Do You Really Know What's Down Below?

Most homeowners who ask us to evaluate their crawlspaces do not really know or understand what is in their crawl space. It is not just a space to run wires, cable, and phone lines. Most homes with a crawl space have their HVAC units, duct work, water tanks, and other plumbing run through their crawl spaces as well. Most crawl spaces are built with fiberglass insulation in the joist bays and this traps moisture creating a food factory for mold. A wet and humid such as your crawl space also renders that fiberglass insulation absolutely useless and unless we control the environment in the crawl space, the rooms above will be cold in the winter and musty in the summer.

So what else is in your crawl space?

Your foundation! Your crawl space also has large amounts wood framing which can rot. Crawl spaces also have air gaps to the exterior and into the inside of your home. 

If your crawlspace gets wet, then it can make the soils that your home sits on soft and create foundation settlement. Damp or wet foundation walls keep the relative humidity high, once again opening the door for mold, wood rot, and the perfect environment for insects and rodents. Your home, like 99.9% of all other homes, is probably framed out of wood; a damp or wet crawl space combined with wood framing is a recipe for disaster. Humidity plus wood equals mold.

Do you really know whats down below? 

Close your eyes and think about how this dirty, damp environment might smell! Now imagine this air running through your duct works and being pushed into your home for you to breathe! Many utilities come from the exterior into the crawl space, then go from inside the crawl space up into the living space. These little air vacuum’s send damp and humid air into the living space forcing you and your family to breathe air from the nasty crawl space and this includes mold spores that originated below your home.

Here is what you do!

Take a look and see for yourself what you and your family is breathing. Would you want you and your family to breathe this everyday? Chances are the answer is an astounding NO! 

There are a few simple things that you can do to resolve these crawl space issues:

• Handle ground water. 
• Seal off the moisture coming form the ground.
• Control the relative humidity with a capable air purifier and then seal off the air leaks to the exterior and interior. 
• Contact Quality 1st Basement Systems for a free estimate on making your crawl space a healthy space!