The sill plate is the first piece of framing lumber and it runs on top of the crawl space wall.
How to insulate a cabin floor.
Insulating the floor log cabin flooring is made up of packs of tongue and groove boarding nailed to pressure treated bearers.
Directly beneath the flooring and between the joists fit foil backed insulation boards for example 25mm or 50mm celotex a compressed foam material between silver foil.
This size of metal screen should be small enough to keep out nuisance animals such as mice.
According to the 2012 irc the minimum r value for floor assemblies is r 13 in zones 1 and 2 r 19 in zones 3 and 4 r 30 in zones 5 and 6 and r 38 in zones 7 and 9.
Alternatively you could fill the cavity completely using r 38 faced batt insulation.
When we built the addition to the cabin last year we skipped a few steps.
When you re using fiberglass batting insulation material run it about 6 inches or so onto the crawl space floor.
These are some of the basic options you will find to use as floor insulation for your log cabin.
I would also try to nudge you to insulate the roof as well.
But you will find insulating concrete as well.
The primary choices for today s discussion are the floor insulation options you can find at your disposal.
You may also be interested in this post on double glazing r and u values and log cabin thermal.
The air space above the 9 1 2 inch insulation in the 12 inch joist cavity will help provide a warm floor inside the cabin.
Insulating your log cabin s floor can save up to 20 of your annual heating costs when fitted properly and combined with the finished floor.
Place the batts against the underside of the floor then cover with the hardware cloth securing it to the joists with a staple gun.
A closer look at the primary equipment.
The two areas i would absolutely recommend insulating are your floor and roof.
It will provide additional insulating value for not too much more than what would be invested in the r30 insulation.
If you want to insulate a floor assembly by leaving the joist bays empty and installing rigid foam on the underside of the joists here are a few things to keep in mind.
Cover the walls with insulation from the sill plate to the plastic covered dirt floor.
If you were one of my customers and you were buying a lovely new log cabin from me especially one of our thicker wall log cabins such as 50mm upwards i would be strongly urging you to insulate at the least the floor of your new log cabin.