# Insulating the floor with house up on stilts?



## fireweed farm (Dec 31, 2010)

My cabin is uninsulated and I am planning to insulate the walls this summer.
Now I'm wondering about the floor. The cabin is built on stilts as it's on a very steep hill, and there is no insulation under your feet.
The subfloor is seemingly very solid.
My concern is if it's insulated, being out in the bush it's just going to attract packrats and mice. And as it is 40+ year old construction, closing it up tight may take more skill than I have. It's also really high up on a steep hill and ladders/scaffold will be tricky and dangerous.

Heat rises, will an uninsulated floor be a significant issue in a cold climate?
I'd prefer wearing slippers than having rats.

Thanks!


----------



## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

These should give you some ideas:

http://thechronicleherald.ca/homesnews/40958-warming-cold-floors

"If you&#8217;d rather not tear into the ceiling of your garage, you may find it preferable to insulate the top of the bedroom or bathroom floor. This makes sense if you&#8217;ll be upgrading the finished floor anyway, and you don&#8217;t mind losing about 2 1/2 inches of ceiling height. You could buy high-density extruded polystyrene foam, lay it on your floor, then fasten a layer of plywood on top with screws driven right down into the existing floor. Barricade wall panels ( www.ovrx.com) are factory-bonded sheets of foam with waferboard sheets on one side, and though they&#8217;re made for use insulating basement walls, they create an excellent system of floor insulation, too."

http://www.archiexpo.com/prod/isosystem/insulating-sandwich-panels-55554-1317009.html


----------



## wy_white_wolf (Oct 14, 2004)

Can you spray foam the underside of the floor?

That's what we did on our cabin and left it open as to not build a home for critters. There's a picture of the underside in this thread.

http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/co...uction/504831-not-underpinning-pier-beam.html

WWW


----------



## fireweed farm (Dec 31, 2010)

If affordable I really like the idea of spray foam. I'm unsure if they could do this job due to location but I'm going to look into it. 
The insulated sandwich board in Harry's link- what a great idea! I don't think it would work here due to the current floor grade but will take a look. That's a job I could do myself.


----------

