Cold Kitchen Addition

May 28, 2002

Question from Barbara in St. Albert, AB -----

Dear Shell,

I am living in a 1100sq bungalow, and the previous owners had an addition put onto the kitchen. This area became the main eating area of the house. The addition is on the north side of the house, and does not have a basement under it. It has a dirt floor under it and has insulation and poly under the floor. (The area under the floor is maybe 2.5 feet) There is also a patio door on this addition. The floor is very cold in the winter. There is a heating duct on the far north side floor, but there doesn't seem to be much relief from that. What can I do to make this room warmer and more comfortable? Someone suggested I have another heating duct installed and heat the ground (that sounded strange to me!) Another suggestion I wondered about was to blow insulation into the area. Help! I don't want to spend another cold winter in my kitchen!

Many Thanks!

Barbara

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Dear Barbara,

The additional heating duct may not help much because your heating system was designed for the original house plan without the addition.
1. Place 6 mil poly over entire area of dirt crawlspace.
2. Remove insulation batts
3. Apply Reflectix Insulation between joists 1” away from underside of sub-floor plywood and replace batt insulation up against Reflectix Insulation.
4. Consider installing a Convectair Heater in the eating area. For more information about Convectair’s line of heaters, call 1-800-463-6478. For information on Reflectix, call 1-800-663-8898.

It’s just that easy.

Shell