This must be obvious, but how does one ensure that a crawlspace is sufficiently warm to prevent pipes freezing in extremely cold (rare) weather? FYI: Daughter's new house so I'm not there consistently and I'm unfamiliar with the idiosyncrasies.

Insulate in such a way as the pipes are within the envelope.

Close all openings. The heat of the ground should maintain a good temperature.

Make sure all the foundation vents are closed, and that any cracks are sealed.

I would insulate so the pipes are inside a heated envelope.....

Ditto. Keep the cold/drafts out. For a little extra insurance, screw in some old school 100w incandecent light bulbs in any ceramic overhead light fixtures in the area and leave them on 24-7.



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Especially between the wooden plate and the concrete foundation where pipes are located. The cold air coming through that "slot" will be like an Arctic jet and freeze pipes very quickly.

Creating dead air space is your best defense in addition to the above suggestions. Even so, a prolonged severe temperature plunge can still affect plumbing in a crawlspace if there is no external heat source.

Thanks. the 100w solution seems workable under the circumstances.



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The earth inside a crawl space will NEVER freeze, unless the building is abandoned, so it will always have some heat input.

Our building codes have not permitted earth floor craawlspaces in decades.

Do they specify concrete, or just a vapor barrier, at a minimum?

The same thing applies to concrete as long as it is below grade.

How about putting a remote sensor thermotmer in the crawl space?. Otherwise you dont know what u r doing has any effect. Taylor or a wal*Mart digital will do.