Shed crawlspace considerations

Hi,

I'm in the process of building a shed and I'm trying to think what I should do about the crawlspace underneath it. It won't be very high may 1ft at most. But here is some of the goal I want to achieve:

• Prevent weeds from growing
• Prevent critters from living in there
• Maximize the longevity of my wood foundation

Note that my wood foundation is sitting on concrete piers 6in min off the ground.

Maybe I shouldn't be too concern about weeds if the space won't get any water or sun. Should I pour a bed of crushed stones like 2in thick anyway? Use landscaping fabric all around?

What about critters? I read somewhere I could just fastened cement boards for my foundation (beams/joists) that would long enough to be dug in the ground, sealing the crawlspace. What about aeration? I don't want to create a high-moisture environment though again the space would get little to no water (maybe just during big down pours from running ground water).

That cement board idea is horrible. get some heavy gauge animal mesh like garden fencing that won't let animals through. lay it down so its cut around your blocks. secure it with pins or weight of blocks on top. animals cannot be stopped so just make it so they can't burrow down under there. you should be removing organic material before building so weeds shouldn't be much of an issue that weed wacker cant reach. Very important to keep air moving under there

Would have been a great place for all that rock you dumpstered away in an earlier post. If you're up to the extra work/expense you could pour a thin slab before you start the floor.

Jinks said:

Would have been a great place for all that rock you dumpstered away in an earlier post. If you're up to the extra work/expense you could pour a thin slab before you start the floor.

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... you bring a good point... I was just so fed up with those stones that I just couldn't think of any good use for them. Now I don't think I would have had enough anyway to cover the ground.

Kaizen said:

That cement board idea is horrible. get some heavy gauge animal mesh like garden fencing that won't let animals through. lay it down so its cut around your blocks. secure it with pins or weight of blocks on top. animals cannot be stopped so just make it so they can't burrow down under there. you should be removing organic material before building so weeds shouldn't be much of an issue that weed wacker cant reach. Very important to keep air moving under there

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Yes I think you right. Using hardware mesh makes probably the most sense here.

I'll fasten 1/4in wire mesh to my foundation go 2-3in in the ground, bend it 90 degress and go about 1ft outward and put dirt over it. This should prevent any animal from digging in for the winter.

I can always put some lattice over it to make it look nice.