5 Advantages of Sealing a Crawl Space

Sealing a crawl space will protect your home from unwanted things. The quality of the air in your home may suffer depending on what seeps into your home. Quality of air is important for your general health, but especially if you have allergies. You could try to control the effects of the crawl space, but why not just seal it? Here are 5 advantages of sealing a crawl space.

Reduce Mold Spores and Bacteria

A crawl space is often built above bare ground. As a result, your home is exposed to the ground, which means it's exposed to whatever the air collects from the ground. The substances from the ground then circulate throughout your home and go upward, a process known as the "stack effect." That air often contains mold spores, which will travel throughout every room of your house. The quality of your air suffers greatly because of mold spores.

Bacteria colonies will also grow in your crawl space. An endless cycle sucks up the spores or bacteria and spreads them in your home, unless you do something about it. Sealing the crawl space helps you avoid this cycle, or at least reduce it significantly.

Avoid Damage from Moisture

Like mold spores, moisture can build up towards the bottom of your home (on top of the crawl space), due to the stack effect. Moisture can damage your flooring system. If made of wood, the flooring will rot.

Sealing helps to prevent the moisture from rising up and circulating. Thus sealing prevents moisture damage. If done properly the seal also keeps the moisture out of the crawl space.

Get Rid of Pests

Many types of vermin enjoy living in crawl spaces. Your crawl space may invite mice, termites or even snakes. Controlling pests can be troublesome, and you always risk them coming into your home. One way to fight against these pests is to seal your crawl space. Sealing a crawl space will stop pests from entering in the first place.

Reduce Utility Bills

The stack effect leads to higher utility bills, because of the air coming up from the outside through the crawl space. When you combat that air, you use your heating and cooling system more. You can reduce the resulting higher energy costs by sealing the crawl space.

Don't forget air purifiers and other appliances you use to combat mold spores and dust mites. You won't need to use these as much, so you will further reduce your electricity usage and bills.

Prevent Odors

If your crawl space isn't sealed, you may have smelled musty odors coming into your home from outside. Sealing a crawl space will help control such odors.

With these advantages and health benefits, many homeowners are interested in sealing a crawl space. If you these benefits affect you, you might consider sealing yours as well.