Is the crawl space under your home making you sick? Moisture in your crawl space could be contributing to some of your health issues: Coughing and wheezing, chest pain, bronchitis, pneumonia, hoarseness, and shortness of breath are all symptoms of breathing in unhealthy air. Here, you'll find a few tips to help you dry out the crawl space under your home and begin cleaning the air so that you can feel better during your time at home.
Encapsulate the Crawl Space
Having the crawl space professionally encapsulated is the best way to ensure that moisture will not become an issue under the home or inside. During crawl space encapsulation services, the walls, floor, and posts will all be wrapped with vapor barrier to prevent moisture from seeping through.
Ventilate the Crawl Space
Once the space is encapsulated, you will need to ventilate the space. If the air is trapped under your home, the moisture that remains will be trapped inside. This will lead to bad odors, toxic vapors and other pollutants building up under the home, eventually finding a way in.
When the ventilation is added to the crawl space, the air will be replenished with clean, warm, and dry air. The old, stale, moist air will be removed.
Tip: If the crawl space has been very wet for quite some time, you may want to maximize the ventilation system – at least until you can dry out all of the beams and building materials under the home.
Install a Crawl Space Dehumidifier
A crawl space dehumidifier works just like the units that you would use inside your home. The only difference is that they are build a little sturdier to handle exposure to changing temperatures and extreme moisture. This system can run 24 hours a day to remove the moisture from the air under the home. The only problem is that it does release quite a bit of heat, so continue to utilize the ventilation to keep things cool.
Get Smart with Technology
There are some wonderful gadgets marketed today that connect to the crawl space ventilation system. One gadget measures the moisture levels and temperature in the crawl space. Once they reach a certain point, the ventilation system kicks on until the levels are brought down to safe, non-damaging levels.
Talk with the encapsulation expert near you to learn more about keeping your crawl space dry and preventing the illnesses that a wet crawl space can cause.
