A crawl space is a small space in your house that is typically
used for storage. The biggest problem of the crawl space
tends to be mold, because it is a dark space, and moisture
can build in that space quite easily.
Many
older houses have dirt crawl spaces and these end up having
major problems with moisture buildup. Having moisture
in the crawl space not only causes a problem with mold
build-up, but this moisture can have an effect on the
floor area above. With all these problems it is easy to
see why the crawl space is very important to take care
of and keep in good repair.
The
very first thing to do is to seal the crawl space off
before working on it. There are two easy ways to seal
off the crawl space. One, and maybe the easiest, is to
use pool liner to seal the floor and the walls of the
crawl space. The other option is to use twenty millimeter
seven-inch sandwich of a combination of low and high density
polyethylene and polyester cord for reinforcement.
Maybe
one of the more expensive, this all depends on where and
the size of the crawl space, methods is to have concrete
poured into the whole of the crawl space. It is important
that this concrete be able to block vapors. Before anything
is done, make sure to check with the current building
code of your building.
If
you are having high heating costs in the winter, this
could be caused by the venting situation in the crawl
space. If there are too many in it, this could lead to
cold floors which would drive up the heating bill. These
vents can also introduce a condensation problem.
If
it is the summer and these vents are letting in hot humid
air, then that means that condensation is also getting
into your basement or whereever your crawlspace is located.
The easiest way to fix this problem is to seal off the
crawl space, or to seal off the vents to the crawl space
from the outside, closing them off with foam on the inside.
Make sure to also to use polyurethane caulking on the
inside work for the vents.
Another
problem that might arise with your crawl space is draining
water from it. As you can imagine if you haven’t
already done this job, than this can be a major job to
do. If your crawl space has a problem with water leakage,
as many do, it is important to have a drainage system
installed. Also it is important to check your downspouts
around your house to make sure that none of them are pointing
towards your crawl space. The easiest way to drain the
water is to install a sump pump with an enclosed lid into
the crawl space. You might even need to install a swale
to channel the water in the crawl space towards the sump
pump. By taking time to do all of these things you can
keep your crawl space in good repair.