Breweries and crawlspaces

7/10/2019 (Permalink)

1. Keep Moisture Out 

Moisture control is one of the first steps towards having a safe and clean crawl space. As pointed out in The Washington Post, the ground beneath and around your home contains moisture, which ideally, should evaporate back into the atmosphere.

When this fails to happen, the moisture can collect into visible water droplets. But the real problem happens when this water accumulates near wood, causing mold and mildew to grow. If left alone, the mold can be bad enough to compromise the structural integrity of your home.

Good moisture control begins outside the building envelope. For example, gutters are a relatively small investment that can work wonders by directing water away from your home’s foundation. If gutters are impossible or impractical, you can also try landscaping the soil outside the house such that it slopes to direct water away from the building.

2. Inspect and Clean the Interior of Your Crawl Space

Once you’ve eliminated all external sources of moisture, you can then proceed to inspecting the crawl space itself. If you have exposed dirt floors, you should consider sealing it with a moisture retardant like polyethylene. In a guide for the National Post, writer Mike Holmes notes that crawl spaces with dirt floors can lead to problems caused by humidity. Dirt floors can also be infested with bugs.

Regular cleaning will also help keep the crawl space dry and moisture free. If the crawl space has already been “infected” with moisture-caused mold, a professional cleaning service may be necessary to fix the problem. This is especially true if you have a pool of stagnant water in the crawl space, which calls for a perimeter drain.

3. Block Out Rodents and Ventilate

After cleaning your crawl space, the next step is keeping it clean. You can start by making sure any potential entry points for rodents are blocked off. Watch out for small cracks and seams, which—while looking deceptively tiny—are large enough for mice and roaches.

At the same time, you want to make sure your crawl space still has enough ventilation to let it “breathe.” Ventilation in the form of laminated water vapor barriers are excellent solutions for allowing crawl spaces to vent, while still keeping pests out.

4. Insulate the Crawl Space

After installing your vents and water vapor barriers, you can then proceed to installing insulation. Fiberglass batts are by far the most common and popular insulating solution for crawl spaces, and can be install between floor joists. While effective, you might want to consider pairing fiberglass batts with spray foam insulation, although more expensive, spray foam insulation can create a super tight seal against heat transfer and air movement.

A thin layer of spray foam can be enough to fill in the nooks and crannies of your crawl space, which, when paired with the cheaper fiberglass, can keep warm air in and cold air out, and vice versa during the summer. Spray foam also works wonders against moisture damage and mold growth because it’s impermeable to moisture.

Proper insulation not only regulates the temperature of the crawl space, it also helps insulate the rest of the home. During summer and winter, uninsulated crawl spaces are one of the biggest culprits for burgeoning utility bills caused by HVAC systems working harder to fight warm or cold air from escaping from beneath the floor.