Why You Should Care About Your Crawl Space

Most homeowners hardly (if ever) go down into their crawl space.  It’s sometimes easy to forget about how much of an impact your crawl space has on your home.  Out of sight, out of mind, right?  However, that’s not the case when it comes to crawl spaces.

All crawl spaces are nasty, period.  But the functionality of your crawl space can have serious consequences on the rest of your home.  If there’s an open vent in your crawl space, then that has an effect on your heating and cooling bills.  It also provides a nice environment for mold, rot, and unwanted creatures.  The air you breathe upstairs flows up from the crawl space, so it’s important to make sure it’s healthy and clean air.

Radon gas is another dangerous aspect of an ignored crawl space.  Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that comes from the ground.  If you measure the radon levels in your crawl space, and then measure upstairs, you will usually have about 1/3 the amount upstairs.  This is a perfect example of how air moves through a home—from bottom to top.  It’s important to pay attention to the air in your crawl space and have it tested for radon regularly.  Like it or not, the air you breathe in your home comes from your crawl space.