Keep Summer Humidity Outside Where It Belongs
The hot and humid “dog days of summer” are amazing – when you’re outside at the beach, on the boat, or playing with the kids in the sprinkler. But living with high humidity inside your home isn’t so amazing, especially if it’s accompanied by something that smells like a wet dog.
The problem could be under your home. Building scientists say up to 50% of the air on your first floor comes from the crawl space or basement. That means whatever affects the air underneath your home is affecting your family.
If this doesn’t make sense, you need to know about the stack effect. It’s a scientific principle concerning the airflow in your home. Here’s how it works:
- As warm air rises, it leaks out of the upper areas through the doors, windows, attic, and roof vents.
- New air must enter to replace the air that escaped.
- This creates suction in the lower levels to draw in replacement air.
- In older, leaky homes, the air can be completely replaced up to two times every hour.
Bottom line: Your family breathes the air from the crawl space or basement. If the basement feels damp and clammy, it will be humid in your living areas. If there’s mold in the crawl space, there are mold spores upstairs. If it smells nasty and musty (maybe like a wet dog), your family is stuck with those odors throughout the house.
You can’t change the weather, so what can you do? If you have a basement that has never leaked, a dehumidifier is a great place to start. It’s also a good idea to seal the rim joist, which is the area at the top of the basement walls where the floor above attaches. This is a common spot where outside air enters the basement.
It’s a little more complicated if there’s a crawl space under your home, and the solution depends on several factors. Does the area have open vents? Is the floor just dirt or is there concrete? Has the crawl space ever had water in it? Does the floor structure above show signs of mold, rot, or rust?
Chances are you don’t know these things – and you’re not going into the crawl space to find out! That’s okay. The team at Ayers loves exploring the dark, damp, spidery areas below your home. Our knowledgeable specialists will visit at no charge, complete a thorough inspection that includes surveying the entire crawl space, show you photos of exactly what’s happening down there, and provide detailed recommendations to solve whatever issues they find. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to ask questions so you can feel confident about the needed repairs.
The best solution often includes sealing the rim joist, encapsulation with our exclusive CleanSpace vapor barrier, installing the SmartSump crawl space sump pump system, and adding a SaniDry Sedona dehumidifier. All these patented products are specially designed to keep crawl spaces dry, eliminate humidity from outside air, prevent damage to the floor supports above, and make your home safer and more comfortable.
Keep the weather outside where it belongs and enjoy the oasis of your home without unwanted humidity or nasty smells. Contact Ayers today for a free inspection and estimate!
