DuckSouth.com

Planning on having a house built in the next year or two. I like the look and feel of crawlspace houses and how the heat/air comes from floor up. It seems most houses have slab foundations though. With this being said what are the opinions on crawlspace vs slab? House will be built in Northwest MS.

My opinion is for the crawl space, I have had both. The crawl space does not have settling issues. Depending on exact locations, the slabs have to content with the what is known as the yazoo clay zones, I have a slab now and it is constantly moving depending upon the moisture level of the soil. you see joint cracks in your crown moldings and they open and close with the seasons. On my first house never had that problem as it was on the crawl space design.

Water and Sewer, if you have a line break, its gets expensive to have someone bore or tunnel under your slab to replace a broken sewer line. I had this happen on the slab foundation in the house I am in now.

If you are building, I would definately seriously look at the crawl space and consider all options and cost.

It I was going to go the crawl space route I would but down some sand or gravel on top of the ground then a vapor barrier

+1 on the crawl space design.

I had a leak under the slab of my house, and didn't find it until the water made its way to the other side of the house (a slow and destructive leak it was too.) To fix it, we ran the waterlines through the attic so that we wouldn't have that problem any more. When the ground under the house finally dried out, we had to fix the foundation. That caused all of the sewer lines to break. You talk about a witch to fix! (And you guys thought I lost all that weight just by eating right and exercise. HA! It was all stress induced.)

In fact, just thinking about it makes me want a bourbon.

I agree with the others. I would go with the conventional foundation. Maintenance and repairs are much easier. If some of the piers or footings do begin to settle, it is a lot easier to jack a house on a conventional foundation vs. a slab. You just need to make sure that you install the proper vapor barrier and insulation.

I went with conventional vapor barrier then pea gravel insulation and threw a few lights under for good measure. It's three blocks high so have a little room to work if needed.

definatley go with the convetional/crawl style, i would make it at least a min of 3 blocks high, water and gas under, ac ducts should be in the attic, anyone that has worked houses will attest to the pain it is to go over and under duct work, the duct work also hinders air flow and can cause major mold/ fungus rot problems

also the vapor barrier is a must, and should be slaked down 80% barrier 20 % open is a good rough number to go by. never go 100% covered, you will have some problems with wood skrinkage and busted sheet rock if you go that route,

Sounds like the consensus is a crawl space. I'll add myself to that crew. The gravel and vapor barrier is a good thought too. I never thought about lights that's a good idea. Make sure you get legit covers for the openings. Something to keep the critters out...skunks love a warm dry crawl space.

I am shocked to see that so many are for a crawlspace when slab foundations seem to be more common in our area. Is it just me thinking slabs are more common? Maybe it is the cost difference that makes slabs more common? I would guess that I need to find a reputable builder that mainly does crawlspace foundations. Any suggestions will be appreciated! Thanks

Also, this house will require a well for water and propane for heating. The covenants also require a sprinkler system to be installed in the house. Does this change anything when considering type of foundation?

When I had conventional, I wanted a slab. Now that I have a slab, I want conventional....it's a viscious cycle...

I'm in the middle of building my first home. Doing it all myself and I went with conventional. Mine is high enough on one end to walk under. So easy to work on! Went with a package central air and gas heat system. The new ones look really nice and I wouldn't want a stopped up condensation drain ruining some new hardwood floors. I say conventional all the way! I used treated light poles and put them 5' deep in some of the hardest packing dirt in yazoo county.

I'll disagree with everyone else. Go with a slab. My office is on a raised foundation and I hate it. It settles way worse than my house that is on a slab. My office twists and turns with the change in the weather. I had a home inspector tell me he would never own a home on a raised foundation. He said he sees a lot more problems with raised foundation homes. Just my 2 cents

Our house is on a conventional foundation but its not very high off the ground, maybe 18-20". I just got done doing some plumbing work and cannot imagine trying to do that with a slab. Plumbing will fail at some point, it might be 25 years from now but it will fail, and then its time for the jackhammer. I saw a house one time (owned by a plumber) that was built as a conventional foundation but above a slab. It was rigged with lights and about 3 feet above the slab. When he had a problem he could flip a switch and get under there with a creeper and roll wherever he needed to go. Pretty neat but pricey, not for everyone.

I like slabs myself. Have a godd, I mean a good, concrete man and get your concrete from a good, I mean a good, concrete place. Go thicker than you need and use a double mat of rebar, 5/8 or 3/4. Or build the slab on a floating foundation.

I went with a chain wall filled w/ slab. Down here on the Coast in 25yrs you could be dealing with rot and termites before you have a plumbing issue. Prior to building my home after Katrina, I surveyed about four contractors I worked for in the flooring business. The overall consensus down here was for a slab. The ironic thing is all these contractors are having to build raised houses at 20-25 ft above bfe. lol