Replies

1. 
   IMERC | Feb 08, 2005 12:33am | #1

   possitve air pressure... the rest is pretty much BS.....

   a blower to take air from outside of the structure and inject it into the crawl space...

   like they do in / with clean rooms... for dust control...

   proud member of the FOR/FOS club...

   Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming

   WOW!!!   What a Ride!

1. 
   JohnSprung | Feb 08, 2005 10:11pm | #4

   This just gave me a great idea, though -- Pressurize the crawl to maybe about 20 - 40 PSI, and you take a bunch of load off the floor joists and stiffen up the floors.  Kinda like walking around on the top of a giant car tire.  Finally a new solution to the bouncy floor problem!   ;-)

    

   -- J.S.

    

1. 
   BossHog | Feb 08, 2005 10:43pm | #5

   "Pressurize the crawl to maybe about 20 - 40 PSI, and you take a bunch of load off the floor joists and stiffen up the floors. "

   You know, it isn't very often that I'm at a complete loss for words. But I swear, I have absolutely no idea what to say.

   (-:
   How does Avon find so many women willing to take orders?

2. 
   rjw | Feb 08, 2005 10:49pm | #6

   >>Finally a new solution to the bouncy floor problem! ;-)Solutioon in the sense that people expect, even look forweard to, the bounce?

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   Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace

1. 
   JohnSprung | Feb 08, 2005 11:43pm | #8

   >  people expect, even look forweard to, the bounce?

   Of course the whole idea of that much pressure in a crawl is silly and meant as a joke.  It would be dangerous to have the amount of energy it takes to pressurize that big a volume to 40 PSI under a house.  But if you could walk around on a surface that was in tension due to 40 PSI of air pressure under it, it wouldn't bounce much.  Even with small feet, say 20 square inches, that's 800 pounds under each foot.  Compare kicking a properly inflated car tire with kicking a flat. 

   Using internal pressure to make a structure rigid does work.  Some of the liquid fuel rockets that launch satellites depend on the pressure in their tanks to make them rigid, IIRC the deltas worked that way.  They were called "flying beer cans".  Come to think of it, beer and soft drink cans survive shipment to market quite well when they're full, but you can crush them easily when they're empty.

    

   -- J.S.

    

1. 
   IMERC | Feb 08, 2005 11:45pm | #9

   air bag...

   proud member of the FOR/FOS club...

   Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming

   WOW!!!   What a Ride!

2. 
   IMERC | Feb 08, 2005 11:46pm | #10

   just like a mdern day blimp...

   proud member of the FOR/FOS club...

   Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming

   WOW!!!   What a Ride!

3. 
   rjw | Feb 09, 2005 02:51am | #11

   >>Of course the whole idea of that much pressure in a crawl is silly and meant as a joke. Uh, yeah ....Of course it was a joke. You couldn't get a tire valve big enough to fit a crawl space!

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   Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace

4. 
   BossHog | Feb 09, 2005 04:41am | #12

   "Of course the whole idea of that much pressure in a crawl is silly and meant as a joke."

   I knew you meant it as a joke. But I wonder if there might be at least a LITTLE genius in there.

   Maybe a pressurized crawlspace wouldn't work. But I wonder if you could do something like a shock absorber that would dampen vibration?

   Miught be an idea worth thinking about. There certainly are plenty of people out ther with bouncy floors...
   If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.

5. 
   JohnSprung | Feb 09, 2005 10:11pm | #13

   Maybe some sort of non-stretch material made into balloons and inflated under the floor? 

   But consider that if you have a bouncy floor over a crawl, you could also get in there with more piers, posts, and girders to cut the spans in half.  The earth is down there and easy to use for support.  Any system that depended on containing a gas without leaks for structural purposes would correctly be met with a lot of skepticism. 

    

   -- J.S.

    

6. 
   dryhter | Feb 10, 2005 12:07am | #14

   Figure it's gonna leak , just use abigger air compresser.

    

   DPR

3. 
   IMERC | Feb 08, 2005 11:41pm | #7

   I like it...

   adjust the pressure to fit the dead / lve loads...

   gonna have a huge party with lots of folks.. more pressure... danceing.. crank up the regulator...

   proud member of the FOR/FOS club...

   Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming

   WOW!!!   What a Ride!

2. 
   BillHartmann | Feb 08, 2005 01:15am | #2

   I think that he is talking about a sealed crawlspace. With the insulated foundation walls and vented to the inside.

   Basically a very short basement.

3. 
   rjw | Feb 08, 2005 02:31am | #3

   I think Bill's got it - aroun d here we call it a conditrioned crawlspace - line the floor with platic, insulate the exterior foundation walls and add a register to the ductwork of which (at least around here) there is is always some in the crawl)

   I doubt if that alone will keep critters out, though.

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   Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace