Making a summer house into a year-round house

[dsigno]

My house in northern New York state was originally built as a cabin for summer use but I have since added insulation and I am hoping to live in it year-round. The biggest issue is the water– Right now all my pipes are just set up for summer use. My house is up on cinderblocks – it does not have a basement or foundation; there is just a shallow crawl space between the house and the ground. Insulation has been put around the perimeter of the crawlspace. The trap for my tub and the drain pipes are under the house. I have been told by one plumber that there is no issue even with the trap – it won't freeze. Someone else told me that it will definitely freeze and I should have a box made out of R-max to go around it and attach up to the floor joists. Another plumber told me that even this will not be sufficient to keep the trap from freezing and he suggested putting in an Electric heater to heat the crawlspace area. Any advice?

 

[frodo]

simple, add skirting to outter walls, insulate the skirting

it will freeze

 

[dsigno]

It does have skirting around it. The house is so low to the ground that there is no way to access much of the crawl space- so it would be impossible to completely insulate it. One plumber told me that as long as there is no draft on it, the trap won't freeze; but several others have said that without heat, it will freeze. Without insulation and being so close to the ground, I'm not sure heating the space would be a viable option.

 

[frodo]

it will freeze and bust. seen it many many times

as i answered on another thread asking the same thing. get a shovel and make it accessible