Crawl spaces often seem like they came straight out of a horror movie. They’re small, dark, and mysterious.
In other words, crawl spaces are the last place you would want to find yourself in on Halloween night all alone.
However, crawl spaces don’t have to be as creepy as they appear. Getting to know your home’s crawl space is important, especially since they support the part of your home that you see every single day. Owners of homes with crawl spaces can start by understanding what a crawl space is, how it benefits their homes, and how it hurts their homes.
What is a crawl space?
A crawl space is exactly what it sounds like: a space that is just big enough to crawl into, but not big enough for someone to stand up in. Much like a basement, crawl spaces typically occupy the area between the ground and the first floor of a home or a building.
What are the advantages of crawl spaces?
While they are less spacious than basements, crawl spaces still benefit your home in several ways.
Firstly, crawl spaces can be cheaper than basements. While they will take about the same amount of time to build as a basement, their materials are cheaper.
Secondly, they provide a place for your home’s utilities, including, but not limited to electrical wiring, insulation, duct work, plumbing, and more.
Additionally, they give repairmen easy access to these utilities when one of them malfunctions. This is a convenient contrast to a traditional concrete foundation, which would require a professional to excavate your utilities from the concrete to reach them.
On that note, crawl spaces can also act as a substitute for the traditional concrete foundation. This is especially important for homeowners who live on sloped lots, in cold regions, and in flood-risk regions. Crawl spaces require less excavation on a sloped lot, are less prone to cracks or shifts in cold weather, and have a better chance of withstanding a flood than a concrete slab.
What are the disadvantages of crawl spaces?
Unfortunately, crawl spaces also have their drawbacks just like concrete foundations. One of the biggest is the crawl space’s tendency to accumulate moisture. This negative side effect can happen when a crawl space is poorly ventilated, poorly insulated, or both. Indeed, with nowhere else to go but in, the moisture becomes trapped within the tiny crawl space.
This especially rings true in wet climates, which are several times more likely to create moisture problems in crawl spaces than dry climates. Worse still, the trapped moisture can eventually turn your crawl space into a haven for mold if left to its own devices for too long. This can lead to serious health problems for you and your family.
Besides moisture and mold, poorly maintained crawl spaces can also attract all sorts of critters. They are ideal homes for pests like rats, mice, and raccoons, who take advantage of the small space to hide from their often much larger predators. Needless to say, these pests can cause long-term damage to your home quite literally from the ground up.
How can I combat the disadvantages of my home’s crawl space?
As you can see, your home’s crawl space has many advantages and disadvantages. They can be a convenient storage space for your utilities and can withstand certain types of wear and tear that concrete foundations cannot. However, they can also encourage mold and pests to build up beneath your home.
The best way to combat the disadvantages of your home’s crawl space is to ensure that it is being properly maintained. This means proper ventilation, proper insulation, and regular checkups to ensure that no potential problems go amiss. These measures will help your crawl space feel less eerie and more like the essential part of your home that it is.