Why your crawl space needs more than just insulation - Boyce VA
Challenge
Although they are often out of sight and out of mind, a crawl space can have an impact on the rest of your home. The condition inside of the crawl space can impact things like cold floors, energy use, air quality in the home and the health of the occupants. There are numerous steps that can be taken to properly control a crawl space and make it a conditioned part of your home, but skipping some of those steps can render the other steps useless. This Boyce VA home had a lot of attention paid to its crawl space but missed a vital step, leaving the space still open to influence from outside temperatures, moisture and allergens that could become part of the air moving into the home and living spaces above. The crawl space was insulated and had spray foam used in the rim joists to control some of the air flow, but the crawl space vents were left open and the dirt floors were only covered with a thin layer of plastic. 50% of the air in a home comes up through a crawl space, basement or lower level of the home before moving into the rest of the home. The open vents would allow external air and moisture to enter the crawl space after which the black plastic covering would simply trap moisture and send it to the dirt floors below creating mud and collected water in some areas. Images here show how small pieces of metal, screws and nails in the crawl space had rusted due to the significant moisture in the crawl space.
Solution
Sealing the vents to prevent free air flow in and out will improve the air quality and reduce the presence of moisture. Laying TerraBlock down on the dirt floors will allow for space/air to help evaporate what moisture is present in the dirt/soil floors. Covering it all with CleanSpace will seal the floors and the open air of the crawl space. Fully enclosing or "Encapsulating" this crawl space will make the insulation more effective and improve the air quality in the home and living spaces above. Having no outside air and temperatures coming in will help to keep the floors above at the desired temperature and comfort level for the homeowner.
