Thanks DP. A contractor told me that trick when I asked how to handle the ground floor, barely-insulated addition that was affected by our 2000 housefire, which *mostly* affected the second floor of that addition. (His rebuilt area up there became the Mudcat Attic Dorm. ) I had used the first floor as a summer bedroom and, at another time, office, and I was curious if we could affordably get year-round use.

Since that house is a rental, the moving or removal of the existing but disconnected baseboard heating system nixed that-- that had been piped under the floor. The erosion of soil into the underfloor cavity not only made that piping inconvenient to access, but no moisture barrier had ever been used.... that would all now need to be excavated.

That whole addition was first conceived as summer-only farmworker space, tho later there was an attempt to use it as a separate apartment for a farm mgr. Its foundation is only a thin layer of stacked stone, which is pushed farther away from the sill plates by soil movement every year.

This used to bother me (in terms of supplied clergy housing), til I read that Desmond Tutu once was housed in an unheated garage. There's a perspective correction!!!

Well, the whole addition leans more each year, and will probably crack off entirely in this decade. ... so no, not our bucks!!! ;-)

~S~