What Type of Crawl Space Foundation Do You Have?

Throughout our day, we receive a wide range of calls with many customers discussing concerns they have with their crawl space. Unfortunately, a crawl space is not just a dirt floor but are made up of many types of crawl space foundations. To help give you insight as to what your crawl space foundation type may be; below we have helped identify a few of the different types of crawl space foundations you may have that Support the very house you live in and may be standing or sleeping in right now. 

Concrete Block Walls



Most common and still used today. Hollow and very porous. Block walls are the easiest and cheapest material to build a foundation with. They are also the least resistant to water and air going through them since there are so many joints in the wall. To make matters worse, each block has hollow cavities in them and when they are stacked on top of each other, they form one big honecomb of air space in them. Block walls have been referred to as "God's gfit to waterproofing contractors."

Cinder Block Walls
Cinder block is concrete block made with the uncombusted remains of coal fires. The dark gray cinders were readily available and lightweight, but also made the blocks very porous and leaky. Cinder blocks have not been manufactured for 50 years or so.

Stone Walls
Common in older homes. They leak water and air

Poured Concrete Walls

Solid concrete. More common in newer homes. Unless there is a hold, crack, or pipe penetration, water and air do not penetrate them.

Crawl Space Foundation Types Content -Excerpt taken from "Crawl Space Science" by Lawrence Janesky.