Why Venting Your Crawl Space is a Bad Idea

Crawl spaces are always cool, usually around 55 degrees year round.  So when the hot, humid air is brought into the crawl space in the summertime, the humid air is cooled, and the relative humidity rises.  If your crawl space has a vent open to the outside, the high relative humidity is constantly rising, causing rot, mold, energy loss, and uninvited critters.

The problem began many years ago when builders thought it would be a good idea to have an open vent in the crawl space to allow moisture to flow outside.  However, that’s not the way air movement works.  Within the home, the air is sucked in at the bottom and flows upward.  This means that whatever air goes into your crawl space is the air that you’re breathing upstairs. 

If that air is hot, it causes high humidity.  If it’s cold, it causes high heating bills and cold floors.  And if it rains, damp air enters your home, causing even more problems.  It’s important to seal any open vents in your crawl space with a CleanSpace Crawl Space Encapsulation System.