6 Reasons to Stay on Top of Crawlspace Moisture Control
It’s easy to underestimate the impact that your crawlspace has on your home because it isn’t a high traffic area. The truth is that your crawlspace has long lasting effects that can cost you money and have long lasting effects on your home and health value. During the warmer months, your crawlspace becomes more humid which can cause more issues within your home.
Uncontrolled moisture is a serious concern to your home value. Living at the Jersey Shore unfortunately includes an abundance of moisture, especially during these harsh and humid summer months. One of the most common places that moisture develops in is in your crawlspace.
Here are 6 reasons why it’s important to stay on top of your crawlspace’s moisture control:
1. Mold
Crawlspaces are extremely susceptible to mold growth. Mold growth begins with moisture. Moisture creates an environment to allow mold and mildew to thrive in. Mold can affect your indoor air quality by creating an atmosphere that is extremely unhealthy for you and your family to live in.
To prevent mold damage to your home, save money, and avoid health problems it is crucial to control the moisture in your crawlspace’s environment and eliminate any mold growth
2. Pests
Insect and rodent infestations are common during the warmer months. These pests are attracted to a moist environment to create a cozy home for them to live. Critters don’t clean up after themselves and their droppings get left behind. This can contaminate your food and spread diseases throughout your home, affecting you and your family.
3. High Humidity
Crawlspaces that have a relative humidity greater than 50% are at risk of experiencing poor indoor air quality, which can lead to a number of effects on you and your home.
This process typically starts with water vapor seeping into your crawlspace from the outside environment. Condensation starts to build up in your crawlspace, thus creating the perfect environment for mold spores and pests to thrive. When condensation issues aren’t addressed, mold growth starts to form. This leaves you and your family exposed to allergens if left untreated.
4. Air Quality
Annually, over 50 million Americans are affected by airborne allergens, with this number increasing every year. This should make indoor air quality a priority for home and property owners.
Poor air quality can affect your health in a number of ways. This includes chronic respiratory issues, viruses, and infections. In order to preserve or improve the health of yourself and those living in your home, it is important to understand the factors that can affect the quality of your indoor air.
Pollutants to your indoor air can be any of the following:
- Cigarette/cigar smoke
- Fireplaces
- Mold and Mildew
- Lack of outside air
- Chemicals
A few of these can be easily fixed. Pollutants from smoke and stale air can be eliminated by not burning cigarettes and fires inside, as well as installing outdoor air ducts for your HVAC system. However, factors such as mold and chemical gases can only be eliminated by enclosing your crawl space with a vapor barrier.
The air quality of your home is likely not at the top of your mind, unless there is a visible problem. However, being proactive about protecting the health of your home and family should be your most important goal.
5. Save Money on Heating and Cooling Costs
Your house is a system—and every part of the system has an impact on the heath, energy use, and stability of the entire whole.
If you have a vented, dirt crawl space, it’s likely that your home isn’t running as efficiently as possible. The outside air is constantly flowing into your home, thus increasing the heat and air conditioning that you are using. The dampness from the outside air needs to be stripped out by your air conditioning system, which is a lot of extra work. Because of this, the air conditioning system requires more electricity and ends up costing more to run.
Sealing your crawlspace will keep unconditioned, potentially damp air out of your home.
By pulling the humidity out of the environment within the crawlspace, you allow your heating and cooling systems to work less, saving you money throughout the year.
6. Structural Problems
Large infestations of insects and termites can quickly cause serious structural problems in the wooden parts of your house. Standing water to drink from, fluffy insulation to build a nest in, and an array of crunchy insects make ideal conditions for mice and other small rodents. These small rodents can tear into your insulation to make their nests, therefore destroying your home’s insulation.
Not only that, but the moisture itself can cause serious structural problems. Wet wood rots. As you might expect, rotten wood won’t do a very good job of holding up your house. Humidity in the home can also cause structural problems to your floors such as warping, cupping and squeaky floors.
Protect your investment into your home’s health. Not only do you pay for the cost of the energy you are using, but you are also responsible for the financial burden of wood replacement, mold clean up, and the reduction of the value of your home.
Where to Go From Here
Issues in your crawlspace can affect your whole home. By having seasonal evaluations and being proactive in controlling the humidity in your crawl space, you can provide a healthy home for you and your family.
The best and most effective way is encapsulating your crawl space. This includes our encapsulated components such as our string reinforced vapor barriers, encapsulated insulation, and our dehumidifiers. This will ensure that your home is protected by the environmental issues commonly found in homes with crawl spaces here on the Jersey Shore.