Humidity with focus on crawl space encapsulation service

Why Does Your House Still Feel Humid, Even with the AC Running Nonstop? 

You crank the AC. You run a dehumidifier. Maybe you've even had someone out to service the unit. And yet the air in your house still feels thick and sticky every summer, like it never quite dries out. Sound familiar? 

Before you blame the AC again, it is worth looking somewhere most people never think to check: the crawlspace underneath the house. 

The Part of Your Home Nobody Thinks About

We get it. Nobody's spending their Saturday crawling around under their house to check on things. Crawlspaces are easy to forget about, right up until whatever is happening down there starts showing up somewhere else. A musty smell in the living room. Humidity that won't quit no matter how hard the AC works. Floors that feel cold or damp even in July. 

Here is what's usually going on: a lot of older homes were built with foundation vents in the crawlspace, based on building codes that assumed venting would help air the moisture out. In practice, it tends to do the opposite. Warm, humid summer air drifts in through those vents, hits the cooler surfaces underneath the house, and condenses. That moisture soaks into the wood joists and subfloor above, and before long, you've got the ideal setup for mold, rot, and unwelcome guests like termites and carpenter ants. 

And here is the part that surprises most homeowners: your crawlspace isn't sealed off from the rest of your house the way you'd think. Air moves. Whatever is brewing down there (mold spores, musty air, excess moisture) has a way of finding its way up into the rooms you actually spend time in, often riding along through the ductwork. 

A Few Signs Worth Checking For 

• Floors feel cold or damp in the rooms right above the crawlspace
• A musty smell, visible mold, or dampness if you take a peek underneath
• Old fiberglass batt insulation that's sagged or fallen out of place between the joists
• Mice, spiders, or other pests that seem to have made themselves at home down there 

If a couple of these sound familiar, there is a decent chance your crawlspace has been quietly working against you. Summer is usually when it's most noticeable. 

So, What Actually Fixes It?

Here is the good news: the fix is sealing the crawlspace off completely.  Here is how our crawlspace encapsulation process works, step-by-step: We lay down a heavy-duty vapor barrier across the dirt or stone floor to stop ground moisture in its tracks. We use a 45 mil reinforced liner, — more than twice as thick as what a lot of competitors use, and seal every seam and edge with tape and spray foam. Even a small gap left open can let a surprising amount of moisture through. 

1. ‍We seal up the foundation vents so humid summer air (and cold winter air) can't get in the way it used to. 
2. We spray foam the band board gaps, one of the sneakier spots where air leaks in where the foundation meets the framing. 
3. We add rigid insulation to the foundation walls, so heat and cold stop conducting through the block or concrete. 
4. We finish with a blower door test, so you are not just taking our word for it. We can actually show you the numbers on how much air leakage we eliminated. 

Once it is done, your crawlspace stops being a source of problems and just ... does its job quietly, in the background, the way it should. 

Worth a Look, and Summer Is When It Shows 

If your home has a crawlspace and nobody has ever really looked at it, summer is usually when the problems it has been hiding start to show themselves. Fixing it at the source tends to make a bigger difference than most people expect, a lot more than another dehumidifier or a higher AC bill ever will. 

If any of this sounds like your house, book a no-cost assessment with Energy Smart Home Improvement ,and we will help you figure out what's really going on.

Contact Energy Smart Home Improvement to get started on your journey to a cooler, more energy-efficient home.