Im building a house at 9,500ft in Mt crested Butte, Co on a steep slope. Most houses there are built with vented crawlspaces and wood frame floor. Concrete is very expensive $600/yd. I want to pour a slab since it is easier to insulate and air seal but due to the high cost of concrete am considering a raised floor. Is there an easy way to seal and insulate a raised wood floor? Im also using hydronic radiant floor heating throughout the house.
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Replies
$600/yd? Is that the cost off the truck? I can't even imagine. The key thing here is your steep slope. A slab will require a lot of grading and soils work. Compaction etc. You need to respect your terrain and build with a crawl space. There is no trick to insulation. You can either seal or insulate your crawl space or vent it and insulate the floor. If. you're lucky you can find a contractor who's not afraid of hand excavation and won't screw up your building site with a bunch of machinery. I believe that paying for labor pays off in the long run on steep slopes by minimizing the disturbance. Here in So. Cal. storm water management has become a big issue in construction on slopes and careful foundation work can eliminate many problems along those lines.
Mike