Koala Insulation of North Kansas City:

• Prevent Moisture Damage: Cold, heat and air leaks certainly aren't the only things that can get into a crawl space that doesn't have adequate crawl space insulation. Kansas City, KS buildings also tend to suffer from moisture incursion in their crawl spaces, creating an ideal environment for mold growth. That impacts the air quality in your home, causes an unpleasant musty smell and can have serious consequences for the health of your family. It can also spread upward from the crawl space and impact other areas of your house. Encapsulation and Kansas City crawl space insulation installation will help keep your crawl space dry and prevent water damage.
• Maintain Structural Integrity: Wood rot is another huge problem that comes along with moisture incursion. Wood rot only impacts timber that has a high moisture content, so once water seeps into the wood of structural components such as your floor joists, it's only a matter of time before they start rotting. Since wood rot causes timber to soften and crumble, it can severely compromise the structural integrity of your entire building if it affects components that support the weight of the building. The best way to prevent those costly and potentially dangerous issues is by stopping moisture from entering in the first place with Kansas City crawl space insulation services.
• Avoid Foundation Damage: Your foundation is, in all likelihood, made from poured concrete—which is another material that is vulnerable to water and cold temperatures. If water seeps into tiny cracks or holes and then freezes, that moisture buildup will expand and force those small imperfections apart, making them into major problems. Kansas City crawl space insulation can help prevent that from happening, keeping your foundation in excellent shape for longer.
• Stop Pest Infestations: A humid, dank crawl space with gaps, holes or cracks to the outdoors is the perfect place for insect and rodent pests to make their home. Just like an infestation in another part of your house, that can lead to serious sanitary issues. It also leaves the rest of your house vulnerable to infestations as those crafty animals and insects will never stop looking for ways to get into the main part of your house that is warm, cozy and full of food sources. Kansas City crawl space insulation installation will make it much more difficult for them to invade your property.
• Lessen Risk of Radon Poisoning: Radon gas is a naturally occurring but potentially dangerous gas that results from the decomposition of radium, thorium and uranium isotopes. It has harmful effects when inhaled over long periods of time, such as lung cancer. So what does that have to do with crawl space insulation? Kansas City, KS is located in a Zone 1 radon area, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which essentially means one in three homes in this area have dangerously elevated levels of radon gas. Kansas City crawl space insulation helps to prevent radon gas from building up in your crawl space and seeping into the habitable parts of the house through cracks or gaps in the subfloor and flooring materials, which lessens the health risk to your family or household.
• Improve Indoor Air Quality: We mentioned above that moisture incursion affects your indoor air quality by encouraging the growth of mold and mildew that release spores and lower the quality of air in your living space. If that wasn't bad enough, a lack of Kansas City crawl space insulation could also allow other allergens, including dust, pollen and dander, to build up inside your crawl space. From there, it can eventually get bad enough to have a big impact, especially for allergy sufferers in your household.
• Having the space encapsulated with the appropriate insulation will reduce allergen buildup and improve your indoor air quality.
• Increase Home Comfort: Do you cringe when you have to put your bare feet on ice-cold floors? While your parents' solution may have been to just put on a pair of slippers, Kansas City crawl space insulation is the better answer. It'll keep your floors warmer because the heat from your furnace can't just escape through the crawl space, which means a more comfortable home for your family.

Types of Insulation We Offer:

At Koala Insulation, we pride ourselves on our high-quality insulation products, whether it’s for your attic, basement, or garage. For effective crawl space insulation, Kansas City, KS homeowners may choose:

• Fiberglass insulation: Fiberglass is popular and cost-effective and comes as pre-cut batts or loose fill.
• Cellulose insulation: Cellulose is typically used as a blown-in (loose fill) product to fill nooks and crannies. They are ideal for covering old material and can also be blown behind walls.
• Spray foam insulation: SPF is superior to the above-mentioned types and best thermal barrier and vapor barrier there is. You can choose between open cell and closed-cell spray foam, which have slightly different characteristics, depending on whether you want several layers or one single layer to expand.

Where Should Kansas City Crawl Space Insulation Be Placed?

This is an important question because not all crawl spaces are created equal. Some are basically like short concrete rooms that are only a few feet in height but are closed off from the outdoors and not ventilated. Others are basically big piles of dirt with supporting posts here and there and are ventilated by holes or gaps that allow for natural airflow so excess moisture and humidity can dry out without causing water damage issues. The type your house has will help us determine where your Kansas City crawl space insulation needs to be placed.

Heated and Unventilated

If you've got an enclosed crawl space that is able to benefit from being heated by your HVAC system, it makes the most sense to place Kansas City crawl space insulation along the crawl space walls, meaning the inside of the foundation wall and the floor of the crawl space. It may seem counterintuitive at first to insulate a space that is not habitable, but doing it this way is more advantageous to your home overall because your crawl space is protected and sealed off from the outdoors, meaning it won't suffer from problems like internal foundation damage and pest infestations. It also keeps any plumbing and HVAC components in your crawl space protected and stops them from freezing up in winter.

Ventilated and Unheated

Suppose you've got the type of home that comes with a crawl space that is ventilated to the outdoors and, therefore, cannot be heated. In that case, Kansas City crawl space insulation will need to be placed in the floor joist bays and around the joists themselves—that is, on the "ceiling" of the crawl space, which is actually the underside of the floor for your ground-level story. But first, it's necessary to put up a moisture barrier to prevent water from seeping into floor joists and other structural components of the house. There are some pros and cons to this approach. It's generally less costly because it requires less insulating material, and it can have sound-deadening effects, so footsteps on the floor above are quieter. The potential problem with this approach is that you likely have plumbing and HVAC components in your crawl space, and this leaves them vulnerable to the cold. That could mean frozen or burst pipes in winter and reduce the effectiveness of your HVAC system.

Can Kansas City Crawl Space Insulation Installation Improve Property Value?

If you are planning to put your property up on the real estate market in the near future, Kansas City crawl space insulation may influence the decisions of prospective home buyers and make them more likely to seal the deal on your property. It indicates that the house is in solid, energy-efficient condition and that it has been well-maintained over the years, so home buyers will be less likely to encounter problems like rotting floor joists shortly after they move in. It can also get you a solid return on investment—in some cases, Kansas City crawl space insulation can increase the overall selling price by as much as 10%, though it's important to remember that there are a lot of factors that influence selling price and home evaluations.

Trust the Experts at Koala for Kansas City Crawl Space Insulation

If you live in Kansas City or a nearby area such as Olathe, Parkville or Blue Springs, rely on the team of insulation professionals at Koala Insulation of North Kansas City to install your crawl space insulation. Kansas City, KS homeowners can trust us to get the work done correctly. Call us today at 913-657-6722 to schedule a consultation.