Damp Crawl Space Problems?

There are only two primary ingredients needed for rot and mold to thrive: one is organic material, like the wood beneath a home, and the second is water. Replacing the wood in a house is practically impossible, so the only avenue to preventing structural damage and those musty smells is to eliminate the moisture.

Previously the tactic was to add vents to a crawl space, which were supposed to allow the moisture to dissipate. These vented crawl spaces, instead of becoming less damp, end up being more wet for several reasons. The stack effect, a house's natural tendency to draw air in from the crawl space and lower levels upward into living spaces, means that instead of letting moist air out, a house sucks more moist air in! Another problem with venting a crawl space is that it allows all kinds of bugs and critters direct access to a home.

The biggest issue with adding vents is that it does not address the main problem - moisture from the dirt beneath a home - so venting a crawl space isn't even addressing the actual problem.

Even if a crawl space is not flooded or visibly wet, that additional humidity can spell trouble for your home - and your health. The fungus responsible for rot and mold not only eats away at the structure of a home, but spreads by producing millions and millions of airborne spores. These spores are a prime suspect for aggravating allergies and many people don't even know what it is that bothers them when they are at home.

There is a solution, however, to all of these problems. Instead of struggling against nature to remove moisture from a crawl space, Basement Systems developed the CleanSpace Crawl Space Encapsulation System, which seals a crawl space off from that moisture coming up from the dirt and from the damp air outside.