If you have a crawl space, you know how crucial it is for your entire house. In fact, 40% of the air in the entire home comes from your crawling space.
For a long time, there has been a heated debate about whether or not to seal your crawl space.
This article provides you with 12 good reasons why you should seal your crawl space. It also outlines two crucial steps to take before sealing your crawl space.
1 – Controlling Humidity
If you live in a humid area, the crawlspace vents are most likely to allow humid air into your crawl space. The problem here is that the air circulating in your crawl space affects the entire house.
In other words, crawl space vents may lead to further humidity and contamination. That way, vents don’t perform their desired role of clearing out the stagnant air in your crawl space.
2 – Saving on Energy
When you seal your crawl space, you prevent the cold and hot air from entering your house. That can help significantly in maintaining the temperature of your home.
Accordingly, you reduce the strain on your HVAC system. Think of all the energy expenses you’ll save.
In addition, sealing your crawl space provides more insulation for your ducts. Thus, it enhances the quality and performance of your HVAC systems.
3 – Enhancing the Quality of Air
When you block the air from getting into your crawl space, you prevent all the debris, contaminants, moisture, and odors from entering your house.
Therefore, sealing your crawl space can make your whole house smell and feel better. It can also prevent contamination and sickness.
4 – Preventing Mold
Mold is one of the worst and most common issues that may occur in a crawl space. Some types of mold can even cause complications for people with asthma or allergies.
Unfortunately, mold can form rapidly if you don’t keep your crawl space in check. Typically, it grows due to the increased humidity and dampness of your crawl space.
Therefore, if you prevent the humid air and moisture from entering the crawl space through vents, you reduce the risk of growing mold.
5 – Preventing Rodents and Insects
Unsealed vents in your crawl space may allow in pests, such as:
- Rats
- Mice
- Ants
- Termites
- Spiders
On the other hand, sealing your crawl space prevents the entrance of such creatures.
That way, you don’t need to worry about entire colonies of insects living in your space, eating your wooden structure, causing allergies, or transmitting diseases.
6 – Increasing the House’s Longevity
Sealing your crawl space can increase the house’s longevity. This is primarily for two reasons:
- The dampness, humidity, and heat that may get into your crawl space through vents may cause rot. In turn, this can threaten the foundation of your house’s structure.
- It prevents termites and wood-eating insects from consuming the foundation of your house.
Therefore, sealing your crawl space will keep your house intact. With less outside air and moisture getting into your house, you extend its lifespan.
7 – Protecting Your Wooden Floors
You’ll find sealing your crawl space a lot more beneficial for your wooden floors. That’s because sometimes the moisture that gets into the house through the vents seeps underneath the wooden floors of your house.
This water leads the wooden blanks to rot, thus becoming unstable underneath your feet. Therefore, preventing moisture from getting into your crawl space makes your flooring last longer.
8 – Adding a Storage Space
A sealed crawl space becomes a dry, airtight area that you can use for storage. In this case, you need to create a suitable way to access the crawl space, like an airtight door.
However, you should make sure what can be stored in your crawl space. Some items may be problematic in an area as closed and tiny as a crawl space.
9 – Making Your Home More Comfortable
When you seal your crawl space, you regulate the temperature of the entire house. This would moderate your floor’s temperature as well.
You won’t be putting your feet on floors that are freezing in the winter or scorching hot in the summer.
10 – Preventing Frozen Pipes
The cold air that enters through the crawl space vent in the winter may cause your pipes to freeze. The freezing of pipes is a common problem that can be hard and expensive to solve.
For that matter, a sealed crawl space can help you avoid this problem in the first place. With no cold air or frost getting into your crawl space, you most probably won’t run the risk of getting a frozen pipe.
11 – Giving You a Healthier Home
Preventing the hot and cold air from getting into your crawl space makes your house a lot healthier in several ways:
- An airtight crawl space makes the air in your home clear of contaminants or dust.
- A sealed crawl space prevents unpleasant odors that might affect your house.
- Sealing your crawl space helps you avoid mold and rot that can cause respiratory issues.
- By sealing the vents in your crawl space, you maintain a certain temperature throughout the day, which decreases the risk of health problems.
12 – Increasing Your Home’s Market Value
A sealed crawl space prevents several problems. Therefore, it may have an impact on your home’s market value.
After all, a house with no mold, frozen pipes, or rotten structure is a lot more valuable. That way, you can get a better price in case you decide to sell your property.
2 Things to Consider Before Sealing a Crawl Space
Before you take the step and seal your crawl space, there are two major things to consider:
1 – Assess the Damage
Before you seal off the vents in your crawl space, you need to assess the damage.
For this matter, the first thing to do is to inspect your crawl space for any problems, such as excess water, mold, frozen pipes, etc.
2 – Solve All Outstanding Issues
Then, you have to find the source of the problem. That way, you can cure the issue and prevent it from happening again.
Don’t neglect any moisture or mold in your crawl space because the problem can have serious complications after you seal the vents.
The bottom line is to make sure you don’t have any outstanding problems before you seal your crawl space.
Final Thoughts
So, why should you seal your crawl space?
The vents in a crawl space are meant to allow air circulation. However, the air it lets in can be loaded with contaminants, moisture, or heat. Thus, vents can harm your crawl space and your entire house.
There are several reasons why you should seal your crawl space, including deterring insects and avoiding moisture, frozen pipes, mold, and humidity.
Moreover, sealing your crawl space makes your house’s foundation and flooring last longer. It also gives you a healthier, more comfortable home with a higher market value.
I have a bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems and over 10 years of experience working in IT. As a homeowner, I love working on projects around the house, and as a father, I love investigating various ways to keep my family safe (whether or not this involves tech). I’ve also played guitar for almost 20 years and love writing music, although it’s hard to find the time these days.