The Dangers of Moisture in the Crawl Space

If you do have a high humidity level in your crawl space, you may end up with a variety of problems. That’s why it’s so important to keep an eye on your crawl space humidity. The ideal humidity for a crawl space needs to be at the forefront of any changes you make.

At the very least, you need to make sure you’re maintaining a low humidity level. Otherwise, you may run into these problems.

Mold and Mildew

Typically, you’ll see that mold needs at least a 70% relative humidity level to grow. The thing is, however, this is a pretty loose number. You may actually see mold and mildew starting to grow at lower than 70% relative humidity.

How is this possible? If the relative humidity of a surface is different than the relative humidity of the air in your crawl space, it can actually create an ideal situation for the mold and mildew in the area even if you’re measuring relative humidity of less than 70%.

It’s important to monitor your crawl space’s ideal relative humidity to prevent structural damage overall. If you’ve never taken any steps to identify your crawl space’s ideal relative humidity, it’s a good idea to request a free inspection from JES to do just that.

Wood Rot

Wood rot is caused by a fungus that grows best in cool, moist environments. If you have an overly moist environment in your crawl space, you may end up with wood rot all around your foundation, which can be extremely worrying for your structure.

If you’re dealing with wood rot, you may notice bouncy floors, a slightly musty odor, and very high humidity in the rest of your home. These signs all point toward a problem that you should try to tackle as soon as you can.

Wood rot left unchecked can seriously damage your home’s foundation. Anyone who’s started to notice these warning signs of wood rot should schedule a free home foundation inspection to make sure there aren’t any problems.

Higher Electricity Bills

You may not have considered this, but a high level of humidity in your home can actually lead to higher electricity bills. That means fixing the high humidity levels could actually save you money, albeit over a long period of time.

People tend to feel more uncomfortable when a home has high relative humidity, even if the temperature is at an otherwise comfortable temperature. This discomfort may lead to an attempt to “cool off” by turning up the air conditioning.

Although it might be expensive to fix the high humidity in your crawl space, it can actually pay for itself if you end up being able to turn the air conditioning down. These lower electricity bills can certainly make the whole process worth your while.