Nancy, I've looked and looked through the This Old House website. They have thousands of products listed and I haven't found the one you were talking about yet but I'll keep going through the list. GGG, thanks for the info. I totally know how a crawl space "should" be insulated but this one is so shallow no one can fit under there to do the work. That is the reason the weatherization guy said dirt is the only answer. It truly does need more dirt to create a slope away from the house for drainage but I think it needs something more. I am just imagining something added to the base of the house and that will stick out from the stucco siding and look weird. See the stucco goes all the way to the ground and then has dirt over the bottom edge. Thin Man, when you are thinking about modern building practices you have to take into consideration that this house was built 126-145 years ago buy the pioneers. The county records show that the age is unknown which means that it was built before the town incorporated. We are celebrating the 125th birthday of our town this summer. I would bet that the house was framed with cottonwood or lodge pole pine and that at least the base of it is made from red cedar. The lodge pole pines are indigenous to this area and the other two were planted by very early settlers and during the homestead period and were called tree claims. I would also bet that the stucco on the house is made with river sand and probably wasn't added until the 20's or 30's. The pioneers used what materials were available to them. The houses here all have numerous additions to them because during good times people added on or they added on out of necessity to house their children or to take in boarders. It's kinda funny, it's like a time warp here. Honestly, people are finally having to re-roof their homes and buildings to get rid of the original shake shingles that were used way back when. Those who didn't do the re-roofing when it needed to be done now have buildings that are rotting and caving in. We have low rainfall, sandy soil and no termites in this country and I think that is the reason for the longevity of these houses and buildings. Oh Sierra, I feel so badly for what you are going through. I had a neighbor just like that when I lived in the city. She went so far as to accuse my husband of running her off the road. When it went to court she was 70 and my husband had longish hair and though they had no proof at all, the judge bought her story and sentenced my husband to six months. I had just had my back surgery and was not able to care for my self yet and there I was with three little kids. It was AWFUL! I say it isn't worth it. Move now and find your dream house somewhere else! Really!! Irene, very good information, thank you. I did read up on EIFS. There were numerous lawsuits and class action suits in 2003-2004 because the product, while being an excellent insulator was so good that it didn't allow any trapped moisture to escape. This caused the studs and other woods used in the building to rot. They used the product on almost all new buildings for a period of time. I know that the product system now has a weepage system built into it to eliminate that problem but you are correct in that it must be place 6-8 inches above soil level. So after much research and a sleepless night, what I have decided to do is: move my gardens to the veggie area, let my Aunt go ahead and pile dirt up around the foundation. Close up that weird crawl space area they dug out and fix the cellar door and insulate it as much as possible. When I buy the house in two years I'm going to finance it with a USDA Rural Housing loan. This will allow me enough money to buy the house and do any repairs up the amount that I qualify for based on my income. In this case it will give me about $10K for repairs. At that time I will pull the dirt away from the house, insulate with the highest R-value sheets that are available and then build raised beds with stone all the way around the house to cover the insulation. I would have to put a drip edge along the top of the insulation and seal it all very well and then check it frequently to make sure it staying sealed. The other option is to stucco over the insulation and have a little ridge all the way around the base of the house, which might look weird but may be the more long term way to go. Of course I could add the raised bed against the stucco too and that would cover the ridge. Any thoughts on that? MeMo

I'm in GA with much the same weather. I question how much good encapsulation does without actually heating and cooling the encapsulated space. There's no way you could recoup the cost of installing one, even if you did the labor yourself. You'd be much better off replacing the ductwork for the HVAC, any way you can ride it out and time it to coincide with replacing the HVAC unit?

Hi bellagoss, The sarcasm was limited to the comment about the apparent kind-heartedness of corporations. I'm glad that your agency is a co-operative - I like to see people owning their own stuff. The generator idea was straight talk - some years ago I advertised on a local radio station and recruited one to take down to a large section of our province where people had been without power for a while and a number of people were happy to get some generating done for their freezers. At no charge, by the way. They wanted to hook up furnace, too, but most have direct connection to fuse box and I was not going to mess with that. I grew up on a farm 60 years ago, and now live in a farming community and such people tend to help one another. Dad used to say that when our neighbour had trouble, we went to help: I think that if the neighbour's trouble was of his own making, Dad's enthusiasm might be somewhat reduced, but I think he'd go. Some self-interest there, as well - for farming people keeping livestock, etc. can't get sick. In addition to them working 7 days a week (and no "overtime"). If you've heard my comments here, at Household Finance and Kitchen Table, you'll know that sometimes I get involved with rather quirky humour, but generally am rather a good-spirited character. Heck, I even gave a Christmas gift last year over at KT that should save folks hundreds. How do you like that - one item, but it works as a gift to hundreds? Shouldn't that be an entry for the "Tightwad Gazette"? Of course, it's the same one that I've offered here in various forums for 3 - 4 years, now - does one call that regifting, or what? Retreading of one that's become a bit dog-eared around the corners, maybe. Good wishes to you and yours. ole joyful

Wow. So many places to start. Start with the dirt. Pour concrete to properly seal that thing. Now that it is capped, go ahead and get the whole thing sealed using a professional moisture remediation company. The cinder block foundation can be a massive issue. Crawl spaces are supposed to be properly "vented and cross vented" and proper use of moisture barriers over the dirt. It sounds like so much is missing here that the retro "fix" is going to be far more costly than if it had been made a proper basement in the first place. And no, I'm not kidding about that. So. Where do you want to start? It really all needs to be done. And yes, cinder block foundations are notoriously damp. They leak like sieves. Big, expensive, cement sieves. The cheapest thing to do is to do what needs to be done. The wood floors are not the disease, they are they symptom. You could put in thousands of dollars into that floor and still have the same problem - just a different day. You might as well spend the money where it is needed. Several thousand will start the process and calm things down. Bring experts that deal specifically with damp basements/crawlspace ventilation AND cinder block foundations (those are three specialties in one). Get them to write a flow chart as to what needs to be done with the most important items at the top. Then start with #1 and work your way down the list.