Is It Worth It To Install A Vapor Barrier In Your Crawl Space?
If your home has a crawl space with a dirt floor, installing a vapor barrier over it may save you money in the future. A vapor barrier blocks evaporated water in the soil from entering the air in your crawl space, which significantly reduces its humidity levels. Reducing the humidity in your crawl space has a number of benefits, such as limiting mold growth and rot. If you're wondering if installing a vapor barrier is worth it, read on to learn why it's beneficial to have one in your crawl space.
You'll Reduce the Risk of Mold Growing in Your Home
High humidity in your crawl space can lead to mold growing on the joists, on the items you're storing down there, or in the insulation on the ceiling. If you don't use your crawl space at all, then you may not care about mold growing down there. Unfortunately, that's not the extent of the problem.
Some of the air in your crawl space will rise up into your home through gaps in the crawl space ceiling, and it will carry mold spores with it if there's any mold present in the crawl space. If you have any humid areas in your home, then the mold spores may begin growing there.
Getting rid of mold growing in your home and sanitizing the area is an expensive service. Installing a vapor barrier in your crawl space will reduce the humidity there, making it less habitable to mold and reducing the chance that you'll ever need to hire an expensive mold removal service in the future.
You'll Protect Your Crawl Space Joists and Ceiling
Mold isn't the only thing that grows in high humidity — it also allows fungus to grow, and fungus can cause your wooden ceiling and floor joists to rot. Rotten wood loses quite a bit of its strength.
When your ceiling and joists start to develop a significant amount of rot, the floors in your home may begin to sag or your home may begin to tilt. This compromises the structural integrity of your home, which significantly reduces its value. Installing a vapor barrier in your crawl space greatly reduces the risk that the wooden structural components will start to rot, preserving the structure and value of your home.
You'll Lower Your Cooling Bills During Warmer Months
Since some of the air in your crawl space makes its way upwards, a humid crawl space will raise the humidity level of your home. As a result, installing a vapor barrier in your crawl space helps keep your home less humid.
Dry air feels cooler than humid air since it makes it easier for sweat to evaporate from your skin. You'll be able to turn the thermostat up a bit during the warmer months of the year and still remain comfortable. This reduces how often your air conditioner will need to run, which keeps your energy bills lower during a hot summer.
As you can see, installing a vapor barrier in your home's crawl space is worth it because it helps reduce your energy bills along with preventing mold growth and serious structural problems. Crawl space vapor barrier installation is inexpensive, and it can help save you a considerable amount of money later on by eliminating the need to brace your crawl space's rotted joists or remove mold from your home. If you don't have one yet, call a crawl space vapor barrier installation service in your area and have them inspect your crawl space and measure its dimensions to get a quote for installation costs.