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Insulation mystery under covered porch blueman 12-04-2007
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Posted by blueman on December 4, 2007, 10:13 pm
We have a covered entrance porch that sits about 10 inches off the
ground. It is wide open to the outside on two sides and surrounded by
the house on the other two sides.

I was replacing the decking and found (waterlogged) bags of pink
insulation stuffed in black garbage bags between the underside of the
decking and the dirt floor below.

I can't for the life of me figure out why they would put insulation
there. There is nothing underneath the porch other than dirt. The
porch itself is wide open to the outside on two sides so I can't
imagine how insulating under the deck would help anything. The house
(and basement) surround the porch on the other two sides but the
insulation can't be doing anything to insulate the house. The only
effect of the insulation was that water (inevitably) got into the bags
leading to moisture which presumably accelerated the rotting of the
deck boards.

So, any ideas (other than stupidity) on why someone would go to the
trouble of stuffing bags of insulation under the porch floor?


Posted by Pat on December 4, 2007, 11:12 pm

> We have a covered entrance porch that sits about 10 inches off the
> ground. It is wide open to the outside on two sides and surrounded by
> the house on the other two sides.
>
> I was replacing the decking and found (waterlogged) bags of pink
> insulation stuffed in black garbage bags between the underside of the
> decking and the dirt floor below.
>
> I can't for the life of me figure out why they would put insulation
> there. There is nothing underneath the porch other than dirt. The
> porch itself is wide open to the outside on two sides so I can't
> imagine how insulating under the deck would help anything. The house
> (and basement) surround the porch on the other two sides but the
> insulation can't be doing anything to insulate the house. The only
> effect of the insulation was that water (inevitably) got into the bags
> leading to moisture which presumably accelerated the rotting of the
> deck boards.
>
> So, any ideas (other than stupidity) on why someone would go to the
> trouble of stuffing bags of insulation under the porch floor?
>

They were probably storing it. Then it got ruined and they abandoned it.



Posted by aemeijers on December 5, 2007, 10:49 pm
blueman wrote:
> We have a covered entrance porch that sits about 10 inches off the
> ground. It is wide open to the outside on two sides and surrounded by
> the house on the other two sides.
>
> I was replacing the decking and found (waterlogged) bags of pink
> insulation stuffed in black garbage bags between the underside of the
> decking and the dirt floor below.
>
> I can't for the life of me figure out why they would put insulation
> there. There is nothing underneath the porch other than dirt. The
> porch itself is wide open to the outside on two sides so I can't
> imagine how insulating under the deck would help anything. The house
> (and basement) surround the porch on the other two sides but the
> insulation can't be doing anything to insulate the house. The only
> effect of the insulation was that water (inevitably) got into the bags
> leading to moisture which presumably accelerated the rotting of the
> deck boards.
>
> So, any ideas (other than stupidity) on why someone would go to the
> trouble of stuffing bags of insulation under the porch floor?
>

Previous Owner was planning to close the porch in, and ran out of cash
or ambition or time, after doing the first step? I've seen similar
things done under summer lake cabins people wanted to insulate enough
for occasional cold-weather use, heated by a potbelly stove. Wrong
material for the job, of course, but most people don't know much.

Well, it <sounds> plausible.

aem sends...

Posted by Norminn on December 6, 2007, 4:50 am
blueman wrote:

>We have a covered entrance porch that sits about 10 inches off the
>ground. It is wide open to the outside on two sides and surrounded by
>the house on the other two sides.
>
>I was replacing the decking and found (waterlogged) bags of pink
>insulation stuffed in black garbage bags between the underside of the
>decking and the dirt floor below.
>
>I can't for the life of me figure out why they would put insulation
>there. There is nothing underneath the porch other than dirt. The
>porch itself is wide open to the outside on two sides so I can't
>imagine how insulating under the deck would help anything. The house
>(and basement) surround the porch on the other two sides but the
>insulation can't be doing anything to insulate the house. The only
>effect of the insulation was that water (inevitably) got into the bags
>leading to moisture which presumably accelerated the rotting of the
>deck boards.
>
>So, any ideas (other than stupidity) on why someone would go to the
>trouble of stuffing bags of insulation under the porch floor?
>
>
>
Likely trying to use it as a wind block so the exposed walls would not
be as cold. Like the old "bale of hay" trick, which works.

Posted by HeyBub on December 6, 2007, 7:42 am
blueman wrote:
> We have a covered entrance porch that sits about 10 inches off the
> ground. It is wide open to the outside on two sides and surrounded by
> the house on the other two sides.
>
> I was replacing the decking and found (waterlogged) bags of pink
> insulation stuffed in black garbage bags between the underside of the
> decking and the dirt floor below.
>
> I can't for the life of me figure out why they would put insulation
> there. There is nothing underneath the porch other than dirt. The
> porch itself is wide open to the outside on two sides so I can't
> imagine how insulating under the deck would help anything. The house
> (and basement) surround the porch on the other two sides but the
> insulation can't be doing anything to insulate the house. The only
> effect of the insulation was that water (inevitably) got into the bags
> leading to moisture which presumably accelerated the rotting of the
> deck boards.
>
> So, any ideas (other than stupidity) on why someone would go to the
> trouble of stuffing bags of insulation under the porch floor?

Two obvious possibilities:

1. Everything's got to be somewhere.
2. The previous owner was training it to like wherever it was put.



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