Cold kitchen suggestions?

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itscoldinwi

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Hello everyone! New to the forum.

I've got an older home that at some point had an approximately 9'x6' addition put onto the kitchen.

There is no basement under this addition, merely a crawl space accessible from the basement, and therein lies my problem. I'm in Wisconsin and with this addition sitting just a couple feet off the ground my kitchen is always 10-15 degrees colder than the rest of the house. The bottoms of my cabinets in this area read 42 degrees F with an infrared thermometer. We actually keep a door closed between the kitchen and the rest of the house because if we don't the cold air makes it's way through the rest of the home and our furnace never shuts off as a result.

The crawlspace was insulated before I bought the place but it doesn't seem to be doing any good. I've blocked off the actual hole in the basement wall leading to the crawl space because leaving it open just causes frigid air to pour into my basement.

What suggestions might some of you have to rectify this problem and bring my kitchen to equilibrium with the rest of my house?
 
What kind of heat do you have in the rest of the house?
Do you heat the basement?
The insulation in the crawspace, is it just under the floor or what?
 
You need to check the insulation on all sides of the kitchen. The crawlspace may need thicker stuff, and the walls may also be under insulated (and attic!). When the addition was put on, did they extend the heating system to the new space or just simply install an electric baseboard? The heat register may be undersized for the space. And if you have hot air or hot water running under the floor, make sure the pipes or ducts are insulated.
 
What kind of heat do you have in the rest of the house?
Do you heat the basement?
The insulation in the crawspace, is it just under the floor or what?

1) We have central forced air heat.
2) Beyond the vent that is on the main "trunk" of the furnace, no. Just checking around my basement w/ the infrared thermometer it's a pretty consistent 50-55 degrees. The crawlspace area currently reads 12 degrees.
3) The crawlspace has insulation around the outer perimeter but nothing up under the floor itself. Do you think that would help?
 
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You need to check the insulation on all sides of the kitchen. The crawlspace may need thicker stuff, and the walls may also be under insulated (and attic!). When the addition was put on, did they extend the heating system to the new space or just simply install an electric baseboard? The heat register may be undersized for the space. And if you have hot air or hot water running under the floor, make sure the pipes or ducts are insulated.

To the best of my knowledge there is likely no insulation at all in the addition. There is exterior insulation under the siding. There is also no attic above this spot - just a flat roof. Ceiling tiles on the inside, metal and rubber on the outside. No idea what's in between.

There was a heat run that ran thru the crawlspace originally, and a cold air return that came up into the center of the kitchen. It's difficult to explain, but the heat run ran a significant distance across the basement, and then through that crawlspace that by the time the air was coming out of the vent it was just as cold as the crawlspace. I disconnected that line completely and re-routed the heat to the center vent, leaving the cold air return line open in the basement. That helped a little bit, but not much.

There's no other lines or plumbing running through that area.
 
To the best of my knowledge there is likely no insulation at all in the addition. There is exterior insulation under the siding. There is also no attic above this spot - just a flat roof. Ceiling tiles on the inside, metal and rubber on the outside. No idea what's in between.

There was a heat run that ran thru the crawlspace originally, and a cold air return that came up into the center of the kitchen. It's difficult to explain, but the heat run ran a significant distance across the basement, and then through that crawlspace that by the time the air was coming out of the vent it was just as cold as the crawlspace. I disconnected that line completely and re-routed the heat to the center vent, leaving the cold air return line open in the basement. That helped a little bit, but not much.

There's no other lines or plumbing running through that area.

Installing faced batt insulation to fill the floor joist cavity must be installed with the facing against the floor, IE. conditioned space, and you notice an improvement.

The supply vent should have been insulated, and if it isn't, can and should be.

The return air needs to be correctly run to the existing return of the heating system, because just sucking cold, unconditioned air, will cause your heating system to never reach balance.
 
The basement won't get enough heat if there is no return air vent there also, if the outside of the addition is insulated then it shoud be heated like the basement but you don't have enought air movement.. You without heating the crawlspace you would have to run hot air duct into the floor of the kitchen, if the furnace can handle the a extra square footage.. If you run heat to the kitchen and keep that space below closed it should be vented and the floor should be insulated.
 
The supply vent should have been insulated, and if it isn't, can and should be.

The return air needs to be correctly run to the existing return of the heating system, because just sucking cold, unconditioned air, will cause your heating system to never reach balance.

The only insulation the supply vent had was duct tape. Where it came through is now covered by a new cabinet but I could relocate it.

Fair point on the heating system not reaching balance... do you think I should block off the return I left wide open in the basement for the time being (which originally went into the kitchen)?
 
The basement won't get enough heat if there is no return air vent there also, if the outside of the addition is insulated then it shoud be heated like the basement but you don't have enought air movement.. You without heating the crawlspace you would have to run hot air duct into the floor of the kitchen, if the furnace can handle the a extra square footage.. If you run heat to the kitchen and keep that space below closed it should be vented and the floor should be insulated.

Originally there was no return in the basement. The one that ran to the kitchen is now just open in the basement. I believe you're saying if I once again attach that return to the kitchen, I would still need another one in the basement?
 
The only insulation the supply vent had was duct tape. Where it came through is now covered by a new cabinet but I could relocate it.

Classy! You can add insulation to the existing run in the form of unfaced R13 batt insulation or EPS which is the rigid board insulation sold by the Big Boxes.A good quality spray adhesive is quickest.

Fair point on the heating system not reaching balance... do you think I should block off the return I left wide open in the basement for the time being (which originally went into the kitchen)?

The preference would be to connect it correctly, which should also be insulated.

Insulated ducting is available from most HVAC suppliers, and probably not from the Big Boxes, except as an expensive special order.

You can find these suppliers in thebluebook.com.

Here is the link;http://www.thebluebook.com/search.html?region=30&bkid=82&searchTerm=HVAC+duct+mfg.

However, in the meantime I'd block it off and leave the kitchen area open so that the existing return air will afford some circulation.
 
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