Staying Dry

When we built our cottage, we wanted to "keep things dry" to avoid creating a musty environment over time. Even though we have waterfront property on Lake Huron, our cottage still smells brand-new after 19 years. Here are a few of the things we have done to keep it that way:

When we built the cottage, we decided to use a pier foundation rather than a cinder block foundation with a crawlspace. Since we are on a hill and the ground is relatively soft, we did not want the weight of a cinder block foundation shifting over time as gravity does its inevitable thing. But we also wanted to raise the house off the ground to ensure airflow beneath the house. We have used wooden and resin trellis panels around the foundation to keep larger animals from hiding out under the house in the winter.

We then laid down heavy-duty tarpaulins beneath the structure and weighted them down with rocks. This has kept moisture from creeping up out of the ground and into the structure.

Since the outside of the house was going to be clad with cedar panels, we decided to use the same cedar panels on the inside of the house. This strengthened the wall structure and avoided the tendency of drywall to crack and to absorb moisture and household smells over time. The inside of the house still smells like cedar when you enter. The walls are 6 inches deep so are well insulated to provide more moisture protection.

The floor was another challenge! Since the house is on piers, it has great air flow but also opens up the underside of the house to small critters. We used a couple of different configurations of fiberglass insulation with a vapor barrier beneath the floor structure. In all cases, the animals loved tearing the insulation down and using it for nesting material. In a couple of cases we had squirrels and even a mink nest under the house. So this summer we contracted with a local resident to pull out all the fiberglass insulation and install 2-inch rigid foam panels between the floor joists, with slow-expanding form used to seal the gaps. This provides a more reliable vapor barrier as well as R10 insulation value beneath the floor. This is adequate as we usually use our cottage between May and October.

We are hoping that the animals don't think there is a nice warm place to live above the rigid foam and try to burrow through it. If for some reason they do, we have a double-layer of sub-flooring atop the joists.

All of these features have helped us maintain a dry and clean-smelling cottage for these 19 seasons.