In the Pac NW the don't really build houses with storage. I am located in
the Seattle area. My crawl space is under the family room and is finished
with a cement floor. It is connected to the the crawl space under the rest
of the house and that is just like yours, dirt, covered with plastic. The
entire area is vented to the outside. As for dust, no more then a garage or
basement where you would do work. Mine is not damp but I am near the top of
a mountain. The humidity in the crawl space is the same as ambient, and I
think it is drier than a basement back east. It is definitely less dusty
then my attic back east and that had temps from 0 to 100+ and humidity from
0 to 100.
I think the reason they don't finish is cost and maybe a high water table?
Even with all that rain last month there was not a hint of moisture in my
crawl space. I guess I got lucky with that area being cemented and the fact
I am on a slope near the top of a mountain.
Bill
On 2/28/06, Mike Lee - Team Banana Racing <mikel@ichips.intel.com> wrote:
>
> I'm curious; are the crawlspaces you folks are using for storage "sealed"
> from
> the outside, like a basement or cellar? Our crawlspace is essentially a
> dirt
> pit covered with black plastic (visqueen?), and vented to the outside on
> all
> four sides. Combined with the exposed insulation from the subfloor above,
> and
> it is a pretty dusty environment that gets moist in the winter (humidity;
> Pacific northwest). I'd love to be able to use the crawlspace for
> storage, as
> ours is ~7' tall (I have no idea why they didn't just finish it into a
> basement, considering they built a ladder to get into it from the inside).
> How are you folks sealing off those areas, or are your crawlspaces
> different
> than what I am imagining?
|