Why is my crawl space in Wake Forest musty-smelling and moldy?
The simple answer to the above question would be moisture. Moisture can accumulate in your Wake Forest crawl space can lead to mold growth. According to the EPA, approximately 60% of all the air in your home’s first floor has traveled from the crawl space through cracks in the floor and the HVAC system. What this means is that the moldy and musty air you feel on the first floor of your house is actually coming up from the crawl space. This happens because your crawl space is under negative pressure, which pulls the air into the home.
Once summer arrives, this negative pressure in your crawl space pulls the hot and humid air into your crawl space. Once it gets inside, the air cools, condensation sets in, and mold begins to grow. This damp and relatively moderate environment is the perfect breeding ground for all sorts of rodents, pests, and microbes. While it’s important to contact a licensed mold remediation company to remove the mold, it will only come back unless you take permanent action.
The only permanent way to reduce this moisture buildup, increase the healthiness of the air in your house, reduce the overall moisture buildup and extend the life of your home is a full crawl space encapsulation.
How can you solve this problem? Call Crawl Space and Basement Technologies to completely seal and encapsulate your crawl space!
8 Benefits of Crawl Space Encapsulation
1. Vapor Transmission from your Crawl Space. When we come out and seal your crawl space in Wake Forest, it will remove the more than 60% of mold laden air that comes from the crawl space. This means that the air in your house will be easier to breathe and more pleasant smelling. If, however, you fail to seal and encapsulate your crawl space, you are allowing “dirty” unfiltered air entry into the rest of your home.
2. Control the Humidity inside your house. The foundation vents in your crawl space allow in hot, humid air, especially during the summer months, where humidity is routinely above 70% in Wake Forest, NC. Once this humid air gets into your crawl space it can gain entry into the living space of your house. This makes the interior of your house significantly more humid and uncomfortable. It is also unhealthy! The American Lung Association, American Medical Association, and the EPA recommend keeping relative humidity from 30%-50%.
3. Create a clean and dry environment. Preventing humidity in your house prevents the sort of warm and damp environments that encourage rapid mold growth. As such, you can prevent mold growth by making sure that the moisture in your house is low enough that mold won’t start to form on things such as paper or the damper parts of walls or curtains. Our crawl space encapsulation tools include using a non-organic material as a sealant, which reduces surface for mold to grow.
4. Eliminate smelly odors. Reducing musty and stale odors can be accomplished by the removal of the dampness and mold in the house, and will result in a cleaner, healthier, and better-smelling air circulating through your home.
5. Prevent insect and rodent infestation. A warm, damp environment is as much a perfect area for rodents and pests as it is for mold. If you make sure to seal your crawl space, you will be nipping the problem in the bud and refusing entry to the vermin that could otherwise call your crawl space theirs.
6. Save money! Sealing and encapsulating your crawl space in Wake Forest could reduce your heating and cooling bills by up to 15% annually. This is because your air conditioning and heating systems must work much harder to fight against the inflow of outside air from your crawl space. Reduced HVAC efficiency due to foundation vents can make your energy bill skyrocket in peak months. This also means that during the hottest and coldest months of the year, wild fluctuations in temperature could cause your system to break, leaving you without air conditioning in a July heatwave or without heat during the coldest week of January. Avoid these discomforts by not over-stressing your unit and increase the longevity of your system by sealing the crawl space.
7. Protect the Structural Integrity of your home. The ground below your home contains a massive amount of moisture. Due to the nature of your crawl space, this moisture will often enter your home through an exposed crawl space vent. It can also enter via hydrostatic pressure as water vapor and may even become puddled water. The natural dark, dank, and moist conditions of most unencapsulated crawl spaces will create a noxious, destructive environment in which mold thrives. Once mold starts to grow and spread, it can do so at an alarming pace and quickly cover any organic material nearby, destroying potential valuables and possibly damaging support beams. Not only can mold damage the support beams of your house, but rot, decay, and termite problems often arise from the same conditions which are so conducive to mold. The simplest and easiest solution to all of these problems is to encapsulate and seal your crawl space, thereby guaranteeing that any moisture will be minimal and will not damage your home.
8. Get Back Peace of Mind! Rest, breathe, and live easier with a clean crawl space. The knowledge that you are well-protected from many of the dangers that can spring from a dark and damp crawl space will certainly help your peace of mind, the air in your home, your heating and cooling bills, and your home’s value. Make sure to call today to get an estimate from one of our crawl space encapsulation professionals.
Enjoy a Healthier, Cleaner Home with a Sealed Crawl Space. Get an Estimate Today!
Our team of experts is experienced in all manner of crawl space and basement sealing. We carry the Council-Certified Microbial Remediation Supervisor (CMRS) designation and guarantee our work with a lifetime warranty.
If you want to find out more, or schedule a free estimate, call us at (919) 847-7072 or complete our online contact form. We would be happy to explain all the benefits of a crawl space encapsulation and basement sealing service.
