One of the most expensive purchases you will make in your lifetime is your home. Protect your investment and your health by starting from the ground up.

Most homes in the southeast are commonly on a brick foundation that has a crawl space. Home building codes allow building homes for decades to be ventilated crawl spaces; as you see in the picture below.

These vents allow moisture and outside air to enter into the crawl space, creating common moisture problems for your home.

• - Mold or moisture damage to wood floor joists
• - Condensation or “sweating” of your air conditioning and heating system ductwork
• - Moisture and sweating formed on your floor insulation
• - Humidity problems in your living area
• - Musty smells and odors that develop in your crawl space seeping into your home
• - Rodent and insect problems

How to fix these symptoms? Sealing your crawl space. Crawl space encapsulations are a method that is being seen done in more homes that improves your air quality, protects your home and increases energy efficiency.

Steps to improve your crawl space:

• Closing and sealing off vents
• Creating a sealed insulated moisture barrier to wrap the walls and floor of your crawl space. Sealing off all dirt and concrete block or brick from the interior.
• Air sealing all gaps and holes that are in your floor (plumbing pipes, drains, electrical lines and sealing off all places where your hvac system may have leaks (grills and vents)
• Installing proper drainage system to eliminate any moisture. Sometimes sump pumps are needed and drainage lines formed on the inside perimeter of the foundation walls

These symptoms of crawl space issues can be fixed. Improving your crawl space issues can improve your home’s value and your comfort!