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Posts tagged Passive House builder
Where Healthy Homes Begin: The Crawlspace!

Where Healthy Homes Begin: The Crawlspace!
It might be out of sight—but it should never be out of mind.

You can’t build a truly healthy home without first addressing the environment it sits on. At Earth Bound Homes, we start with the crawlspace—not as an afterthought, but as the foundation of wellness, durability, and smart design.

Take the Asymmetric House as a model: here, the crawlspace isn’t just a hollow space under the floor—it’s a sealed, insulated, and conditioned zone that plays a critical role in the home's overall performance and health.

Why Does the Crawlspace Matter?

The conditions beneath your home directly impact air quality, energy efficiency, and long-term maintenance. An untreated or vented crawlspace can introduce:

  • Radon and other soil gases

  • Mold from moisture intrusion

  • Pests like rats, insects, and termites

  • Energy loss through uninsulated floors

A conditioned crawlspace, like the one at the Asymmetric House, solves these problems. It’s designed to:

Block radon and soil gases from entering your living space
Keep out pests and moisture, which can cause structural damage

Protect indoor air quality—because up to 50% of the air in your home can originate from the crawlspace
Provide easy access to plumbing, electrical, and HVAC systems for repairs and upgrades
Stay clean, dry, and functional for the life of the home

Why Not Build on a Slab?

Slab foundations may seem simple and economical at first glance, but they can create major limitations down the road. When systems like plumbing or electrical fail or need to be upgraded, you’re forced to:

🔨 Cut into concrete
💸 Add cost and complexity
🌫️ Disrupt your home with dust and debris

In contrast, a properly built crawlspace offers flexibility, cost savings over time, and a healthier indoor environment—without compromising performance.

The Smart Foundation for a Better Future

What’s truly remarkable is that building a conditioned crawlspace doesn’t require high-tech systems or massive budgets—it simply takes care, thoughtfulness, and a commitment to doing things right from the start.

At Earth Bound Homes, we believe health starts from the ground up. That’s why every detail—especially the invisible ones—are designed with your family’s well-being in mind.

🏡 Build smarter. Live healthier. Start with the crawlspace.

 
The City Inspectors were arguing with each other? Working with Inspectors and navigating roadblocks
 

The key to any successful construction project is quality workmanship and maintaining a good relationship with inspectors. It's essential to avoid cutting corners, always be respectful, and provide inspectors with what they need. But what do you do when two inspectors visit your job site at different times and disagree on what needs to be done?

This situation leads to frustrating delays. On the Cereza project, we encountered just such a scenario. The conflicting opinions of the inspectors forced us to escalate the issue to the head building official for resolution. This meant we needed revisions from the engineer, which we had already obtained but now had to resubmit to the city.

The approval process took an additional five weeks, partly because our submission coincided with someone's vacation. Such unexpected hurdles are part and parcel of the construction world.

Ahhhh, construction...