bathroom floor insulation question

[larknm]

Our floors are old wood, the wide-board kind and are soft pine--apparently the most readily available when the house was built. Underneath that in our bathroom is a big crawl space, with a rectangular bit where a person can crawl in and out.

Can we insulate most of it--or is there any point if we have to leave the bit for the entering/leaving person? If we can insulate it--what is eco-friendly and where do we get that? Our house is cold all winter and I think most of it's coming from there. Add that to the fact that we have less than 5 minutes of non-cold water for each shower, and it's really daunting to go take a shower. Or is there some method of heating that solves all this--like what are those flat panels some people have in their walls? Or heat that heats only things not the air? Ideas?

[rodeosweetheart]

I am bidding on a house that has a note on the listing sheet about having had foam insulation added under the house in the crawl space, I imagine to deal with just this problem? I don't know anything about it, but it sounds like a logical thing to do. . .

[Lainey]

Our local utilities were offering $99 energy audits of your home, provided by a 3rd party vendor. They were not there to sell you anything, but just to take some measurements and let you know options for solutions. A number of my co-workers took advantage of that and were very happy with the results, most of them opting to do some additional insulation and similar projects at a reasonable fee.

I'd check with your local utility or state legislator's office to find out if that service is offered in your area.

[SteveinMN]

Is the crawlspace dirt (guessing so, but I've seen cement crawlspaces)? Where is the water heater and/or furnace? In the crawlspace?

I don't know if crawlspaces can be insulated successfully if they're dirt. Maybe it would be possible to block off the portion of the crawlspace under the bathroom and insulate that? I second Lainey's suggestion of an energy audit -- they'll typically find enough things to fix to more than equal the cost of the audit in future energy savings.

Other thoughts:
- People do go around and around on this, but cellulose fiber insulation is considered "greener". Fiber insulation which typically is made of old clothing/mill ends/etc. also is available and a good option in the recycle/less-toxic realm. Keep in mind anything you put there has to be either naturally fire-resistant/retardant or treated to be that way (I'm guessing bae can speak to the regulations in his area about the tendency of various insulation materials to burn). Fire retardants may not be non-toxic even if the base material (like cellulose) is. Finding it in your area? I'd look on-line for cellulose insulation new mexico or recycled fiber insulation new mexico. I know some people like fiberglass as an insulator; it does an excellent job, it's inexpensive, and, if it remains undisturbed, it does not shed strands. But, like discussions of most "green" materials, not everyone agrees.
- Could you consider attaching something to the bottom of the bathroom floor in an attempt to keep the cold (and drafts) from appearing?
- As far as the hot water, if you haven't had your water heater checked, it might be time. There are little heaters you can buy which go in a bathroom cabinet or such and heat the water heading into the shower and sink. Look for an auxiliary water heater.

We have one of those flat-panel heaters in our bathroom. It allows us to put the heat where it's needed: in the room with the shower and drying area. That way we can keep the rest of the house cooler and DW does not freeze solid out of the shower. :0! We chose it because there was no good place to put a traditional space heater and because this uses far less energy. We switch it on when we go to bed and it's good by the morning. DW shuts it off when she's done dressing (I like it cool). It's safe, quiet, and we don't have to worry about switching on the hair dryer on the same circuit and blowing circuits left and right. I think ours was less than $100. It's harder to figure out how much it costs to operate (depends on how warm you want it) but the company that makes ours advertises that you can leave it on all the time if you want, and they have some info on their site that tells you how much it would cost to run it for x hours.