4 Steps To A Healthy Crawl Space

or How Not To Be Afraid of Your Crawl Space

Does this look familiar?

If you are like many homeowners, you know your crawl space is a problem. It's damp, dark, dirty, and smelly and probably full of bugs and rodents. You never go down there unless you absolutely have to. But if you care about how much you pay for heating and cooling, about rotting floorboards, about mold, allergies, drafts, and musty odors, then you should care about your crawl space.

Crawl space air is damp, it's full of mold spores, and it smells. This moist, rotten air moves into the upstairs of your home through the stack effect. In fact, building scientists say that up to 1/2 of the air you breathe on the first floor of your home came through your crawl space! Therefore, whatever is in your crawl space air is in your house and affecting you.

The number one problem with crawl spaces is moisture. Moisture causes mold, rot, fungus and odor. It makes it impossible to use your crawl space for storage - wasting valuable space; and moist air costs more to heat and cool. In addtion, since air flows upward through the stack effect into the upper levels of your home, the moisture in your crawl space comes with it, affecting the rest of your house.

Dry Basement Crawl Space Systems^sm can significantly change the negative effects your crawl space has on the rest of your house, and make your crawl space a cleaner, drier, more usable space.

THE STACK EFFECT

THERE ARE FOUR STEPS TO CREATING A HEALTHY CRAWL SPACE

Step One: Fix Any Water Leakage

Water can come into a crawl space from any number of sources:  rainwater, plumbing leaks, groundwater, etc.  Dry Basement Waterproofing Systems^sm will evaluate your unique situation and offer solutions to your specific problems. Grading, trenching, and extending downspouts are some of the solutions to keeping water out of your crawl space. If necessary, Dry Basement Waterproofing Systems^sm may recommend we install one of our Super Sump Pump systems to pump water out of your crawl space and move it away from your house where it will not do damage to your foundation.

Step Two: Isolate Your House From The Earth

Dry Basement Waterproofing Systems^sm offers the CleanSpace® system to protect your house from the damp earth. Our expert installers will custom fit your crawl space with a 20 mil thick CleanSpace® plastic liner to completely seal off your home from the earth. CleanSpace® is flexible, puncture and tear resistant,  and durable.  The bright, white CleanSpace® liner has an antimicrobial additive manufactured right into the material to prevent mold growth.

The Dry Basement Waterproofing Systems^sm crew will seal the liner around obstructions, at the top and seams, and if necessary will stake the liner to the floor so it doesn't move or pull when  someone crawls on it.

With the clean, durable, CleanSpace® liner installed you can even use your crawl space for storage.

Step Three: Seal Out Outside Air

Once you have eliminated the moisture coming into your crawl space from the ground, you need to seal the vents and other openings to make your crawl space air tight. Eliminating outside air reduces moisture in your crawl space and regulates the temperature, improving heating and cooling efficiency in the rest of your house. Dry Basement Waterproofing Systems^sm offers a variety of products such as CleanSpace® vent covers, crawl space doors, and wall caps that will help create an air tight crawl space.

Step Four: Condition the Air

Even though you have sealed off the house from the earth, and sealed the air leaks coming in from the outside there will still be some air infiltration. We can also install a SaniDry System to take the water out of the air efficiently and effectively.

The SaniDry dehumidification system takes up to 100 pints of water out of the air per day while using the same energy as other 40 pint systems, while it filters particles smaller than 2 microns out of the air. SaniDry System will dry out your crawl space air and keep it that way!

Remember this?

With a CleanSpace® System installed by Dry Basement Waterproofing Systems^sm you don't have to dread your crawl space anymore.