When it comes to maintaining your home, you naturally want to do a good job but at the same time, you need to keep costs down. Many people these days are on a tight budget, and this means they have to find a way of looking after their homes without spending more than they can afford to achieve this goal.
Well, one of the most cost-effective ways of protecting and maintaining the condition of your home is through the prevention of issues. One of the ways in which you can prevent a wide range of damage to your home is by making sure your crawl space is looked after. By finding expert crawl space repairs, you can help to provide an added layer of protection for your home by getting the space encapsulated. This can make a big positive difference in many ways, some of which we will look at in this article.
Some Damage You Can Avoid
There is a lot of potentially costly damage that you can avoid when you have crawl space encapsulation carried out at your home. Some of the issues that can be prevented include:
Damage Caused by Pests
One type of damage you can help to prevent by having encapsulation work carried out in your crawl space is the serious damage that can be caused by pests. If your crawl space is in bad condition, it will attract pests that want to breed, and they can quickly take over your home. Once inside, they can cause extensive and very serious damage to everything from the wiring and walls to furniture and personal belongings. This could cost a fortune to get repaired, and it will also cost you a lot of money to get the pest problem dealt with.
Damage Caused by Mold and Damp
If your crawl space is in bad shape, you may also find mold and dampness spreading through your home. Again, this can cause a lot of damage to your walls, your furniture, and to belongings, and this can then cost you a lot of money to repair. Getting rid of mold and dampness once they set it can be very difficult and expensive, so it will also cost you a lot of money to deal with the issue. In the meantime, it will continue to cause you a lot of issues.
Damage to Structure of the Home
You can also help to prevent damage to the structure of your home by having your crawl space protected through encapsulation. This is because it can stop pools of water from forming and becoming stagnant, and this reduces the risk of the wooden supports of your home being rotted away and compromising the stability of your property. This is another very important reason you should consider having this work carried out.
Damage Caused by Water
We all love rain, especially on hot summer days, but rain can also bring big problems. If the rainfall is far above normal, problems begin. Rain creates moisture and makes your crawl space wet and musty. This problem can get bigger over the years, the moisture spreads, and the beams start to rot. Sometimes this problem is solvable, and it is definitely up to you to do everything in your power to prevent flooding. For example, make sure you have good drainage that will prevent water retention.
Cracking the foundation
Poor foundations can also be the cause of the moisture and other problems in this space. If the foundations are poorly done, and over time it cracks, which further, in addition to moisture, leads to corrosion on pipes, fitting, valves, and other metal parts.
Rotting beams in crawl space
We know that moisture, like insects, causes the beams to rot, which can be prevented or at least reduced by coating them with protective paint from time to time. In this way, you will extend the life of both the crawl space and the entire house.
Moisture is a part of life when it comes to houses. Apart from the driest homes in the driest areas, some kind of moisture cannot be completely avoided. Water that infiltrates your home on the ground is one way that moisture can negatively affect the structure. When you have space to crawl, moisture is visible and very present.
One of the ways to control the humidity in the creep space is a very simple and cheap project: installing and connecting rolls of ordinary plastic plates. This process is called the vapor barrier.
These are some of the ways in which you can prevent a range of damage from occurring at your property because of your crawl space.
Some may wonder why a crawl space is built if it brings with it many potential problems. It is true that it can create additional costs for you, but it is also true that it prevents the formation of moisture in the house. Simply put, it is the amount of air that remains between the floor of the house and the foundation. Sometimes it extends below the whole house, and sometimes only part of it. The crawl space must be ventilated thanks to the presence of ventilation openings which must be protected so that animals cannot enter it.
Final thoughts
Many of the tasks of protecting this part of the house can be done by yourself, but for some of them, you will need professional help. In any case, since it is usually a low, cramped space where there is a lack of fresh air, we advise you to use a protective mask to avoid potential injuries.
Sharp objects such as metal and glass can also be found in this part of the house, so a work suit and gloves are also recommended.
After the above-mentioned problems that may arise, we cannot help but wonder why we are building this space at all. Well, let’s say it’s quite useful when you’re building a house on uneven terrain. It is cheaper to do this space than to pour the foundations for the purpose of leveling. In addition, this space can be used as a storage room for the installation of an HVAC unit and piping, with easy access in case of repair, while the basement space remains free to arrange exactly as you want.
