The crawl space...the usually cramped space beneath your home you would prefer to forget exists. However, this space very well could be the most important spot in your home to focus on to increase the overall comfort and health of your home. Properly insulated crawl spaces increase the comfort of your home, decrease energy consumption, preserve your home’s foundation, and greatly reduce present and future issues pertaining to moisture build up, nasal irritants, and unwanted pests.
Moisture, Mildew, and Fungus
A very common problem in many Iowa homes is moisture penetration. This problem is seen mostly in homes with vented crawl spaces rather than in sealed crawl spaces. With a vented crawl space there is no moisture barrier in place, so hot and humid air easily enters the crawl space, and when this air comes into contact with cooler surfaces like the floorboards of your home, the humid air condenses and saturates the wood. Over time this moisture can be very harmful to the structure of your home by rotting or weakening the wood. This dark and damp environment also provides ideal conditions for the formation of mold, mildew, fungus, and other harmful microorganisms. Because the air from the crawl space can enter your home, this can lead to silently afflicting you and your family with asthma and allergies symptoms, and possibly even infections, rashes, and other more serious medical conditions
Unwanted Pests
If your crawl space is not properly sealed, rodents, insects, spiders and others unwanted pests can make their home just beneath your feet, and can and find their way into your home through any unsealed opening. The warmth and moisture associated with a ventilated, uninsulated crawl space can be very enticing to these pests, and when colder temperatures take hold in Iowa, these pests will seek the warmth of your home if they can. In addition, insects and animals such as raccoons, opossums, or termites can enter the ventilated, uninsulated crawl space and create issues with both the structural elements such as the HVAC and electrical wiring beneath your home, as well as contributing to the air quality issues listed in the previous section above.
Saving Money
At Loess Hills Insulation, we will take time to explain the benefits of proper crawl space insulation and the insulation options that will be key in creating an overall controlled and safe environment in your crawl space, which will in turn improve the quality living environment of your home and save you money overall. The money saved results from eliminating unnecessary costs pertaining to the above issues of health issues, extermination calls, and repairing structural elements under your home. Obviously, you will also save money as the insulation we would install in your crawl space would significantly impact the heating and cooling issues created by the open air ventilated, uninsulated crawl space. It would be our goal to seal your crawl space area to create a managed temperature space unimpacted by pest, moisture, or air quality issues. Call us today to schedule a free quote and evaluation to discuss how you can start benefiting from proper crawl space insulation!
