3 Ways Weather Can Affect Your Crawlspace

Because many crawlspaces are not nearly as well protected, waterproofed, and insulated as the homes they sit underneath, weather can greatly affect their condition. Unfortunately, if a crawlspace is negatively affected by weather, it can then transfer those negative effects to the rest of your home.

Here are three of the ways that weather can negatively impact the condition of a crawlspace.

High Humidity

It’s easy for humidity to get trapped in your crawlspace if it lacks a proper source of ventilation. The warm air that’s holding all of that moisture rises toward your home, where it can start to permeate up through your floors and walls. This excess moisture can rot wood and drywall and cause black mold growth that can threaten your home’s structural integrity.

Rain

If rain ends up entering your crawlspace and pooling there, it can create some of the problems mentioned above, similar to high humidity. However, persistent puddles of water can lead to an additional problem that no homeowner or landlord wants: pests. Rodents and insects are drawn to damp places, and a wet crawlspace can provide these pests with the perfect hiding place.

Cold

Did you know that the cold air that enters your unfinished crawlspace will inevitably enter your home and make your home colder? This phenomenon, known as the “stack effect,” occurs whether you’ve insulated the floor above your crawlspace or not.

Here is how the stack effect works in a home:

• Warm air rises. In a home, warm air rises through the home’s attic (or whatever constitutes the top level of the home). That air can be pushed out through a number of sources: open or unsealed windows, small gaps, vents, etc.
• As the warm air rises out of your home, air from below (cooler air) moves in to take its place from your home’s lower levels, including the crawlspace.

Cold air and humidity aren’t the only things that can enter your home from the crawlspace. The air that rises up can also bring bad smells, dust mite feces, and mold spores with it. For this reason, it’s important to keep your crawlspace clean and free of excess moisture.