Pier & Beam Foundation with a Conditioned Crawlspace

we're talking today about a condition crawl space inside appear in beam foundation I want to talk to you today about a condition crawlspace we're building on this project and the difference is between what this is going to be and what a traditional vented crawlspace looks like now if you've ever been in a vented crawlspace I built a lot of them when I was in the Pacific Northwest and you see them all over the South a vented crawl space has vents to the outside and the air inside the crawl space is connected to the outdoor air there's usually some type of ceiling and insulation that's done at the floor line for the house above and those crawl spaces at least the ones that I've been in can be nasty places oftentimes there's ponding water down there it's really a place that raccoons and other animals can get into and oftentimes just bugs in general it's hard to get through with all the thick cobwebs on a traditional vented crawl space now this crawl space on the other hand we don't have any vents on the perimeter now we poured a perimeter beam on this this doesn't have the traditional piers that you might see on a normal pier and beam foundation check out the video on this one to know why we've got some clay soil here so we did things slightly differently on this pier and beam foundation but you can see here we're starting with a really good vapor barrier the perimeter walls are the structural walls but this vapor barrier right here is what's separating the house from that dirt below this is a really thick plastic called stego wrap it's 10 mil now you can see there's some moisture beads forming on the bottom of this wrap here so it's already doing its job of keeping that moisture from the slab and getting that into the house you can see we've got a wire mesh down we're actually going to be pouring a concrete slab in this crawlspace now that's an optional step you don't have to do that but we wanted this crawlspace to be one that would be especially nice to get into easy to service we want to make sure we can get in here once a year for a termite inspection or if we ever had to mess with plumbing or electrical or do some remodeling this is going to make a really nice crawlspace with traditional vented crawl spaces it's so hard to seal at that floor line and prevent that air from coming up that ultimately your houses air is very connected your crawlspace air so in this case we've done everything we can to make sure this is a clean hospitable place that we don't have elevated moisture that we don't have critters or other nastiness down here this is really going to make a solid base for this house we're going to come back here and about two weeks check out how the floor framing is going and show you the next step in this process okay we're back and a lots happened in the last two weeks remember last time I was here we had the yellow vapor barrier below me and now we've got a 4-inch basement slab poured so now this crawl space in the basement is basically the same as a short basement this is going to be insulated at the perimeter we're going to use closed cell foam around the outside of this house we want to use closed cell because we're below grade the grade in the outside is higher than the basement slab and the closed cell won't absorb moisture open cell foam is similar to a kitchen sponge it will absorb moisture so anytime we're in this situation use the closed cell several benefits to this condition crawlspace number one all the pests are going to be blocked out we're not going to have rats mice raccoons in this crawlspace may still have a couple of spiders but that's really about it number two were able to air seal so much better by using that insulation at the perimeter and especially using closed cell foam then if we're trying to air seal here at the plywood deck level same with insulation insulating in crawl spaces is really a hit-or-miss operation and I see so many houses that either are not insulated or insulated very poorly by putting that insulation on the perimeter we've got a perfectly air sealed perfectly insulated crawlspace and remember there's no vents down here so the temperature and humidity are going to be within a couple of degrees in a couple of points of the air above us two big benefits to that number one our hardwoods that are going to be above this space now are going to live at the same humidity and temperature as below and above that means we're not going to expand and contract we're not going to experience movement they're going to last a lot longer and be in great shape but the biggest benefit to the conditioned crawl space is the indoor air quality benefit if this was a dirt floor underneath us here or maybe an unprotected vapor barrier all that humidity all that nasty stuff and that ugly air that's down in that crawl space is going to migrate its way up into the house no matter how well we air seal but in this case we've got a conditioned crawl space a nice concrete slab that's protecting that vapor barrier for its entire life we're going to have great indoor air quality on this house as a result hey for more information on this best practice for doing condition crawlspace visit my blog at Matt racing or comm and if you want to follow the construction progress on this house we're going to be posting photos on both Instagram and Twitter that'll be hashtag rice Enger sip so that's the type of wall panel we're using here otherwise we'll see you next time on the build show

Channel: Matt Risinger

Views: 178,595

Keywords: Conditioned Crawlspace, Crawl Space, Vented Crawlspace, Unvented Crawlspace, Best Crawl Space, Pier Beam Foundation, Pier Beam, Foundation, Indoor air quality, Best Foundation, Risinger Homes, Build Show

Id: yk0mchsMstQ

Length: 5min 33sec (333 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 15 2016