Cement vs encapsulation in crawl
lpranger467
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
Hello,
I have a partial crawl partial basement under my house stone house. I have radon and moisture issues that I’m not working on (installing exterior french drain, likely will do inside as well).
I need to encapsulate the crawl to have a way to block radon and the bad ground odors. I’ve heard some say not to pour slab in crawl while others say its ok. Any reason not too ? My issue with the plastic encapsulation is that with the stone foundation it will be next to impossible to be able to seal the plastic against the walls.
Thank you
Replies
Another option is plastic capped with pea gravel. The gravel holds the plastic against the walls.
Gentlemen, final dilemma hopefully. The floor of the crawl is anywhere from 28 inches to 45 inches below grade. We dug down at lowest level and found that the stone wall foundation actually has no true footer per say and the bottom of wall is around 48 inches below grade.
I think I'm going to pour a slab after I level it but now I'm concerned with an old stone wall and no footer how close I can get to the bottom of the wall with the french drain without running the risk of drawing water from under it and causing erosion under the wall.
Please read this as these guys are the experts and the article will answer most it not all of your questions.
https://buildingscience.com/documents/information-sheets/crawlspace-insulation
Great article thanks very much