Our home has blown-in insulation on the foundation block in the crawlspace. I've never seen this before. The other homes in the area I've seen had foam board glued to the wall. There doesn't appear to be a vapor barrier between the block and the insulation, so I'm worried about it holding moisture. Is the blown-in stuff acceptable?
I live in Middle Tennessee where we have a lot of humidity and 90-100 degree temps through summer. In the winter we have several periods of freezing weather with a few snows.
Best Answer
Since it's vented outside, the humidity level in the crawlspace is generally going to be equal to the humidity level outside. You should not have any vapor barrier on the walls, as this will actually prevent drying and hold the moisture in (though because it's vented, it will still eventually equalize).
What you should have though, is a vapor barrier and insulation on the roof of the crawlspace, before the subfloor of the floor above. This is an area where cold (air in the crawlspace) meets hot (from the conditioned room above), and so there needs to be a thermal break (insulation) and a vapor barrier on the warm side of the insulation.
I suspect the insulation in the crawlspace itself is just to help slow the temperature changes in the crawlspace, because that's about all it's doing. Considering it's open to the outside, it will eventually get to the outside temperature. Expecting it to add any insulation value to your living space is about the same as leaving your front door wide open and expecting the insulation in the rest of your house to keep you warm.