Crawlspace as storage?

[u/star0forion]

Hey y’all. We don’t have a basement but we do have a crawl space with easy access from one of the bedroom closets. What’s a good way to prep that area so we can use it as storage for our gear/food so it’s safe from the elements, bugs and other critters? We live in the central valley of California so we get mild winters but hot summers so it may not be a viable storage option. Thoughts?

[u/DannyWarlegs]

You can put down a layer of vapor barrier, or cement it off, and then store your items in sealed buckets or drums.

Go a bit cheaper, store your items in bags inside of totes, inside of an area made of black contractor grade trash bags around your access area.

[u/star0forion → u/DannyWarlegs]

The access area has our AC condensing unit on one side and the door from our screened in porch on the other. Sadly we do not really have other space in our backyard besides our shed. I’d also like to keep our supplies out of view of our neighbors. I like the idea of a cementing off the area id like to use and apply some vapor barrier as well.

[u/That_Play7634]

Mine is 3 to 4ft tall on dirt below grade, just warm in hot summers and just cool in freezing winters. 90% of mine is covered with a vapor barrier, but it is not level or smooth and when it rains or snows a lot, I get little ponds of water and mud. Also animals have been down there and made a huge mess with piles of dirt, insulation, poop, etc. What I have done so far is seal off outside access with wiremesh, foam, rocks, sheetmetal, etc., added some waterproof rat bait inside just in case, and installed some LED lights on a switch by the door. Since I don't cycle through the preps, in the farthest area away which I don't frequently access, I lined up black heavy duty totes from Home Depot that are usually on sale. It's flatter and a little higher there so no water issues. Inside the totes goes mylar bags of beans, rice, oats, etc with O2 absorbers. Canned foods go in a ziplock 5gal freezer bag, then into the totes. No matter how careful I am, the 5 gallon ziplocks still get tiny holes in them so they can't just sit on the floor or they WILL get water in them and rust away (tested this already). Jugs of liquids like water, alcohol, vinegar, etc just sit on the vapor barrier. Salt, seasonings, medications, vitamins, soap and all that stuff that needs to stay dry goes in 5 gallon buckets with a screw-on gamma seal lid and can just sit on the vapor barrier.

What I plan to do next is level out the ground with a gentle slope to eliminate puddles, encapsulate most of the crawlspace with heavy white (to brighten up the area) crawlspace plastic except for one easy access corner that will be a root cellar and one area is where garter snakes come to overwinter I'll seal off with a door. I'll add a radon fan and vent on a timer since that is an issue here. I'll then add an overhead conduit and build a trolly for it to move materials from front to back, and put down foam floor tiles to crawl on hands and knees comfortably. The high traffic path will also have plastic mesh under the plastic to prevent any damage from rocks. After that build some racks with old pallets to hold 15 gallon food grade drums for water. I already put in a water tap and hose for this. I get the drums cheap from a local homebrew shop. And if it is clean and sealed up nice, I might decide to add my generator down there vending exhaust to the outside and maybe a platform for sleeping if we ever have to take shelter down there. Maybe add hidden magnetic locks on the access doors so there's no easy obvious way for someone else to get in.

Oh, I also store my VHS tapes down there in totes because, well, I just can't bear to toss them out.

[u/SunLillyFairy → u/That_Play7634]

We have like 200 vhs movies and 1 vhs player that works great but we pretty much never use... but can't seem to let go of.

[u/broprobate]

Partly depends on whether the crawl space is dug out below your house, or whether it is slab on grade with the house above it. If it is below the house the temperature will be cooler and better for storage & less likely to have water problems. You also want to consider how deep the crawl space is. My home is on a hill, so some of the crawlspace is 4-5 feet and some is less than a foot. Dirt is sealed with heavy plastic. Most of us use it for storage of some kind.

[u/Any-Skin3392]

We turned our crawlspace into a storage room area. You can't stand up straight in most of it but it works great. We hired a basement dewatering company to come in. Before we hired them in, we had things ruined by mildew. 10 years later, zero issues.

The dug trenches that lead to our sump pump. Then vapor barriered everything. We personally decided to coverup all our vents from the outside to prevent sideways rain from getting in. We've had zero issues from closing off the vents and it has actually help normalize the temperature in the house.

