I am thinking about purchasing a home that is set on top of a crawl space (see image). The crawl space has the full height of a basement, windows and a door leading outside in the back. It has French Drains along the downhill base of the house and plastic lining covering a rock floor. I did see some water on top of the plastic in a few places. The foundation walls are footing and stem walls (I think). They appear nice but have some vertical cracks in several places upon closer inspection. The house was built in 2002.
- Is the water concerning given the French drains installed.
- Are the wall cracks normal for the crawl space foundation... should they concern me?
- Given the windows, and doors and height of the space it would be nice to lay a concrete floor and make it a basement. How feasible is that? Is there a ballpark number that I should expect to pay for turning it into a full basement?
- I saw some snake skins under the plastic barrier... should that concern me?
- The walls are insulated but the crawl space ceiling is not... is that normal?