Crawl Space Dehumidification Services Charlotte

Charlotte’s relative outdoor humidity ranges from about 45 to 61 percent, usually with the lowest in February and the highest in September. And summer heat often reaches well into the 90s. However, the ideal indoor humidity level should be between 30% and 50%, not higher.

Indoors, air conditioning helps dehumidify the living areas of your home, but what about crawl space dehumidification? A crawl space sits partially underground, where damp soil can release moisture into the foundation or enter through the vents. Moreover, if the humidity level surpasses 60 percent, wood members in the crawl space will absorb moisture from the air, potentially weakening them or causing wood rot.

Humid air also provides a perfect environment for fungal spores and mold to flourish, damaging porous surfaces and aggravating people’s allergies. Elevated crawl space moisture levels also can attract wood-destroying insects like termites and carpenter ants. They can literally eat away parts of the structure!

It’s a known fact that moisture rises. Therefore, whatever your crawl space air might be harboring, expect it to reach the rest of your home. It could include insect and vermin droppings, mold and fungi spores, or whatever else lurks in the shadows. So it’s best to get the moisture under control before it creates significant problems in your home.

Crawl space dehumidification can help in the following ways:

• It improves indoor air quality, reducing the health costs of fungal growth, dust mites, wood-eating insects, and any other organisms that thrive in moist air.
• It keeps pests away from your home and family.
• It helps maintain your home’s structural integrity.
• It prevents certain insulation types from losing effectiveness (R-value) due to moisture absorption.
• It reduces your home’s humidity level and can help you save on air conditioning costs.
• It helps maintain your entire home at a comfortable, non-oppressive moisture level.

Along with these benefits, effective crawl space humidity control saves you the anxiety of wondering if your crawl space is dry enough to ward off the problems discussed above.

If you have excess water in and around your crawl space, an excellent remedy is a crawl space vapor barrier or—if you need more crawl space protection than that offers—a crawl space encapsulation.

A vapor barrier is a plastic liner that covers a crawl space’s dirt floor. Its purpose is to prevent external moisture and vapors from dampening the crawl space. However, this plastic barrier covers your crawl space’s floor only, stopping at the columns and walls. Vapor barriers aren’t designed to seal a space.

But crawl space encapsulation professionals can encase your whole crawl space with heavy plastic (12 to 14 millimeters) instead of a thin layer of plastic sheeting. With this method, everything is protected, including openings and vents.

Either of these protective measures complements or augments other crawl space dehumidification strategies. For example, Noosa Pest Management permanently installs a commercial-grade dehumidifier for you. We also add a permanent hygrometer to monitor your crawl space’s relative humidity. Want to know more? Contact us online or call 704-499-9922.

Many people don’t realize how much damage crawl space moisture can cause. But are you aware that, if left untreated, this dampness can eventually weaken the wood floor joists and beams that are critical in holding up your home? Besides, any rotting wood can attract pests such as termites, spiders, roaches, mice, rats, and even snakes.

Moisture in a cool, shadowy part of the home also leads to mold and mildew. As these fungi grow, their spores ruin porous surfaces like fabrics and drywall. They also can make people in your household sick or worsen existing health conditions. Yet 50% of the air you breathe in your home flows up through your crawl space.

It’s vital to your home’s future and your family’s safety to watch for signs that you might need crawl space dehumidification. So take care of this before it becomes irreparable. Be particularly alert to:

• Unpleasant odors throughout your home
• The signs and sightings of various pests
• Puddled water along your crawl space’s footings
• Family or visitors showing symptoms of mold exposure
• A significant increase in your heating and cooling costs

Call us right away if you see these or similar indications of crawl space moisture. We'll come by, do a thorough crawl space inspection, and offer you a crawl space humidity control plan based on our findings. Contact Noosa Pest Management online or call 704-499-9922.

Yes, it can—and in significant ways! Here are some of them:

• Moisture and rotting wood—Together these attract pests—from termites to rats to snakes.
• Mold growth—Mold spores are a common part of circulating air. But when they land on a moist surface, they will increase and spread to nearby surfaces. If mold spores enter your ductwork through the crawl space, it won’t be long before you notice that familiar musty smell in other parts of your home.
• Stagnant air—If there’s little air movement in your crawl space, expect that stale air to circulate through the rest of your house, too. Stagnant air is a weather phenomenon where a warm air mass remains stationary, thereby trapping pollutants in lower levels of the atmosphere. Greater Charlotte residents should note that air stagnation is common in both Southern states and urban areas.
• Unpleasant odors—Sometimes caused by stagnant air, bad smells can come from anywhere, especially a damp crawl space. Is it a musty smell? Wet wood? Even the smell of a natural gas leak could drift up from your crawl space, especially if it’s in an outdated and corroding metal pipe.

If you’re concerned about any or all of these crawl space humidity control issues and want to avoid future emergencies, contact us today to schedule an inspection.

Without effective crawl space humidity control, there could be adverse effects on the crawl space itself and the rest of your home. So the simple and easy answer to this question is “yes.”

If you deal with issues separately, you risk paying a more significant sum over an extended period. By treating only one or two concerns brought on by crawl space moisture, earlier problems might resurface while you're handling another situation.

For example, you could use bleach or a patented product to remove visible mold growth from wood columns or floor joists, while termites are building a nest and eating the wood in another location. Or you might lay plastic sheeting to keep one part of the floor dry, only to discover newly forming puddles elsewhere.

So, if your crawl space has multiple moisture problems going on simultaneously, Noosa Pest Management strongly recommends an inspection visit.

Doing your own crawl space moisture control can be challenging for an amateur. The crawl space professionals at Noosa Pest Management have years of experience encapsulating crawl spaces to give property owners throughout greater Charlotte the necessary crawl space dehumidification. Each crawl space encapsulation we do is unique to the property and to the owners’ requests. Here are some examples of our process and steps done during past projects:

• Remove and dispose of all crawl space subfloor insulation to facilitate fungi removal.
• Remove and dispose of existing vapor barriers.
• Apply professional-grade mold removal solution to wood surfaces to eliminate fungi.
• Prep for the floor liner by leveling and raking the crawl space floor and removing debris.
• Install foam insulation board (2½ inches) to interior foundation walls and pilasters.
• Wrap and attach plastic liners to the crawl space piers.
• Install a new floor liner (12 millimeters) by overlapping and thoroughly taping all seams.
• Permanently install a commercial-grade dehumidifier to distribute dry air, and connect ductwork to the unit for appropriate dissemination and circulation of dehumidified air.
• Install a condensate pump to remove water collected from the dehumidifier during crawl space waterproofing. Collected water will discharge away from the crawl space's foundation walls.
• Illuminate the crawl space interior with LED string lights.
• Install a permanent hygrometer to monitor relative humidity, ensuring that information is readily available through an accompanying app.