I went to Home Depot to get insulators for the crawl space vents around my house. I was surprised at how expensive these small pieces of styrofoam were. So I decided to look around for a better option.
I found these Owens-Corning 2x2 foot squares that were much denser and less expensive per piece, I would just have to cut them to size. These 2x2 panels were so much cheaper ($.009 per square inch) than the pre-cut pieces ($.045 per square inch) that I decided to purchase 3 panels so I could insulate both outside and inside the vent.
To buy enough of the pre-cut vent insulators for home I would have spent $32.76. I was able to purchase a much higher quality insulation and install twice as much for only $16.44, a savings of about about 50%!
Cutting them to size was easy, I found a bread knife worked well for the long cuts. Once they were cut to the correct size, I simply pushed them into place.
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You should remember that the screens you covered are there for a reason. Your crawl space needs air moving through to decrease the humidity that would eventually rot your floor, allow mold to get started, and other bad things.
A better idea would be to bore holes (3/4"?) through the foam to allow a certain amount of circulation. As long as the building is heated all winter, enough heat will penetrate through the floor to keep the pipes from freezing.
Is your furnace in the crawl space also? It needs combustion air, although there are various methods to provide it.
If your furnace is in the crawl space and the flue gets blocked howsomever, carbon monoxide can build up down there. Air circulating through the crawl space vents can assure that CO2 gets swept out.
Good luck.
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