The Polystyrene we buy usually comes in 2 by 8 sheets with rebate like edges so that they can overlap. It comes in various thicknesses, usually inch and a half or two inches. You can cut it with a hand saw or even score it deeply then snap it but that isn't as nice an edge. for some reason they usually colour it blue to distinguish it from the open cell Styrofoam, this stuff is a higher insulation value. There is special sealing tape, it is a lot like the wide packing tape you are probably familiar with, when I bought it it was red I don't know if that is significant.
The point is to insulate but also to keep warm air, particularly when you have paid to heat it inside. Now this stuff can be flammable and is best covered if there is any significant risk of exposure to open flame. It can also be helpful for holding it into place. You can run screws through something like particle board and the foam into structure beyond it. I have used wide washers, a couple of inches to hold the heads of screws to hold it into place. A little glue like liquid nails or even some calking on the structure then press the foam into it should also work well in your application. Hope this helps. If I was Han Solo I'd probably pet my wookie ----- Original Message ----- From: William Stephan To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, January 10, 2010 3:14 PM Subject: RE: [BlindHandyMan] Blocking the wind. Dale: all good points really. The only reason I was thinking about a temporary set up is that occasionally, the varmint-killing cat leaves us a little something under the porch until the possums get it. But, of course, if the foundation were blocked he wouldn't be doing that in any case. The roof itself, according to the manufacturer, is pretty well insolated. It's about five or six inches thick. If the snow ever meltsz, I'll go see what the lumber yard has in terms of Extruded Polystyrene. Thanks for the eye-opener. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dale Leavens Sent: Saturday, January 09, 2010 21:14 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Blocking the wind. Is there any good reason why you wouldn't want to block air infiltration in the summer as well? It would be my inclination to wrap the inside of what ever skirting you have around the deck foundation with something like extruded polystyrene sheets and seal them together with the tape sold for that purpose. I would look for ways of sealing it tightly at the top and bottom, keep any air from entering or leaving except between the room and under the floor. Unless the dogs are piddling through the deck or for some other reason you need to air the area to keep stink down there isn't any good reason to loose heated or cooled air to the good outdoors and, it is expensive as well. I would consider insulating under the roof as well if there is a convenient and practical way to do so. You would probably find your heater raised the temperature 50 or 60 degrees, you might even find you want to turn it off quite a bit. If you feel the need to circulate air through the structure you can always open the windows and in that way choose when and how much cold you require. If I was Han Solo I'd probably pet my wookie ----- Original Message ----- From: William Stephan To: blindhandyman@ <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com> yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, January 09, 2010 9:40 PM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Blocking the wind. All: We have a sort of three-season room on the north side of our house. It faces off into a yard surrounded by privacy fences and a couple garages. The room is sort of unique. It started life as just an open deck. We had a pre-fabricated aluminum room added shortly after we took up residence here. This room is all aluminum and glass with two aluminum doors and many sliding windows. During winter we use this room as a sort of mud room, and it's where we groom our dogs as well. Because of that, when it was constructed, the deck floor was taken up, and an aluminum screen was put in place, and the deck flooring was then replaced on top of this screen. Our idea was that snow from boots and shovels and dogs, and spillage from our fountain etc. would just drain through the cracks between the decking, an bugs couldn't come through either and that part's worked well for us. We've been having snow here, more snow than anybody's seen in twenty or thirty years. It blows here too, and there's quite a bit of snow piled and drifted around this three season room. To keep it more or less useable, we have one of those Sun Twin 5,000 BTU heaters there, and typically, it keeps the temperature between 20 an 25 degrees above the outdoor temperature. This year though, it's been keeping the room about 30 or 35 degrees above the outside temperature. I imagine a lot of this is because of the snow around the foundation. There are several gaps that allow air to circulate pretty freely under thestructure. So, it might be a good idea to block these gaps, though probably only during the Winter months. Does anyone know if there might be say, bladders, that I could fill with a compresser that would form themselves in a way so as to fill gaps ofa few incheshere or ther, and if so, what is the correct term for them? Thanks in advance for any input on this. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
