Your home’s crawl spaces, despite how small of a space it may take up in your home, play a very important part in its general framework. But despite how important it is to their home’s structure, many homeowners still have no clue about what it is and what happens in there.
Because of their lack of knowledge about what a crawl space is and how it helps with the structure of their homes, a lot of homeowners miss any leaks or damages coming from that area of the house.
If you want to save your home from damages coming from its crawl space, you need to gain enough knowledge first on what a crawl space is. In this article, we will introduce to you everything that you need to know about crawl space. From its functions to your home to where you can ask for repair services in the Rocklin area, this article has got you covered.
What is a crawl space?
As said earlier, crawl space is one of the least noticeable corners of a house and something g most homeowners forget and might not even recognize when buying a house. For those who are unaware, some homes have a small gap between your home’s ground floor and the ground itself. Crawl space is essentially made by many home builders to be used as compartments for the house’s tubings, ductworks, wirings, and other “guts” of the house.
Despite its lack of noticeability among other parts of a house, crawl space may house some crucial issues that, if not attended, could deteriorate your house without your knowledge. A lot of elements that have significant effects on the health and safety of the people living in your home are placed within the confines of that space.
Why should you clean your home’s crawl space?
As said before, the crawl space of your home houses many elements that affect a lot of functions within it. A lot of these elements, particularly the plumbing, ductworks, and electrical wirings are very sensitive to damages and deterioration. As such, the space should be dust-free and clean for them to continue providing their services to your home.
Your home’s air circulation also benefits from a well-maintained crawl space because a clean one makes your home immune to disease-carrying molds and bacterias.
Here are a few common issues you may encounter from maintaining an unclean crawl space in your home:
- Fungus and mold growth
- Pests and other stray animals nesting underneath
- Diseases like hantavirus brought by rodents
- Puddles of stagnant and contaminated water from sewage leaks
- Poor insulation
- Electrical wiring problems
- Unsafe structural damages could lead to possible collapse
- Asbestos buildup from old insulation
- And many other health and safety hazard problems from poor crawl space maintenance.
What are the proper measures in cleaning your crawl space?
Despite its size, cleaning your home’s crawl space can sometimes be more labor-intensive than cleaning what’s above it. Crawl Space is a whole lot messier chore than sweeping or wiping the area as you do in your living room or your kitchen. Cleaning your crawling space is more than just a chore. It’s a process.
In the process of crawl space cleaning, ready your checklist of the things that need cleaning in there, which should include the following:
- Pest control
- Standing water draining
- Old insulation removal and replacement
- Leakage Sealing
- vapor barriers installation, checkup, and maintenance
What you should not do during crawl space cleaning?
For people who think that cleaning their crawl space is done in the same way as cleaning the inside of their homes or other rooms, that couldn’t have been farther from the truth. In reality, crawl space cleaning is virtually very different from house cleaning in so many ways. Here are a few things you should not do while cleaning this area on your own:
- Spray foam insulation. Crawl space is a damper place than most areas within your home. As such, you may not want to give it so much moisture inside, which spray foam insulation brings if you try to use it there.
With enough moisture, this space could be a victim of mold growth or, if the home’s structure is partly made of it, could cause the wooden foundation of your home to rot.
- Installing fiberglass insulation. Fiberglass insulation is not a material fit for your crawl space because of the space’s moisture. Installing this insulation instead of polystyrene insulation or foam board could cause mold growth down there.
- An excessive number of vents were installed. Putting up one vent 10 feet apart and within 3 feet of your home’s corner is keeps your crawl space from having way too many passageways for moisture, pests, bacterias, and more to enter.
- Vapor Barriers were installed into the structure’s floor supports. Putting vapor barriers in your floor joist is not very ideal for your home especially if its support is made out of wooden materials.
- Never let your crawl space accumulate too much condensation. Vapors should never be installed or even be present near a floor joist so that the vapor’s moisture does not hasten the supports’ rotting and mold growth within the area.
- Disregarding the drainage in your home. Although water puddles are normally seen within your crawl spaces, that does not make it a safe thing to be present within that area. A good drainage system will help you manage the water that gets into your crawl space. Eliminate the safety risk in your home by removing standing water within your crawl space. It would also help if you reinforce your drainage system so that water will seldom, if not fully eliminated, be present within the space.
Crawl Space Cleaning is a very tedious task for one to do by themselves even if they have some knowledge of how to do it on their own. If you don’t want to risk your health and safety by cleaning your own home’s crawl space, then Super Star Restoration is here to help!
What is Super Star Restoration?
Super Star Restoration is Rocklin’s most dependable water damage restoration service company, and they are here to help with whatever water damage problems you may have on your Rocklin homes.
Crawl Space Restoration and Repair Service is one of their many available services to help you with your home’s water damage issues. They also do water damage restoration, mold removal, sewage cleanup, and wet basement restoration services.
Call Super Star Restoration for their service now at (916) 520-9529. Visit their website for more information about their services at https://superstarrestoration.com/ today.