Insulating, insulating crawl space, heating

Mr had a real coup yesterday. He was exploring under the house to do some repairs, his least favorite pass-time. While slugging around under there, he found what appeared to be the major problem causing our lack of heat. (In picturing this crawl space one must visualize a crawlspace with an unexcavated terrain, some of it two feet high, some of it 6 inches high and inaccessible) Though previous owners had "filled in" the blank areas between the perimeter pilings with very ugly and poorly constructed brick patchwork, they did not do it under the house....only in the visible areas on certain parts of the house. That meant that the whole west and north sides of the house were open to the wind and the cold. No wonder the place was freezing! Was, is the operative word here. Mr, in his infinite miracle working wisdom. figured out a solution to the problem. He put rigid foam insulation as a wall where none existed. It has an unusual installation, but I can attest to the fact it works like a charm.

The top of the foam boards are attached to a firring strip attached to the sills of the house, which thankfully are very healthy and intact. The foam is attached to the sill at the top and dug into a trench in the ground on at  the bottom, to block out the wind and cold. It is not airtight, but it is not open either. The whole project is a wonder. Within fifteen minutes of coming in from under the house (maybe I should call him The Hobbit) and raising the thermostat two degrees to test the system, the livingroom temps rose six degrees to 70 within fifteen minutes. Previously it had been set at 68, but could only maintain 62-64 degrees, no matter what it was set at. Now, with the new foam boards along the bottom of the house, it can hold whatever temperature you set. Wow, it is amazing. I actually stated that the house was hot....I could not believe it! Hot! Things are definitely looking up.....Now, it we could only get a handle on the water softening system, we might be able to get within the range of normal! Don't know if that is ever going to happen in my lifetime, but it is something to look forward to!