Crawlspaces are often one area of the home that is overlooked because of location – out of sight out of mind – but can have a huge impact on the home’s health. When a home has a “cold crawlspace” it can cause a number of issues including:
- Cold floors: cold air from outside can enter the crawl space through vents and gaps in the structure, causing the floors above to feel cold
- Higher energy costs: A cold and humid crawl space forces your heating system to work harder, costing you money especially if the furnace is located in the crawl space
- Higher humidity: A humid crawl space can increase humidity in your home’s living area
- Frozen or broken pipes: If the temperature in the crawl space drops to freezing because of a lack of insulation, pipes could freeze or burst
- Pest invasion: Cold weather can attract pests and rodents to crawl spaces as shelter
- Mold, mildew, and wood rot: Moisture problems under your home can lead to mold, mildew and wood rot
- Install radon-rated soil/gas moisture barrier: Apply radon rated soil/gas moisture barrier, also called a vapor barrier, to the entire floor of the crawl space adhering it to all exterior walls and floor penetrations to create an air sealed crawl space floor. We always add corrugated perforated pipe under the vapor barrier to create a “passive” radon system that is ready to connect to a radon fan if you’d like to create an “active” radon system.
- Seal and insulate: Seal and insulate the walls and rim joists of your crawl space
- Seal vents: Cover all vents that allow cold air into the crawl space and completely encapsulate it to bring it into the building envelope – crawl space vents aren’t needed when the crawl space is properly encapsulated with insulation and vapor barrier. The crawl space vents were originally designed to vent the soil gasses and moisture by allowing fresh air to circulate but with a properly sealed vapor barrier and insulated walls and rim joists these vents are no longer necessary because these items prevent gasses and moisture from entering the crawl space.
- Seal and insulate ducts: Air seal and insulate all of the supply and return ducts in the crawl space
- Seal and insulate plumbing: insulate your water pipes to prevent frozen pipes and leaks