
You own a crawl space and you never go down there, so why should you spend money fixing it? Crawl spaces are not pretty or comfortable. They are not meant to be. Most homeowners don't have any reason to go into their crawl space so they feel that they don't need to care about it. Even though you don't see it, untouched crawl spaces cause many problems that travel up and into your home.
Crawl spaces that are not repaired result in the following:
Author Larry Janesky put it best in his book "Crawl Space Science: What to Have Done and Why…"
when he wrote:
"The house is one building. It operates as a system. You can't have one part of the building that is sick, and another part that is healthy. You can’t rationalize that you never go in the crawl space so you aren’t affected by it. Why? Simple. Air mixing"
Air mixing is defined as the unintended mixing of cold and hot air. Air from the outside comes into your crawl space, is cooled, rises, travels up through the home, and out the top of the house. As air is released, more air is sucked in from the bottom of the house. This is how your house breathes. This "stack effect" causes the problems noted above to occur.
The cold crawl space air increases your energy costs and causes floor boards to get very cold. For every degree that temperature drops, the relative humidity increases 2.2 %. When the warm air entering from the outside is cooled in the crawl space, the humidity rises. This results in mold growth. These mold spores, allergens, and odors travel up into your living space. They also rot wood… all of which if not taken care of, ruin the structure, decreasing the value of your home.
So what should you do? Stop ignoring the crawl space. Take steps to make your crawl space a healthy environment. If you live in the Nebraska, Missouri, or Iowa areas, Thrasher Basement Systems can help. We have a crawl space encapsulation method that will prevent "bad" crawl space air and alleviate problems associated with an untouched crawl space. Our method aids in crawl space pest control also! We provide free crawl space inspections. Contact us today to learn more.
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