The Best Time to Improve Your Crawlspace Is Now
“Out of sight, out of mind” can certainly be used to describe most homeowners’ crawlspaces. These important but often neglected spaces under homes are often ignored until something goes wrong—there’s a bad odor, or mildew or pests are discovered.
The time to take charge of your crawlspace is now. While an untreated crawlspace is always in danger of collecting excess moisture during Nashville’s humid summer months, the spring thaw greatly increases the risk of water collecting in this space. Uncontrolled moisture in your crawlspace (or any other part of your home) is never okay. Over time, moisture encourages mold growth (which in turn leads to poor indoor air quality), wood rot, warped floorboards and ductwork problems.
Why Your Crawlspace Deserves Attention
There are many excellent reasons not to neglect your crawlspace. For an area that tends to get little attention, it can have a significant impact on your quality of life at home.
-
Energy Savings & Home Comfort
Untreated, your crawlspace can cause drafts and costly energy loss. If there’s ductwork in your crawlspace, the conditioned air moving through the ducts cools down or heats up according to the temperature in the crawlspace, making it more difficult for your HVAC systems to provide the comfort you want. Your heating and cooling units work harder to produce less than satisfactory results, which ends up creating higher energy bills all year. Moisture in your crawlspace can also warp hardwood floors and cause wood rot that damages the structural integrity of your home.
A professionally encapsulated crawlspace, including air sealing, insulation, a sealed vapor barrier and a crawlspace dehumidifier, ensures the conditioned air gets to where it needs to, and unconditioned air stays outside, along with the moisture and pollutants it can carry with it.
By keeping moisture out of your crawlspace, you avoid the dangers of mold growth. Not only does mold rot wood, but mold spores, along with other contaminants that enter unsealed crawlspaces, can easily migrate into the air you breathe in your living areas, causing serious health problems for you and your family. If poorly sealed ductwork collects dirt, dust and mold spores from your crawlspace, these contaminants will be widely distributed throughout your home.
-
Avoid Unwanted Guests
It’s always surprising how many bugs and rodents will find their way into a house, given the slightest opportunity. Every home has small openings that go unnoticed (except by these unwelcome pests). Gaps and cracks the size of your little finger are big enough for mice, which will destroy any insulation you may have, nest in your belongings and contaminate the area. Air sealing your crawlspace effectively closes up those gaps and cracks, keeping bugs and animals out.
Protect Your Nashville Area Home with a Sealed Crawlspace
At E3 INNOVATE, we’re ready to help you reap the benefits of a sealed crawlspace. Our team of building science and home performance specialists will inspect and repair your crawlspace, making it a clean, healthy and energy efficient part of your home.
Is the rest of your home performing as well as it could be? Ask us about a home energy audit. Our comprehensive diagnostic tests will uncover energy inefficiencies, comfort concerns, and indoor air quality issues by looking at your whole home as a system and provide you with a customized report that will guide you toward an energy efficient healthy home.