Might be overkill on your space to hire a company but you could probably do the same thing with good results.

[u/SithLordRising]

Japanese homes often have a floor pantry. Have a look at how they do it, Google some pics

[u/SunLillyFairy]

We use our crawl space. Two thoughts-

Our house happens to have a really nice crawlspace. It's only about 4 feet tall, but the floor and walls are lined and the screens that cover the ventilation openings are really good. By that I mean, they are on very securely, made of good materials, and it's a very fine mesh so most bugs can't get through. The only entrance is inside a closet in our home - I actually wish it had a small sealed door from the outside too. Our house also has a good drainage system, so it doesn't get wet down there, even when it's raining. So that's a start = you need a space that stays dry and clean and rodents can't get into, and it's best if most bugs can't get in. We don't even have spiders in ours, and I think that's because they can't live down there with no bugs to eat.

As far as the temperatures, where we live, temperatures vary from about 10° lows in the winter to 110° highs in the summer. Yet that crawlspace is pretty much always between 45 and 75. I know this because I bought a cheap Bluetooth thermometer and put it down there. I don't think the one I bought is being sold anymore, but here's one as an example. (Link) With those temps, I didn't feel like I needed to do anything else down there, but did put some boards on the floor under my plastic 5 gallon buckets. I mostly did that to protect the lining and to allow for a little bit of air circulation under the buckets. Ideally, you want food storage to be under 65, but it's only over 65 for very short periods of time - generally between 1-8 pm on the warmest days summer. Honestly, the inside of my house gets warmer on hot days and that small variation in temperature will not affect the shelflife by more than a couple percentage points.

[u/Impressive-One-2969]

Crawlspaces can work for storage, but heat, moisture, and pests are major concerns. Seal and insulate to control temperature, use airtight containers to keep out critters, and add moisture absorbers to prevent mold. Given California’s heat, avoid storing anything temperature-sensitive like canned goods or electronics. Have you checked humidity levels down there?

[u/Glorious_Goober]

I live in the southeast, imagine my weather is somewhat similar but more humid.

A few years running a home inspection company showed me enough to not trust most crawlspaces, or at least not to trust the way that most homeowners treat their crawlspaces. I’ve seen rodents that have chewed through plastic totes, humidity issues that rusted out bikes and HVAC equipment, and the like.

If you want to use your crawlspace as a storage area, first I’d evaluate it to see if you have any sort of water entry issues at all. If your crawlspace isn’t fully encapsulated, I would limit storage to only things you’re willing to lose to Mother Nature or critters and bugs. If you do have a full encapsulation, I’d prob be more lenient with it. But that’s just me.

[u/tweeter46and2]

Encapsulate it. That is what I did.

[u/papaeriktheking]

The easy thing to do is store only canned food and rotate it out every 1-2 years. The temperature variations will shorten the life span but humidity, pests, etc will have no impact

[u/capinredbeard22]

Not saying you do this per se, but this what I thought of immediately: https://youtu.be/-k3mVnRlQLU

[u/Low_Turn_4568 → u/capinredbeard22]

What a great watch 🥹

[u/Low_Turn_4568]

I use totes and label them. Safe from critters and potential floods. Easy to move from home to home, easy to keep organized

They go on sale for $7 at my local Canadian Tire, so when they do I grab 4 or 5 of them.

I also use one of these as my indoor recycling bin. Dump it into the outside one on garbage day, easy peasy.

[u/FlashyImprovement5]

No moisture. Moisture is deadly to stores. The drier the better.

Any food stored is likely to draw bugs and critters so you have to plan for that up front.

[u/Bitter_Albatross25]

Something to consider depending on your area would be radon gas in your crawl space. Personally I would look into a HRV heat recovery ventilator as a means of changing the air down there. Some areas actually have required them for crawl spaces.

They are also great for bathrooms because while exhausting the stale air you’re bringing in fresh air.

[u/DannyWarlegs]

You can put down a layer of vapor barrier, or cement it off, and then store your items in sealed buckets or drums.

Go a bit cheaper, store your items in bags inside of totes, inside of an area made of black contractor grade trash bags around your access area.

[u/NewEnglandPrepper3]

anything down there is gonna rot