3 Common Crawl Space Solutions That Are Just Adding To The Problem

Crawl Spaces are naturally scary places. For many of us, when asked to picture a crawl space, our mind naturally goes to a cold wet place full of mud, critters, and insulation. We avoid it. We don’t go in there. When we’re not experiencing any problems (that we know of) under the home then it’s easy to avoid. We remain blissfully unaware. But crawl spaces by design are problem places.

With insulation and organic building materials like wood joists and subfloors, water is not something we want in our crawl spaces. It leads to mold and rot in the parts of your home that are supposed to be helping to keep your house properly heated or cooled and are supporting the weight above it.

The problem is: water is unavoidable in those spaces. Water can come up through the ground below the home, through any venting, through the cracks in the walls, or by way of plumbing leaks. Eventually sitting water and water vapors wreak havoc on your home.

Sometimes homeowners will try to get ahead of the problems with some simple fixes, but our quick fixes often just add to the problem. Here are three common fixes that aren’t solutions at all and often make things worse: 

Venting

The idea behind adding vents to your crawl space is that air will flow in vents on one side of the crawl space and then out the other. Unfortunately, that’s not what actually happens. Air comes in through all of the vents and then rises into the home. Now consider a warm sunny day where warm humid air is flowing into the cold crawl space. The air is cooled causing condensation to build up. Over time you get mold and/or rot and when the air flows in and up, it begins to smell and it starts to affect your health. Mold spores in the air cause allergy-like symptoms for many and can lead to hospitalization for some. Venting doesn’t help the problem. It makes it worse!

Insulation

Many homeowners have insulation between the floor joists to protect against cold floors in the winter. Insulation, however, requires a completely closed area (like inside your walls) to work effectively. Air can flow right through fiberglass insulation and any insulation with a paper-face creates a great environment for mold to grow. Finally, fiberglass insulation, when wet, loses a lot of it’s insulation value. Why even use it?!

Sistering New Joists

When homes begin to develop rot in the floor joists, an easy solution is to sister new joists to the old ones to support the home but it doesn’t fix the original problem. It’s only a matter of time before the sister joist gets moldy and rotted too. It’s like taking pain meds to fix a broken leg! We’re treating symptoms but not problems.

The Real Solution

Standing water, condensation, and water vapors in your crawl space needs to be addressed. Ayers can help with our CleanSpace® crawl space encapsulation system, vent covers, SmartSump system, and dehumidifiers. Call 1-866-379-1669 today to find out more!