If you’ve ever ventured down into your crawlspace, you know it can get pretty gross. All kinds of things can make their way into your crawlspace if you aren’t careful, many of which can cause ongoing indoor air quality, comfort, and efficiency issues in your home.
At Worley’s Home Services, we spend a lot of time in crawlspaces, and we’ve seen it all—the good, the bad, and the ugly. We track what we find in our series #whatsstuckinchuckscrawl where you can see the craziest things we’ve stumbled upon.
Today, we’re going to share some of the most common problems we find with unsealed crawlspaces and explain how our crawlspace insulation and encapsulation services can protect your home.
What Could Be Stuck in Your Unsealed Crawlspace?
Unsealed crawlspaces are open to the elements, which leaves them vulnerable to all kinds of unwanted intruders.
- Rodents
Your crawlspace is almost like a cave underneath your home—the perfect place for a growing family of mice or squirrels to set up shop. We’ve even found bigger animals, like cats and opossums, hiding out in crawlspaces. They might be cute, but no one wants furry little creatures chewing on wood and wires or burrowing into their walls.
- Termites, Ants & Cockroaches
Bugs love crawlspaces and we tend to find hordes of them—dead and alive—inside unsealed crawls. Once they gain access to your crawlspace, termites and bugs can make their way into other parts of your home quite easily, leading to pest infestations.
- Moisture
Moisture is one of the greatest threats to your home, and many moisture issues can be traced back to your crawlspace. High humidity, flooding, and even condensation from pipes can create excess moisture in your crawlspace.
- Mold and Mildew
Where there’s moisture, there will eventually be mold. A moldy crawlspace is bad for your entire home not only because mold can eat away at building materials but also because its spores will get into the air. Most of the air in your crawlspace will eventually end up inside your home, and it will bring contaminants like mold with it.
- Shoddy Work
Many of the problems we see in crawlspaces are caused by poor crawlspace repair or crawlspace insulation services that were completed in the past. We can resolve problems left behind by other contractors or well-meaning DIYers to make sure you aren’t dealing with lingering issues from past homeowners.
Crawlspace Encapsulation Protects Your Home
Crawlspace encapsulation seals your crawlspace off from the elements. To encapsulate a crawlspace, we install crawlspace insulation, seal air leaks, and install a weatherproof vapor barrier. These elements work together to keep heat, cold, rain, moisture, pests, and more out of your crawl space for good. The result is:
- Better energy efficiency
- A more comfortable home
- Healthier indoor air
- Less risk of pest infestation
- Less risk of mold and moisture issues
At Worley’s Home Services, we help homeowners find peace of mind around their home comfort and efficiency issues. We offer crawl space inspections to uncover hidden issues that could be hurting your home and will recommend the best solution based on your home and budget.
Whether you know there’s a problem or you want to get ahead of the game before issues arise, we can help! Worley’s is a one-stop home services company, and we serve homeowners in Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, Norfolk, Gloucester, Yorktown, Chesapeake, and throughout the surrounding areas.
