Everything You Need to Know About Your Crawl Space but Are Afraid to Ask
Growing up is not easy, but if you feel like you have no idea what you are doing, don’t worry – you are not alone. Literally no one feels like a real adult . We’re all pretending here with all our might, secretly convinced that everyone else just effortlessly cherishes all over the place while we’re at home, googling things like “what is escrow” and “how to replace a ceiling fan so you don’t kill yourself.” … “
One thing’s for sure: If your sense of maturity and maturity is fragile, under no circumstances should you buy a home. This will be a vast learning experience, some of which will be very frustrating and / or extremely expensive. And there is one aspect of some homes that is confusing and unsettling to just about everyone: crawl space.
If you don’t know what crawling space is, take it easy: that means you probably don’t have one. Because if you do, you will be painfully aware of the fact that there is a dark, humid alien landscape under your house. If you have a place to crawl and pretend to be the opposite because you’re afraid of what you’ll find out, here’s all you’ve always wanted to know but were afraid to ask.
What is crawl space?
First of all: What is that Hellgate under your house? It’s not just a short basement. While basements can be quite shallow and claustrophobic, the main thing that separates basement from underground is ease of use. If the space under your house is heated and insulated, this is the basement. If not, then this is a crawl space. In other words, the key question: Is it possible to finish so that in this area lived a normal, balanced person? If so, then this is the basement.
Crawling spaces are so named for the obvious reason – they are usually only a few feet high, and so anyone who enters has to do two things: give up all hope and crawl all over the place as well. They often have earthen floors, and usually run through water and sewer lines and electrical wiring. There are crawl spaces, so the ground floor of your home is not directly on top of dirt or concrete slab, which can cause moisture problems and make it difficult to heat your home. Another important reason you might have a slider instead of a basement: Sliders are cheaper to build .
How to save crawl space
You might be tempted to assume that since you can’t do anything with thousands of square feet of dirt floor, you don’t have to worry about your crawling space. Unfortunately, if you own this home, you should be totally worried about your crawling space. Here are a few things to consider.
Access
Getting into the crawl space doesn’t matter until you have a burst water pipe or a dead animal that fiercely reminds you of its existence. It is quite amazing how often people buy houses without suspecting that they have free space under their feet or how to get to it. When my wife and I bought our house, it was two years before I discovered a trapdoor in the floor of one of our toilets – a trapdoor leading into a frightening anti-narrative full of rubbish and signs that something had happened. was there recently.
So, make sure you know how to get there in case repairs are needed (or an adventurous kid goes in search and disappears into some other dimension). Not all hiding places have a trapdoor – sometimes you literally have to crawl under the house from the outside. Which will definitely make you regret these chili cheeseburgers.
Humidity control
There are crawling spots to protect your home from dirt, but if the dirt is wet, the air will be damp. And if the air is humid all the time, mold will begin to grow down there. So, you will want to take steps.
Step one is to find out if your crawling space is ventilated or not. In a ventilated basement, there will be literally a few openings to the outside through which air enters. The idea is that moisture will evaporate and not linger. The unventilated crawl space is usually somewhat isolated. Previously, the skids were usually ventilated, but at some point someone realized that in fact all this was allowed by the weather: if it was damp outside, then it was damp in your crawling. As a result, some people have chosen to cover their vents as they may be doing more harm than good.
Look for problems
If this is your first time in your infirmary, pay attention to the danger signs: standing water is a serious problem that you will have to face. If the problem isn’t the plumbing, but looks like groundwater, call a plumber and install a sump pump. Look at your foundation – cracks if you contact a foundation repairer immediately.
Examine the floor joists above you – if they look like they are sagging, or if you can easily pierce them with your fingernail, you may have a rotting problem. Visible mold (blackheads or white fibrous) should also be dealt with. And if you see tiny piles of sawdust, it could be termites. Do we already like crawling in space?
Vapor barrier
If your basement floor is dirty, you need a vapor barrier. The vapor barrier sits at the top of the floor and blocks moisture from rising out of the dirt, trapping it beneath it before it can feed all those mold spores. The vapor barrier can be as simple as a thick sheet of plastic wrapped over dirt, or it can be a whole capsule, which typically uses a drainage mat and thick plastic wrap that is wrapped around the walls. Having some kind of vapor barrier is important to keep the crawl space relatively dry – the level of cost and effort required is determined by how wet and humid your crawl space is. If the answer is – “pretty wet” (you can buy a monitor to monitor), you can also consider installing the dryer there.
You can also encapsulate using something like Neutocrete , which insulates the earthen floor into what looks like a concrete slab. It may take a while to heal, but when it does, you can more easily and safely use the scan space as storage.
Flood
Your crawling space is, of course, the very bottom of your home. If the water table in your area rises, the first thing it will go into is your crawl space. Installing a sump pump is always a good idea if it is likely to happen (and a simple water alarm can act as a warning in case it does). You should also think about how you pump out your bypass space in the event of a power outage, as catastrophic floods and power outages are often linked. There are battery-powered standby pumps as well as hydraulic pumps that operate on water pressure and therefore do not need electricity.
How to make the subzone functional
If you think, damn it, I do n’t have enough dark, damp space under my house, good news! Often times, you can turn your crawling space into a usable basement . It’s not cheap and quite destructive, but if you absolutely need a male cave or space for your Beanie Babies collection, this can be done. But proceed with caution: Digging out the bypass space can expose the pillars of your home’s foundations, which can lead to huge problems, so consult a wide range of experts before even thinking about it.
If you can handle the moisture and humidity in your crawling space – and you’re confident enough that there is no threat of flooding – you can use that space for storage as well . Measure how deep that space is, then look for airtight plastic containers that will fit in there (and will go through whatever access you have). Think of it as storage boxes that you have under your bed or couch other than under your home.
Depending on what gap you have, you can install racks suspended from floor joists in a suspended space. Again, access will be a problem, but this has the advantage of keeping all items away from the damp floor.
One thing to consider is that crawling space is never easy to access, and getting your precious items can be a challenge. It’s best to keep what you need very, very rarely. Also, install a light source of some sort – it might just be a clip-on lamp that you attach to a beam, but trust me: seeing is very important, especially if you find your crawl space to be a kind of House of Leaves. the situation is actually much larger than it is physically possible, and you have been there for six days and cannot find your way back.
Every home is a system of interconnected spaces, and your crawl space is an essential component. Better to get to know him now than during an emergency.