How to keep cabin warmer

[DonTee]

Good idea! I’ve heard of people running wire or doing different things to hold the insulation up. The rods sound like they would hold the insulation in place better.

My cabin has rough cut, full dimension floor joists (actual 2x8”), so the precut rods might be a bit long. Making my own is probably the way to go.

 

[stoveliker]

The ones that are too long can simply be clamped at an angle, i.e. not perpendicular to the joists. No need for cutting.

 

[DonTee]

Ok great. I’ll see if they have them next time I’m at HD.

 

[stoveliker]

Ok great. I’ll see if they have them next time I’m at HD.

I'm talking about this. Should have different sizes (I hope ..)

 

[festerw]

If you're worried about critters I wonder if a foil faced insulation board would be enough to deter them?

Holds the insulation up once you screw it in and you can seal the edges/seams for air infiltration.

 

[DonTee]

Yeah I’m definitely worried about critters. I’m thinking the crawlspace is going to be a vented area. But I’ll probably cut holes and put some metal vents in. Or at least metal screen over the vents.
They could dig under the skirt, but I did bury the boards 2” down all the way around. Hopefully they helps some.
The skirt is 1” hemlock boards with felt paper underneath.

I’ve also played with the idea of insulating the walls of the skirt. There will be drain pipes etc under the house that I’ll need to keep from freezing. A 1” water pipe comes in from the well under the house as well.
I’m thinking the pex that runs all the interior fixtures is going to run inside the house in the warm area. So those should be ok.

 

[DonTee]

Just a small update to this thread. I’ve been working to tighten up the cabin. And also we’ve had some colder weather.

It’s doing better. It’s 3 F outside right now and 63 F inside. Woodstove is at 500 stove top temp. If I bump it up to 600 the cabin temp will climb up to around 65.

I still need to do siding and drywall. I’ve been busy with some other projects and have been slacking on my rough plumbing. Once I get that done I’ll drywall.

 

[begreen]

The plywood skin barrier will also act as a barrier to block air infiltration through the floors.

 

[DonTee]

It’s weird because I thought that I could only maintain a 40 or so degree temp differential from inside/outside. But it seems like the house likes around 62-65 degrees, regardless of the outside temp. We have some colder days coming up here, so I’m curious to see how it does.

Also at what temp do the batteries in my outdoor thermometer become useless? I’ve heard i need to switch to lithium batteries for really cold temps. I think maybe it was anything below 15 degrees F.

 

[gthomas785]

I have regular alkaline batteries in my outdoor thermometers and they work fine, here the coldest it gets is around -5F.

Don't neglect the plywood under the floor insulation. I think people often confuse moisture barriers with regular air barriers and get worried about trapping moisture so they leave the fiberglass exposed on the exterior side in a crawlspace etc. In reality that makes the insulation much less effective. You want a material that will block the wind but still allow moisture to dry out (e.g. plywood), and sandwich the insulation between that and the vapor barrier to get the full R value.

 

[xman23]

That doesn't seam right you can't heat that. I don't know the stove, but it's hot. My cabin, similar to yours 28 x 34 R19 and R38. all open. Full basement out of ground with heat at 45. After getting the house temp up. Last week we were -4 to 8 for 24 hours. The stove was 250 -350 just adding a single log to a bed of coals. Any more and it cooking us at 75. The back bedrooms are 3-5 degrees less, and upstairs is 3-5 degrees hotter.

 

[DonTee]

We’ve had some cold weather recently. The other night it was -11 and I was in the cabin. I had it around 60, and in the middle of the night it started slipping to the high 50’s. I have a little kero heater that I turned on to keep it above 60.

Some things I noticed when it was cold. A few of my electrical outlets were cold. One had frost on it. I definitely need to seal better around those.
Also there were a few little spots on the inside of the insulation that had frost. So there must be a pinhole in the outside barrier that is letting cold air in in those spots.
Also a couple of the windows need to be better sealed. I spray foamed around them, but I must have missed a couple spots.

Finally I got the little rods that hold the craw space insulation up that I still need to install.

 

[stoveliker]

Be careful about the outlets; when it thaws you have water in your electrical outlet...

 

[DonTee]

I have no doubt those fancy 55$ a piece AFCI/GFCI breakers will pop if the outlet gets water between hot and neutral, but yeah I hear you. It’s scary.

I’m guessing a few of them didn’t get enough insulation behind them. My wife and I took turns insulting the house. Luckily all the bad ones aren’t just on the part I did. Haha.

Interesting story about the circuit breakers. I’ve installed a few lights (with the light switch off of course) and then found the breaker popped afterwards. Of course these are smart breakers and flash little codes to tell you what the fault is. I didn’t know what was happening at first, but come to find out the breaker will pop if you touch hot and neutral/ground together. Even if the switch is off.

 

[bigealta]

Lights can be wired a few ways. Switch off does not necessarily mean there is not a live (Hot) feed in the box.

 

[DonTee]

I agree, but I wired the house. The switch makes/breaks the hot (black) wire.

 

[DonTee]

Today is 10 degrees outside, and inside its cruising at 71. This is what I feel like it should be doing. Stove top temp is 400-500 degrees.
It was warmer yesterday (37 out) and I had the house at 72. Maybe it’s easier for it to maintain the higher temp once it’s there.

It’s supposed to be -10 tonight. So we’ll see what it gets down to.

 

[gthomas785]

Even if the air temp has gotten to where you want it, it can take a day or two for all the "stuff" in the house to reach the same temperature. Definitely easier to maintain temp than to heat the place up from cold.

