Insulate air ducts in your crawl space and save money.
Crawl space ducts are often easily neglected when someone is insulating the crawl space. However, uninsulated ducts in the crawl space can lose up to 30% of their capacity, wasting your heating and cooling while driving your energy bill higher. Fortunately, you can insulate air ducts in the crawl space by yourself at an affordable cost. Nonetheless, this is an intermediate project and may be challenging for some.
Correctly installing insulation can be difficult. Health and safety risks are involved; therefore, we highly recommend contacting a pro to ensure the job is completed safely and correctly.
Star by purchasing duct wraps for insulation. You will find fiber and fiberglass insulation options in the market. Since fiberglass insulation can be dangerous and also harder to install, we recommend you go for other alternatives. Woolen duct insulation wraps cost somewhere around $100 per 25 feet. We recommend you purchase at least 50 feet of wraps so you don’t need to run back out mid-project to get more.
Make sure you check your local residential building code before buying anything. Most areas will require an R-8 insulation for crawl space ducts, but some places may have a different requirement.
Always ensure a clear path anytime you work in a confined space. Remove any nails, hanging wire, or wood pieces above your head to avoid injury. Declutter the space by removing obstructions or pushing them to the edge. Lay down tarps to gather whatever dust, caulk waste, and insulation waste that may occur.
Measure the circumference of your air duct in the crawl space and add two inches to the number. That’s the measurement for your insulation wrap. Peel away the foil backing, cut that additional two-inch off, and discard. You now have an insulation wrap with a flap you can use to seal with.
Cut out enough pieces to cover all your air ducts. Stack them aside and make sure they are easily reachable so you don’t have to go back and forth during the insulation project.
Remove the supporting brackets around your air duct with a cordless drill. Remove the screw from the joist then rotate the bracket to take them off. Make sure you have a small bowl to hold the screws since it is easy to misplace small objects in the darker crawlspace.
Furthermore, removing brackets in sections will make your project go a lot faster than removing everything all at once.
Slide the insulation around the top of the air duct. Make sure the aluminum backing is facing upward. Keep pushing the wrap forward and wrap the other side around the air duct. Ensure your hand still has a good grip so it’s easier for you to fasten the edges together.
Overlap the 2-inch foil onto the end of the wrap and seal together with aluminum duct tape. Gently pad or press the tape for extra security. Rinse and repeat until all rectangular ducts are insulated.
Place two steel wires on each section of the duct wrap and twist them tight with a pair of pliers. This relieves stress and prevents your wraps from falling apart by the seam. The section length is determined by your wrap’s dimension. For example, if you purchased a 4ft by 25ft roll, your sections should be 4 feet each.
Repeat the same steps to wrap the round ducts. They typically have a smaller circumference and are easier to conceal. Tape shut and secure with steel wires.
Put the brackets back as you wrap and secure each section. This is far more efficient than reattaching all brackets in one sitting at the end of the project. Cut a small hole in each bracket, rotate it back up, and reattach it to the joist. Seal the brackets along the edge with duct tape.
Crawlspaces create a tight work environment that poses multiple challenges to someone who is not familiar with insulation work. Additionally, insulation projects are almost always intermediate projects given the associated duration, labor, and risks.
We recommend you hire an insulation company specializing in crawl space and air duct insulation. On average, an insulation contractor charges $40 to $80 per hour plus material cost. Therefore, it’s a better deal for you if you hire someone to insulate your entire crawl space – just make sure you ask them to insulate the air ducts as well.
Mineral wool wraps are the most affordable and effective insulation for crawl space ducts. They are easy to cut, last for a long time, and healthier for humans. Meanwhile, fiberglass wraps are cheaper but more hazardous and difficult to handle. If you do choose to use a fiberglass wrap, make sure you are wearing long sleeves and wear proper protective gear.
Sweating happens when heated air touches a cold surface, or vice versa. You can close your crawl space and install a dehumidifier to dry the air out and lower the dew point temperature of the air. But your best bet is to insulate your crawl space air ducts. This also improves your HVAC system’s energy efficiency.
Ductwork insulation in the crawl space is a simple add-on if you are hiring someone to insulate the entire crawl space already. Separately, it is only a few hours of work. The investment is nothing compared to the return since uninsulated ducts can lose up to 30% of their heating and cooling efficiency.
Spray foam insulation doesn’t do well around heat sources. Therefore, You can use spray foam insulation to seal around HVAC boots that penetrate through the drywalls or around where wrapped ducts connect to the boots, but we don’t recommend using spray foam insulation to encapsulate your air ducts. Spray foam insulation on air ducts is also less effective compared to duct wraps.
