Are All Dirt Crawl Spaces a Problem?

Because dirt crawl spaces are so prolific, it’s common for homeowners to wonder why they’re such a problem. However, dirt crawl spaces are a monumental issue, and you must tackle them as early as possible. 

• High Levels of Crawl Space Humidity 

It’s common for high levels of crawl space humidity to flourish in a dirt crawl space that has not been fitted with waterproofing measures. That’s because the dirt will always be moist somewhere deep down. The water will move up through the dirt, causing high levels of humidity to occur in the crawl space, where it gets trapped. 

This can lead to several issues that range from inconvenient to expensive. A humid crawl space, for example, is likely to harbor mold and take on a musty smell. This mold can cause skin irritation and respiratory problems, but as the humid air circulates your home, it can also impact your energy bills. So, with mold spreading through your home, bringing musty smells and high energy bills, it’s clear that dampness is an issue worth thinking about. 

• No Protection for Storage 

If you want to use your crawl space for storage, it’s probably a bad idea to do so when you have a dirt crawl space. Dirt crawl spaces provide no protection for anything you put down in the crawl space, which means it’s a space under your home that’s just taking up space without offering any benefits. 

Of course, if you were to use completely airtight storage like vacuum bags, a dirt crawl space could still be useful, but this severely limits what you can store in it. After all, the things most homeowners wish to store in a crawl space are those things that are used seasonally at most (Christmas decorations, for example) or that are very bulky.