Why Do I Need a Crawl Space Sump Pump?

Crawl spaces aren’t given much thought, since they are too small for many to enter and you can’t finish them and turn them into an extra room like you would a basement. Still, this doesn’t mean that crawl spaces aren’t an important part of your home. After all, if the crawl space deteriorates, the whole house falls apart since your foundation’s health determines the rest of the home’s health. Without a sump pump, your crawl space will get flooded every time it rains, which is something that should not happen.

Standing water in a crawl space promotes mold growth, which leads to wood rot. Mold is harmful, and if it exists in your crawl space, you are breathing it in due to the stack effect. Breathing in mold spores long-term can lead to mold poisoning and other serious health problems. Wood rot can weaken your floor joists to the point where they can no longer support your floorboards anymore. The same thing happens with waterlogged wood, since water can cause the wood to expand and soften.

The water can also damage any concrete and wood in the crawl space due to the freeze-thaw effect, and that’s something you cannot control unless you have waterproofing solutions in there. The existence of water in your crawl space also encourages pests of all kinds. Pests like cockroaches love damp, dark places where they are not disturbed by humans. A wet crawl space makes a perfect cockroach nest, so all the more reason to add get a sump pump.