crawl space nightmare

I have a 1500 sf home. It was built in 3 phases w/3 different foundations; part telephone poles, part poured cement, part rocks/cement blocks. No central heat, just a wood stove, so no ducts, etc. Plenty of ventilation under the house, lots of air gets in there. No floor insulation, none of us had a brain back then. We use about 7 full cord of wood each year to heat our house, which is a lot more than others we know with larger homes. So I am looking for advice on how to best insulate our floors and or crawl space perimeter. The front of the house is so close to the ground that it is more of a flat on your belly kind of crawl, not for the claustrophobic! I have been reading advice on crawl spaces, insulating and vapor barriers and so far I am still kind of confused. Help! Thanks, Liz

 

We have a similar design of house. Low crawl space, no underfloor insulation, but lot's of attic and wall insulation.

We had an energy audit done, and amongst otehr things, they recommended we insulate the crawl space perimeter walls and the floor headers just above the perimeter walls.

Our clearance at front of house is 2ft (under floor joists) reducing to 1ft at back.

We has closed cell foam sprayed on the walls. We used R24 (3 1/2+") because our government will give us a $1000 grant. 2" of foam would otherwise be enough and shouldn't cost much over a $1000.

The contractor sent in two slim guys and they sprayed everything they could get to. What they couldn't spray is probably below grade anyway, so no problem.

Attic insulation to at least R40 will help a lot. Sealing of house is ultra important - about 25% of heat is lost due to chimney effect - hot air rising, finding it's way out and sucking in cold outside air. I have spent a small fortune on foam and sealants!

Good Luck!