The issue is its a pier and beam built in 1960 and back then houses were built poorly... I have added onto the house and done all the usual while doing it. Only thing I haven't finished is the insulating of the perimeter concrete walls and the rest of the plastic on the ground. That adds allot of heat and cooling load.
While not on the plains it is somewhat windy. Especially in summer... Funny how when the temps are over 100* people say it's not so bad because there is a breeze... And I have to remind them that the wind and heat is how a convection oven cooks so much faster...

The cooing problems here aren't so much the day time highs. It's the fact that it doesn't cool off at night. It will be midnight and it's still over 90*. The lows will briefly get to 80 to 85 but by 9 am it will be back to 90*. Now you know the main part of why we are moving. I don't like to be hot and it's hot allot here.

Thanks for these informations.

[QUOTE=Elcam84;49968 The lows will briefly get to 80 to 85 but by 9 am it will be back to 90*. Now you know the main part of why we are moving. I don't like to be hot and it's hot allot here.[/QUOTE]


When you mentioned 17 F highs I thought of Amarillo or Lubbock, but your definitely not on the high planes. I live near Charlotte, NC and I love the weather here, but I still miss those cool and crisp summer evenings we enjoyed in the Texas panhandle. We never needed AC after about 7-8 pm, just open a couple windows.

With manual j there's no heat gain from underfloor crawl space. Heat loss for winter is there but still minimal compared to other losses. I've been experimenting with sealing up my crawlspace. This winter I blocked all the underfloor crawl vents with rigid insulation board. It seemed to help, my gas usage was lowest ever, but we also had a ridiculously mild winter. I'm keeping the crawlspace blocked off thinking it couldn't hurt unless it gets too moist under there. My house was built in '58, its taken some doing but not impossible to make efficient.

The best solution for a crawlspace is to total encapsulation however there are some exceptions. Basically pool liner over the floor and just up the walls and foam insulation around the perimeter walls and piers. Lots of good info over at building science site.

I have about 90% of the floor covered and closed off the vents and monitored humidity and it does make a difference in heating and cooling. The floors used to be noticeably warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer with the vents closed.

If we end up with another pier and beam house in NC when we move it will be part of the negotiation that it has the crawlspace encapsulated or knock off $ and I will have it done. I'm not doing another one myself...

You still might want to look at your manual j numbers before hand. Closed and insulated might be the best, but in a southern climate the gains aren't much for the trouble. Money and effort could yield you faster returns on other areas vs what only affects me 3000bthuhr during 1-2 months of winter. I really can't measure the difference where my floor is insulated and where it isn't, but its also about outdoor ambient and even wind speed.