Your Crawl Space Causes Problems
If you have a dirt crawlspace underneath your home, then chances are you are experiencing problems that need to be addressed.
For instance, your foundation may be experiencing bad smells, high humidity, puddles of water, broken concrete foundation, heaps and heaps of dirt, little to no access, little to no sunlight, little to no insulation, radon gases, water vapor, mold, insects, termites, pests, vermin, tree roots penetrating into the concrete footing, lack of earthquake retrofitting hardware, or any similar type of problem.
If you do not know whether or not your foundation is experiencing any problems, then the best recommendation is to crawl underneath your home with a flashlight and look around or contact a foundation expert to do it for you, which is usually a free service, and as experts they can pinpoint almost every specific problem.
What it boils down to is that almost all crawl spaces have problems. Through a process known as the stack effect, air travels up from underneath the home and takes the crawl space air with it. Many Americans currently live with asthma problems and other breathing related problems due to the dirt foundations underneath their home and the mold spores as well as dust mites that travel with it.
Local Building Codes
On the one hand, the dirt space underneath your home is causing your home structural damage and possibly you and your family health problems. On the other hand, local building departments still require the same tired method of building these inadequate spaces as they were originally believed to be the best way to build them over fifty years ago.
Building scientists decades ago figured that the most logical thing was to add vent holes to allow air to travel from one end to the other end. The problem over time resulted in the rotting and damaging of the structural sub-floor wood members as well as any of the other problems that have been raised above. We now know today that vent holes do not work and destroy the crawl space faster.
There have been very few attempts to change the local building codes, which is a very stringent process that begins at the local level, then begins to climb up to state, national, and international levels. At the international level is where the building code would have to change in order to improve the building design of homes on raised dirt crawl spaces. Furthermore, there is too much interest in the termite industry to allow the conditions under your home to improve.
Crawl Space Repair
Repair is needed when the condition of your existing crawl space is poor. There are many signs such as high humidity, dense wood, brittle wood, bad smells, or water intrusion. Repair is recommended if any of these present a deeper problem to the integrity of your home especially during earthquake activity in areas like Los Angeles.
There are a number of solutions depending on the problems you or a foundation specialist may have spotted underneath your home. Remember, the crawl space is the portion underneath your home which usually has limited access and is one of the most important spaces for the structural strength of your home. It is also known as the "weak story," because it takes a high transfer of volume and any damage done to this sub-floor story will make it much weaker.
Repairing your crawl space is one of the best and most important steps you as homeowner can take in order to protect your home.
Crawl Space Encapsulation is the Fastest Way to a Dry, Clean Home
Encapsulation refers to the idea that the dirt region underneath your home can be encapsulated and sealed from the rest of the home. Simply put, it separates the earth from the home.
Reasons to have your crawl space encapsulated include:
-Storage space
-Termite prevention
-Better energy bills
-Cleaner look
-Warmer winters and cooler summers
-Saves you thousands on crawl space water damage repair
A good quality vapor barrier can dramatically reduce the level of humidity in the home, keep out pests, termites and vermin, and it can save you thousands of dollars in energy bills over the years.
Insulation in your floors is not as effective as a vapor barrier. A crawl space vapor barrier will keep the home cooler in the summer when the A/C is running and warmer in the winters when the heater is running. Without a vapor barrier, your home is losing energy and money.
Why isn't a crawl space vapor barrier recognized by city building codes in California and other states?
Simply, because scientists and building officials guessed how a home would need to circulate air in the crawl space region by signifying that a few vent holes would suffice. Unfortunately, the scientific evidence today proves otherwise and is hard to ignore. Vents in your crawl space do not provide for natural air circulation especially if there's rain or humidity.
How do homeowners ensure that they are receiving a good, quality product that seals the earth from the home even though this goes against building codes? One of the overall benefits of having your building department involved in the building process is to ensure that your contractor is doing the correct work and the work is done to completion. In other words, if building officials are not allowed or cannot recommend the inspection of crawl space encapsulation, then how do homeowners receive verification? There are many vapor barriers on the market and the best thing to do is to go with the best one and ask about any warranty. While many companies may offer warranties for this kind of product and service, the best advice is to choose the contractor who has been in business the longest, which is a sign that the company will be around to honor the warranty in the future.
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