Odors in Encapsulated Crawl Spaces
A properly encapsulated crawl space is a critical line of defense for protecting your home from moisture-related issues. By adding a sealed vapor barrier to the surfaces of your crawlspace, you can prevent water vapor from seeping into your home and mold or mildew from growing in your home’s foundation.
However, over the years, some homeowners will notice a strange smell or odor coming from their home’s crawl space. These smells are often an early warning sign that something is wrong with the integrity of your crawl space.
What Causes Crawl Space Odors?
There are several reasons your encapsulated crawl space can start to smell. The most common is that water vapor has gotten through the encapsulation seal. If it smells odd or musty in your house after it rains, it may be because the encapsulation in your home’s crawl space has failed and allowed water to gather under the foundation and become stagnant, or the smell from minerals in the soil has penetrated through.
These minerals are activated by rain water, giving off a distinctly musty odor that can sneak into your crawl space, and spread through the rest of your home.
Another source of foul smells coming from your crawl space can be wildlife. Rodents in particular love using crawl spaces as places to live in, as they are cool, dark, hard to find, and out of the way of most natural predators.
The smell of vermin and their droppings can be a source of foul odors coming from the crawl space, and can lead to other issues. Rats love to chew and burrow, after all, and this can lead to damage to the encapsulation material, causing other smells to infiltrate your home as well.
How to Prevent Crawl Space Odors
To prevent odors from building in your crawl space and spreading to the rest of your, you’ll want a durable crawl space encapsulation installed, ideally a vapor barrier that is both resilient and has low permeability to prevent water vapor from accumulating in your crawl space.
A sump pump or underground drainage system is also useful for removing standing water from the crawl space before it can become a breeding ground for mold or insects.
Lastly, a dehumidifier will prevent any excess moisture that does manage to get into your home’s foundation from accumulating and causing you issues.
At Align Foundation Repair, we offer a wide range of foundation and crawl space repair services, combining the highest-quality products with a reputation for unsurpassed customer service.
We are dedicated to serving the Dallas-Fort Worth area with superior workmanship and an industry-leading warranty, giving you peace of mind when you choose us for your next project. Give us a call today, or click here for a free estimate to get started!