 

[DonTee]

Another question for you guys relating to the cabin. It has a crawl space underneath. Basically the cabin is on 6x6 posts, with about 3’ of crawl space under it. I built a skirt with felt paper wrapped around and hemlock 1” boards on top of that. The skirt is pretty tight.
The floors have R19 insulation right now.

I’ve been thinking about whether this space should be vented like an attic, or insulated. If it’s going to be vented I need to put a bit more insulation under the floor. If it’s going to be insulated I need to seal it up better and put insulation around the skirt (2” foam board?).

Basically right now the area stays around freezing in the winter. And I’ve noticed some moisture being trapped down there. So I need to make some kind of change with this space. Either cut some holes and install vents, or seal it up better.

The only opening is a 24”x18” wide access door in the back of the house.

I’m leaning towards insulating it, but will I be trapping moisture down there still? There would be no airflow.

 

[festerw]

Another question for you guys relating to the cabin. It has a crawl space underneath. Basically the cabin is on 6x6 posts, with about 3’ of crawl space under it. I built a skirt with felt paper wrapped around and hemlock 1” boards on top of that. The skirt is pretty tight.
The floors have R19 insulation right now.

I’ve been thinking about whether this space should be vented like an attic, or insulated. If it’s going to be vented I need to put a bit more insulation under the floor. If it’s going to be insulated I need to seal it up better and put insulation around the skirt (2” foam board?).

Basically right now the area stays around freezing in the winter. And I’ve noticed some moisture being trapped down there. So I need to make some kind of change with this space. Either cut some holes and install vents, or seal it up better.

The only opening is a 24”x18” wide access door in the back of the house.

I’m leaning towards insulating it, but will I be trapping moisture down there still? There would be no airflow.

You'd have to lay a moisture barrier on the ground too if you haven't already. Sealed is probably better, for any moisture add an outlet down there and use a dehumidifier with a pump to drain the water.

 

[gthomas785]

Another question for you guys relating to the cabin. It has a crawl space underneath. Basically the cabin is on 6x6 posts, with about 3’ of crawl space under it. I built a skirt with felt paper wrapped around and hemlock 1” boards on top of that. The skirt is pretty tight.
The floors have R19 insulation right now.

I’ve been thinking about whether this space should be vented like an attic, or insulated. If it’s going to be vented I need to put a bit more insulation under the floor. If it’s going to be insulated I need to seal it up better and put insulation around the skirt (2” foam board?).

Basically right now the area stays around freezing in the winter. And I’ve noticed some moisture being trapped down there. So I need to make some kind of change with this space. Either cut some holes and install vents, or seal it up better.

The only opening is a 24”x18” wide access door in the back of the house.

I’m leaning towards insulating it, but will I be trapping moisture down there still? There would be no airflow.

You've got the right idea. It should be either well ventilated or well sealed. The worst case would be halfway in-between.

Going to the sealed ("encapsulated") crawlspace is preferable from an energy efficiency standpoint because it reduces the surface area exposed to the outside elements. However it is more work and requires proper humidity management. As festerw said you will want a moisture barrier as most of the humidity probably coming up from the ground. You should also run a dehumidifier. The tighter your crawlspace is, the less the dehumidifier will need to run but it is still necessary or else any moisture making its way in will be trapped.

 

[DonTee]

Ok thanks guys. I’ll make it sealed then. It’s somewhere in between right now and I agree it’s not good.
I’m wondering if foam board will be good enough, or if I need to use something like R19 on the skirt. I would have to frame with little stud walls to use any kind of fiberglass insulation like that.
Another option is the rigid fiberglass or roxul board.

I have an indoor/outdoor thermometer that shows temp and humidity. I’ve seen some online that has multiple sensors. Like 4 or more.
I was thinking about getting one that has multiple sensors so I can put one outside, one under the house, and one in my well house.

 

[stoveliker]

I have one of those multiple sensor ones. Battery units, and wired "home station". No phone access tho (not connected to the net). That's fine with me. Temperature, humidity, dewpoint (the latter also being particularly important for your application).

Ambient Weather WS-3000-X5 Thermo-Hygrometer Wireless Monitor w/ 5 Remote Sensors - Logging, Graphing, Alarming, Radio Controlled Clock​

 

[gthomas785]

I have one of those multiple sensor ones. Battery units, and wired "home station". No phone access tho (not connected to the net). That's fine with me. Temperature, humidity, dewpoint (the latter also being particularly important for your application).

Ambient Weather WS-3000-X5 Thermo-Hygrometer Wireless Monitor w/ 5 Remote Sensors - Logging, Graphing, Alarming, Radio Controlled Clock​

View attachment 292588

That's the one I have as well. I got a micro SD card and download the data annually or so, so I can track the improvements I've made to the house year over year. I do have one of the sensors dangling in my crawlspace.

 

[DonTee]

Yes that’s what I want to get. Did you guys get yours from Amazon or somewhere else?

And speaking of ground moisture, I'm surprised how much there is this time of year. I’m building a woodshed. It’s pole construction. I was digging with post hole diggers and when I got about 18” down the hole started filling with water. I thought the ground would be more frozen/dry, but I guess not.
The area where the woodshed is going isn’t down in a swampy area either. It’s kind of on the side of a hill.

I’m hoping to get the woodshed done within a week. It’s going to be 7’x14’ with a steel roof. I’m really excited to get my firewood under better cover, although I’m sure I’ll still have some outside the shed. I burn between 10-12 facecords a year, and I think the shed will hold 16 face cords (if my math is right.
7x14 is the actual stacking area size. The roof will be 6’ in the back and 8’ in the front.