Baby It's Cold Outside!! (And In The Crawlspace)

Baby it’s cold outside!!

This week has been FRIGID so far. After the heavy rains of Monday, the temperature DRASTICALLY dropped. While we can definitely feel the physical effects of this cold, you might be wondering how your home is affected.

If your home has an unfinished, unsealed crawlspace, you’re probably already noticing how the cold is affecting your home. The cold floors. Those freezing drafts. All the signs are there! While many homeowners have been told that venting a crawlspace is better than sealing it, venting isn’t a solution, and actually causes more problems.

Venting a crawlspace on a cold day lets in cold air under the home. If the relative humidity of air goes up when we cool it, it goes down when we heat it. If we vent our crawlspaces in the winter and bring in 35° F air with 60% relative humidity, and we warm that air in our 62° F crawlspace, the relative humidity goes to 3%. With this dry air, we can begin to dry the crawlspace. In reality, of course, the dry, cold air mixes with the crawlspace air and cools the crawl space, and we have water evaporating from the earth into the crawlspace air. So we never actually achieve 3% relative humidity in our crawlspace- but materials do dry out, and there is no condensation. The consequence of this venting of the crawlspace is high energy bills, cold floors, and cold drafts.

Speaking of higher energy bills.. A home with a dirt crawlspace costs more to heat and cool. Like we previously mentioned, if your crawlspace is vented, those vents make your floors cold upstairs. This is not only uncomfortable, but it means that it will cost more to heat your home. Houses with dirt crawlspaces have damp air. Damp air uses more energy to heat and cool, and more energy costs more money. Damp air puts more of a latent (hidden) load on the HVAC system. Everyone knows they need to run their AC more on a humid day. But what about humidity inside the building? Same thing. If you get rid of the humidity from your crawlspace, you save money on heating and cooling costs.

But don’t worry!! Redeemers Group has all the solutions for your crawlspace! There are 4 steps to totally eliminate any negative effects on the rest of the house caused by your dirt crawl space.

Step 1: Fix the water leakage (if there is any).

Step 2: Isolate the house from the earth.

Step 3: Seal the vents and other outside air leaks.

Step 4: “Condition” or dehumidify your crawlspace air.

We would LOVE to be able to provide all homeowners with one of our 100% free inspections. No one wants cold floors and freezing drafts during the holidays. Give us a call today!