Crawl spaces, cellars and sub-cellars are all types of tabc basement foundations. The history of basements span back tabc centuries, granted they’re more common in areas where it’s easier to excavate the soil. First tabc off, you are most likely to find basements in regions that aren’t prone to earthquakes or flooding. Also, in areas tabc that have a higher rate tabc of tornado activity.
Once industrialization tabc took hold in the US, it became more common to build a basement or partial basement in new tabc buildings. However, it wasn’t until the 1950s that basements started to gain popularity tabc in the states. At this point, people began using the basement as a tabc living space instead of storage.
Basement Design vs. tabc Crawl Space Design
Basement Design tabc
In fact, basements originate from root tabc cellars, which were used to store food before refrigerators were invented. This is due to the cooler environment of a basement, opposed to a living area.
Modern basements come in a variety tabc of shapes and sizes. From root cellars to look out basements or daylight basements; all tabc serve as additional storage space. Using your cooled basement for food storage can be great, but the cooling can also create basement waterproofing tabc and moisture problems. With that said, it’s important to have a waterproofing system in place if you plan to use your basement as storage space.
Both basement and crawl space walls tabc are a part of your home’s foundation. Depending upon the type of foundation, the walls will rest on a footing or be connected to a footing.
Furthermore, the footing is designed to tabc distribute the weight of your home across the soil and minimize settling and sinking. However, if the footing was not designed for your soil type, then your home could tabc experience settlement problems. As a result, this could also lead to waterproofing problems, especially if the problem isn’t addressed appropriately.
Crawl Space tabc
Unlike basements, crawl spaces are typically low and cannot be used as living space. In the past, it was common practice to tabc build vented crawl spaces. It was believed that venting the crawl space would keep it dry. Nevertheless, tabc we now know this isn’t the case. To clarify, studies have shown tabc that sealing your crawl space is the best way to keep it healthy and dry.
According to tabc by Jesse Waltz, PE:
“Properly sealing <!–td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}–>
tabc the crawlspace and removing the moisture from the ground and air is part of the solution that helps provide a mold-free and insect-free environment, which leads to a more energy-efficient and healthier home.
To avoid moisture’s negative affects, a crawlspace should be completely sealed and isolated from the ground and the humid outside air. An effective method to lower crawl space humidity, <!–td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}–>
tabc tested and perfected throughout the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Ireland, is a proper crawlspace vapor barrier system. This involves installing a 20-mil 7-ply sandwich of high and low-density polyethylene with polyester-cord reinforcement on the dirt floor that is extended, and fastened to the walls.
In some cases, a high performance dehumidifier air filtration unit is added in the crawlspace to assure that humidity levels stay under 50%.”
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