Sealing Crawl Space Concrete Floor

This is essentially a concrete barrier meant to help control moisture in the crawl space.

Sealing crawl space concrete floor.

The traditional mud pad is a poured concrete pad over a roughly graded dirt floor. The idea is to condition the crawl space much in the same way that you might condition other parts of your home. A crawl space under a house helps protect against certain pests but a crawl space with abundant moisture can invite problems including mold wood rot and vermin. In this design a concrete pad called a mud pad is poured on the crawl space floor.

Insulation also helps to preserve the air quality and reduce energy costs. It has a solid block perimeter but has a dirt floor. Many dirt crawl spaces ended up with vents for this reason. Unfortunately over the years it s proven to be just the opposite.

Crawl space vents we now know actually let more moisture into the area. Cold air that sweeps through a crawl space meanwhile can lead to cold floors inside the home whether or not the space is wet. Pouring a concrete floor in a crawl space is an option to make the area more usable as a storage area but concrete does not prevent moisture and a vapor barrier will still be needed adding to the crawl space encapsulation cost. Concrete is heavy and mixing enough by yourself to cover your entire crawl space floor and walls is out of the question.

Even in the most arid areas of the country mother earth constantly releases water vapor which likes to seep into your crawlspace through. Many years ago people used to think that crawl space vents would keep a crawl space dry and moisture free by letting the moisture out. A crawl space also tends to keep a home warmer in cold climates than a concrete slab foundation. We have aluminum vents in the block foundation that slide open with a little screen.

One look at a crawl space may have you wondering why you should bother cleaning it. At some point cleaning your crawl space will become a must. With and with out a vapor barrier. That is 1 1 2 truckloads from a concrete truck.

Rather than trying to cut off the crawl space from the conditioned upper floors you should bring the crawl space nearer to upper floors temperatures by leaving off the underfloor insulation and by sealing the crawl space against outside moisture and temperatures. We have a cottage with a crawl space near halliburton ontario canada. This is done several ways. A beginner s guide to cleaning your crawl space.

To pour a floor 3 thick over a 1500 square foot crawl space floor alone is 14 4 cubic yards of concrete. Also there is a very large rock under the cottage which makes the crawl space uneven ranging from 2 ft to 4 ft high. How to cover a crawl space floor with plastic sheeting.