A client has a large house with a full basement. under the main house. Additions to the house were built over crawl spaces which are open to the basement. Should the spaces be sealed off from the full basement, or is it better to leave everything open.
The spaces are sealed with 6 mil poly and the basement walls and floor are coated drylok and paint respectively. The humidity seems to be steady at about 56% in the full basement while the crawl spaces , where measured, is also about 56%.
Thanks
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Replies
Crawl spaces are often vented to the outside using foundation vents. In some, if not all, areas ... that would be required by the building code. Given a properly installed vapor retarder, a building official MAY allow no venting.
If vented ... not a good idea to leave it open to the basement. If not ... shouldn't be an issue. Maybe the additions were done w/ the assumption that the crawl be open to the basement ... that is, simply a continuation of that space ... therefore maybe they were allowed to not vent the crawl.
Do you have insulated floors in the crawl?