We have a 1830 farmhouse in the Catskill Mountains of New York. It’s a cute old house and obviously has history, but it’s not “historic” or precious in any way. We use it as a weekend home. It doesn’t need to be perfect and we also don’t want to spend too much on it.

There is a portion of the house (almost half of it) built with a very low, rock-filled crawl space. I’m attaching some pictures so you can see what I’m working with. The bedrooms above have cold floors and a bit of a moisture problem, so I would like to do something to insulate and crate a vapor barrier if possible. Cutting down on infiltration and saving some energy would be nice too.

Any suggestions on what I should (or even can) do? Is there a miracle foam that I can fill the whole space with that insulates, creates an air barrier, is insect proof, doesn’t require fire protection, has low GHG emissions, makes my teeth whiter and breath fresher? Or am I asking too much and should just leave it as is for the next 190 years?