Closing in the Crawlspace on the Cheap

Originally, we were going to have the crawlspace enclosed with a rock skirt. Since we began working on the Queen, the price for this work went from about $7,000 to $15,000-$20,000. There is no way in hell that I can come up with that much money now, maybe ever. However, we couldn't keep the crawlspace open for ever. Something needed to keep the snakes, cold air, and moisture out of the crawlspace. One of our foundation men had an interesting idea. Best of all, it seems to work.

His suggestion was to get some concrete backer board, the same stuff used for tile backing, and use it to enclose the crawlspace. It's tough, it's cheap (relatively), and it's water resistance. You don't need any specialty tools to work with it either. That is always a bonus.

I started a test run a week or so before Thanksgiving. Once I figured out how to do it, it moved pretty fast. First, you mount some wood strips (at least 3/4 inch thick, 2 inches wide) on to the concrete block piers with masonary screws. Then, cut the backer boards to fit and screw them into the wooden supports.

All the work in the photo above was done by me in about 3 hours. I don't know if I should count the first hour since it includes setting up all the tools and figuring out how to do it. It would probably go three time faster if you had someone to help. It's a bitch cutting and hanging the backer board by yourself.

Once we get this all the way up, we're going to prime it, caulk the seams, and paint it a dark to medium gray. Oh, and we're also going to vent it every 8 feet too. I'm hoping this will buy us at least five years (or more?) to get a more permanent skirt in place.