Hi,

before I posted this, I did some web searches and read some of the threads here. It seems that there are some conventional thoughts on what to do, but then I read other "professional" sites that go against these conventions- thus I am confused as how to proceed.

The crawlspace sits below the master bedroom and a bathroom. The bathroom stays quite warm as it has all interior walls and being small, is well heated by the small water baseboard radiator.

The master bedroom has a wall of three windows, an exterior wall and the entire (new/tight) wood flooring sits above the crawl space. It too has a higher output baseboard heater, sitting beneath the windows.

I have a full basement under the entire house except for the crawl space I mentioned. The crawl space is about two feet deep, no where near the depth of the otherwise livable and heated basement. It can be accessed through a closet where there is a crawl opening which is usually closed with a wood panel.

The floor of the crawl space is poured concrete. I do have some water/sewer lines running in it, as well as the pex hoses to the master bedroom's radiator. The turbine for the airtub is also mounted in there.

I know that there are different strategies for vented versus unvented crawl spaces. I don't see vent holes, but since the crawl space has two small near-ground level windows and can be accessed from the finished basement, I would assume that this is vented.

From what I read- as a matter of convention, I should not insulate the crawl space ceiling since I have water/heater pipes in that area (only supplying a bathroom and the master bedroom). I also read that if you have a vented crawl space that insulating the exterior walls (from inside of the crawl space) will not work.

I'm not sure how to proceed in my situation. Luckily the thermostat is more centrally located in the house, but the temperature difference could easily be 7 or more degrees colder in the master bedroom than the more centrally located rooms of the house on very cold days. The floor of the master bedroom will also be notably cold.

Granted, last night was a very cold NYC area evening. With the temperature hovering around 20 degrees, the crawl space registered at around 45 degrees with the sensor placed on an interior wall just inside the access panel from the basement. I can only imagine that it would be colder near the windows/exterior walls which are on the far side of the sensor.

So, do I try to put up the XPS type insulation on the exterior walls? Do I insulate the ceiling between the joists- and if so do I leave joists near heating/water pipes bare?

Should I first cover the small crawl space windows with insulating panels or other insulating materials for the winter months, or do this in addition to insulating the walls of the crawl space (or neither)? I have to assume that cold will be easily convected through the windows. Does this erase attempts at insulating the exterior walls?

Incidently I have anear 100 year old stucco home with concrete walls. The master bedroom is a later extension to a house that once served as a rooming home with 19 rooms and 7 bathrooms- since 1982 completely redone as a two family home.

Presently, we are using an electric blanket to deal with the increased cold in the master bedroom. No sense in overheating the entire house to make it warmer in there. That would be costly.

I know that insulating the windows in the master bedroom is also part of the solution, but I am not confused about those options and have initiated these measures.

Yesterday was very cold for the NYC area- in the teens. L leave the thermostat lowered when the house is unoccupied, but even so, it got so cold in that bedroom, and was so cold outside, that when the rest of the house was at 69 degrees with the thermostat set to 71 for our occupancy, the master bedroom had only worked its way up to 60 degrees and never got warmer than 64 degrees.

I don't have storm windows, have used weather stripping to cut out most of the draft and have wood blinds kept close don the three bedroom windows.

Sorry for all of the verbiage and details, but given that there are so many variables to consider when arriving at a solution, I tried to answer as many questions as possible upfront.

Thanks and be well,

Rob - Long Beach, NY