Cold Air and Your Crawl Space

It’s been unseasonably warm for the past couple of weeks, but the next few will see the temperatures dropping. What does that mean for your home?

To understand why your crawl space has such a great effect on your home, it’s important to understand the Stack Effect. Essentially, cold air enters through the bottom of a home (generally the basement or crawl space) and then rises as it warms until it exits through the top (the roof, windows, vent, etc). So whatever is under your home gets carried in the air, and through the HVAC system, to the rest of the house. 

If you have an open (that is, unencapsulated) crawl space, this means a few things. Discomfort, expense, and sickness to name a few.

Discomfort

It’s cold in the winter - usually. Cold air entering through the crawl space chills the floors on the first level of your home and rises up to combat your heat. This means you’re never quite comfortable. The temperature may be different room to room depending on insulation and what’s happening under that particular room. There’s no walking around barefoot, and there’s no true comfort.

Expense

I mentioned the cold air combating your home’s heat - that means it’s combating the HVAC system. If your HVAC is constantly running in an attempt to reach and maintain the temperature you set, it’s going to show in your electric bill. So not only are you always at least a little uncomfortable, you’re also paying out the nose for that discomfort.

Sickness

Germs are everywhere at this time of year. Do you really want extra bacteria, mold spores, and dust mites wandering through your home too? Unencapsulated crawl spaces often harbor mold, which can exacerbate allergies and asthma and cause respiratory problems.

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On the other hand, when you encapsulate your crawl space with CleanSpace vapor barrier, cold weather doesn’t mean much inside your home. CleanSpace seals off your home from outside air, meaning any air traveling up and out is clean, warmer, and conditioned. That means you get more comfort, more savings, and have a healthier family. Best of all, you never have to wonder what the latest weather pattern means for your crawl space.