Residential neighborhood homes are built around the country with one of the three different types of home foundations available. It is not always apparent from the outside of the home which foundation it may have been built on, but what lies underneath will be made up of one of the three main constructions. Today we are going to give a brief summary of each type of foundation and whether or not they have the potential to affect the amount of living space your home has.
First up, we have the basement foundation. This foundation is constructed before the structure of the house goes up, and is a layout of a series of concrete walls that are designed not only to be rooms you can live in, but act as supporting walls for the structure of the house above. Additional walls can be built inside the basement the same as additional walls could be built inside of a living room or other main living area in the home. To get to the basement, one could take a flight of stairs either from the inside or the outside of the home.
Second, there is the crawlspace foundation. A good way to describe this foundation is like a half-basement. The walls are usually no taller than waist high which require you to duck down or “crawl” on your belly to navigate your way around. The footing for the home is constructed, and short walls are built on top, then the house is framed on the short walls. The space is not suitable for a regular living area, however, it could be encapsulated [Read more about that process and how it protects from moisture intrusion underneath your home] and used as storage space. This storage space could free up the room you are currently using to store things in your living area.
Lastly, there is what is called a Slab on Grade foundation. This foundation is usually in direct contact with the house above it. The footers are built for the home and oftentimes the foundation is poured over the footings. Another way to do this is to build the footers and create short stem walls or even a short row of concrete block on top, but there is no accessible space between the house and the foundation.
Those are the three types of foundations residential neighborhood homes are built on. We hope you find this information useful, and remember, moisture CAN damage any of these three types of foundations! Give Smoky Mountain Crawl Space Systems a call at (865) 299-2315 and ask for an evaluation of the condition of your foundation today.
