At Home With Lisa- Let's Talk Foundations: Basements, Crawl Spaces and Slabs

Do you have a basement?  What about a crawl space?  Or are they the same?  Or maybe your home sits on a slab?

Basements and crawl spaces are easily confused, especially if the basement is unfinished since both act as a space under the main living level.  A slab does not.  You may be surprised though, that all 3 play a similar role- to act as your home's foundation

Your home's foundation is one of the most important features of your home.  The type of foundation often determines the conditions on which the home is being built and the local building codes.  In reality, there are many different kinds of foundations but the majority of homes use one of these three above.  Let's discuss each one of them.

Slab: 
This foundation gets its name because it is a solid concrete slab that is built directly on the ground.  They are more popular in warmer climates since cold weather can damage a slab foundation. Slab installation is very simple and the cost for this style is low.  It requires little to no maintenance and no concerns of mold, mildew, rodents or bugs.  But then again, you don't have extra storage space or living space, it may become difficult to fix house piping and offers little protection from bad weather events.

Crawl Space:
Crawl spaces can literally be just that- a small space barely big enough to crawl through. Many crawl spaces have a standard 2 feet ceiling height but nowadays you can find homes with a much larger space of 4 feet or so.  Either way, it's much different from a basement.  The crawl space may have ventilation but usually has no heat or cooling.  Some people do "condition" their crawl space to combat moisture issues.  Crawl spaces again are relatively inexpensive to build, allows for easy access to utilities for maintenance and repairs, home floors tend to be warmer since they aren't built directly on concrete and if conditioned properly, could provide additional storage space.  The problem with crawl spaces however, is that it can be susceptible to termites, moisture trapped in there could cause mold and fungal growth and with heavy rain flooding is possible.  So keep an eye on your crawl space.  

Basements:
If you're like most people, you may think the primary purpose of a basement is to add more living space to a home.  This assumption is halfway correct, but not the main purpose. A basement is the most expensive and involved of the 3 foundations.  But the expense can usually be justified as basements can add much more finished living space- in some cases doubling the square footage.  So it adds more space to a home, makes routine maintenance and repairs to utilities much easier, and a built in storm protection for your family during extreme weather events.  You may even need to install a sump pump to drain out excess water from heavy rains.

So each has their own benefit along with some downfalls.  But it's nice to know that no matter what, there are some options that you can determine will work best for you and your family.

I'm Lisa Longest with Realty Navigator. I am a full time Realtor® and PSA® in Anne Arundel and Queen Anne . I am here for all your real estate needs. If you are looking to buy, sell or question me about the market in your area, feel free to contact me. My email is LisaLongest.RE@Gmail.com and cell is 443-786-4200.