Crawlspace Insulation
in Maillardville, BC

Maillardville is one of Coquitlam's oldest and most historically significant communities, established in the early 1900s as a French-Canadian settlement for workers at the Fraser Mills sawmill. The neighbourhood has some of the oldest residential construction in the Tri-Cities area, including homes from the early 20th century that represent BC's French-Canadian heritage. Crawlspaces in these historic properties have had a very long time to accumulate moisture-related conditions.

The majority of homes in Surrey and the surrounding communities built before 2000 have fiberglass batt insulation installed between the floor joists in the crawlspace. When this insulation was new and dry, it provided reasonable thermal resistance. The problem is that fiberglass batts installed in a vented crawlspace environment in a high-rainfall climate like ours rarely stay dry. They absorb ambient moisture, sag out of their cavities, and gradually collapse onto the ground. Wet fiberglass insulation has essentially zero R-value, adds weight that can pull down on vapor barriers or staples, and provides a hospitable nesting environment for rodents.

For crawlspaces that are not being fully encapsulated, we install new unfaced fiberglass batts or mineral wool between the joists, but only after addressing the moisture conditions that destroyed the previous insulation. Installing fresh batts into a still-damp crawlspace environment means you'll be back in the same situation within a few years. Proper sequencing matters: drainage, vapor barrier, then insulation.