Crawl Space Insulation And Indiana Cold Weather

As winter approaches, many Indiana homeowners start to consider ways to save money on energy and reduce heat loss. One of the best places for a homeowner to look at energy savings during the winter months is the crawl space, which then raises the question as to what is the proper way to insure your crawl space contributes to your homes energy savings and not the other way around.

To properly answer this question we must first understand a little bit more about Indiana crawl spaces in general. Most vented Indiana crawl spaces tend to be very wet, damp environments. The dirt floor of these crawl spaces also continuously has moisture escaping out of it and moving in an upward motion into the crawl space and up into the living areas (Stack Effect). Because of this, just simply installing fiberglass insulation in your crawl space without address any of the moisture issues can actually lead to more problems down the road and here's why. Fiberglass insulation installed in the crawl space between the floor joist will tend to act like a sponge for moisture that is escaping out of the dirt crawl space floor and working its way up through the house. This in turn allows the fiberglass insulation to absorb that moisture. Many times this makes the fiberglass insulation much heavier and runs the risk of falling out from between the floor joist and on the damp crawl space dirt floor. Fallen insulation in your crawl space can then become a problem for possible mold growth. The other, and sometimes more severe issue with fiberglass insulation holding moisture, is if the fiberglass insulation does not fall from between the floor joist. If the insulation remains installed between the floor joist and continues to hold moisture, then that moisture will eventually begin to effect the structural wood on the floor joist. Prolonged high moisture levels in the floor joist will eventually lead to costly issues such as mold growth or wood rot.

Because of these possible issues the real question becomes whether or not you should use fiberglass insulation in your Indiana crawl space at all? My answer to that would be a cautious yes, just as long as the homeowner has had the crawl space inspected for any excessive moisture issues that may effect the fiberglass insulation. If the crawl space is found to have issues with excessive moisture than the following solutions should be considered prior to any installation of fiberglass insulation in your crawl space.

1. Drainage/Sump Pump-If excessive moisture in your crawl space is being caused by standing water in your crawl space then the first step would be to install a proper sump basin and sump pump. Depending on the amount of standing water that the crawl space gets, a complete crawl space drainage system may need to be considered as well in order to keep the crawl space free of standing water permanently.

1. Vapor Barrier-Installing a proper vapor barrier across the entire dirt floor of your crawl space should be the first consideration when dealing with excessive crawl space moisture that is not being caused by standing water. A proper crawl space vapor barrier works by trapping the moisture escaping out of the dirt floor, keeping it from moving up into the crawl space and becoming absorbed by the fiberglass insulation.

2. Crawl Space Encapsulation System-Sometimes a vapor barrier alone may not reduce the moisture levels in your crawl space to an acceptable level. This tends to be the issue when there are other factors contributing to the excessive moisture other than just the dirt crawl space floor. These other factors can include foundation block seepage or excessive moisture being caused by outside air coming into the crawl space from the crawl space vents. If these other factors are playing a part in the excessive moisture issues of your crawl space then a complete crawl space encapsulation system may need to be considered. A crawl space encapsulation system works by sealing the crawl space off from all of the outside environments, which in turn creates a barrier from all areas that are contributing to the excessive moisture rather than just the dirt crawl space floor.

For more information about crawl space insulation or any other crawl space issue please click here or visit www.swaincollc.com

No Escape

Did you know that 40-50% of the air in your home came from the crawl space? That’s right, there is no escape from your crawl space. You can close your crawl space up and never go down there and pretend it doesn’t exist. It won’t work; there will come a time that your crawl space will remind you that it does exist. Have you ever noticed a musty odor during or after a heavy to moderate rain? Stack effect is the natural air flow in a home. It starts in the crawl space and moves up through the home. Have you been in your crawl space lately? Pretending your crawl space doesn’t exist does not make your crawl space go away. Out of every breath you take in your home nearly half of the air traveling to your lungs came from the crawl space. Have courage and go in your crawl space and take some pictures. Choose your favorite picture, blow it up and paste pictures of furniture on it. We must all come to grips with the truth that the crawl space is as much a part of our home as our children’s bed rooms or our living room. The best place to start to make sure you have a healthy house is to have a healthy crawl space. A healthy crawl space is a dry encapsulated crawl space. You can run and hide but there is no escape from the CRAWL SPACE. If you would like a healthy crawl space and need a free inspection call 318-828-7897 or visit www.swaincollc.com

Indiana Crawl Space Repair

Repairing an Indiana crawl space is one of the most important things an Indiana homeowner can do to their largest investment, their house. A proper dry crawl space can prevent many dangerous and expensive issues related to an Indiana homeowners house. A dry crawl space will help reduce the chance of mold growth, structural wood damage, and possible foundation failures. Many Indiana crawl spaces have moisture related issues that are unknown to the homeowner. Many times these moisture related issues are not easily fixed with just a vapor barrier or sump pump. Many times a full perimeter drainage system and possibly an encapsulation system is needed to prevent an Indiana crawl space from issues such as mold growth, structure wood damage and possible foundation failure. To find out more information on whether or not your Indiana crawl space has a problem please visit www.swaincollc.com or call 317-828-7897.

Fiberglass Insulation In Your Crawl Space???

I have inspected many crawl spaces over the last ten years, and the question comes up more often than not. Should I install fiberglass insulation in my crawl space? The answer to this question is not a simply yes or no. A lot of it depends on where we are talking about installing this fiberglass insulation and what the conditions of the crawl space are. If we are talking about installing fiberglass insulation on the foundation walls of the crawl space than my answer for that is always no. Foundation walls in a crawl space tend to seep moisture or water. This moisture or water is then soaked into the fiberglass insulation like a sponge. The fiberglass insulation installed all the foundation walls can also allow moisture or water to wick upwards towards the structure wood components of the house in the crawl space. This in return can lead to mold growth or possible wood rot. Now if we are talking about installing fiberglass insulation under the sub-floor, between the floor joist in your crawl space than my answer is yes, but only if certain conditions are meet. Fiberglass insulation installed between the floor joist can also work like a sponge and absorb moisture and hold it between the structure wood. But if the crawl space is conditioned right so that moisture is no longer a problem in your crawl space than fiberglass insulation between your floor joist can be beneficial. In order to make sure moisture is not a problem in your crawl space before you consider any type of fiberglass insulation you might want to consider some type of encapsulation system for your crawl space first. An encapsulation system in your crawl space would be the best method of eliminating any moisture before you install fiberglass insulation. To find out more information about crawl spaces please visit www.swaincollc.com