Ensuring that your crawl space has proper ventilation is crucial to the health of your home. Many people do not even think about their crawl space, let alone think about it for mould and mildew, in fact with all of the things to worry about within our home…the crawl space is at the bottom…but not thinking about it can cause severe damage to your home if problems brew down there!
Crawl space ventilation is a sure way to beat all the trouble that can arise down there. The first thing you will want to do is inspect your crawl space for any damage. If mould and mildew has already formed you might have some real trouble on your hands. It could also be home to termites, carpenter ants, dust mites, vermin and wild life. So you might want to inspect the crawl space for any sign of these pesky things. If you do have them, you will have to treat those issues first before you begin your ventilation process. Even if your crawl space shoes no sign of trouble or mould and mildew, it’s important to begin the ventilation process to ensure that you’re crawl space does not become troublesome in the future.
There is a right way to ventilate your crawl space and a wrong way. First I will discuss the wrong way to do it. If done wrong it can cause issues for your space even though you spent lots of time trying to prevent it! You don’t want to install vapour barriers or rigid foam insulation boards on the ceiling of your crawl space. You also do not want to close the vents and leave the ground uncovered. You might also not want to seal the ground with a vapour barrier and leave the vents open. It is also not a great idea to use any fans to blow air into or out of the crawl space.
Now for what you should do when trying to achieve crawl space ventilation. The first thing you should do is provide proper grading and drainage of dirt to keep rain water away from your crawl space. Then you should isolate the crawl space from moisture by lining the whole space with thick and durable vapour barriers. It should be strong and puncture resistant. The plastic should be multilayered and 20 mil poly sheets. You can also use mastic tape to seal seams and caulk around any seal openings in the walls. Strips and caps will give your crawl space a professional feature. This will allow you to check for any ants or termites.
To keep your crawl space ventilation in perfect condition, you should by a conditioner to blow air from the above levels into the crawl space or at least provide a dehumidifier in the crawl space to prevent any moisture from becoming entrapped.
When your crawl space in well ventilated and is working properly, you will not have an issue with mould or mildew. You will also give your family a healthy house to breath in and save money on energy by not wasting any heat!