As a below grade area that sits under our house, we might be conditioned to believe that a crawl space should be a particularly dark and damp place. While it may be pretty dark down there, it definitely shouldn’t be wet in most cases. If you are constantly seeing unexplainable moisture or puddling in your crawl space, this is a problem that you will need to address before it is too late.
Moisture in this space isn’t necessarily an immediate problem. However, moisture that hangs around not only invites rot and pest invasions to the area, but it fosters the growth of mold. As a surprising amount of air in your home rises up from the crawl space, it is also bringing with it unhealthy mold spores in to your house.
Moisture in a crawl space comes from three possible sources, not all of them even a problem with your foundation. These sources include:
- Plumbing Issues — Sometimes where there is a puddle of water in this area, there is a leaking pipe right above it.
- Condensation — Common in times of high heat or humidity, but condensation should be able to evaporate away. If it cannot, this is a sign of foundation issues.
- Surface Water Issues — Surface water should be kept out of the crawl space, if there is heavy puddling after rain, you may need your home re-graded, the gutters adjusted and cleaned, or your basement windows may be leaking.
Not all of these issues can be fixed by foundation repair, but all of them can be detected by a foundation repair specialist. If you are having problems with a wet crawl space and definitely don’t want to find out the long-term effects of that, you will want to contact us today for professional inspection and repair to keep your foundation on steady legs.