Crawl Spaces, Vented or Non-Vented

Over time mankind has always been learning, developing and implementing new techniques in the building trades.  One of those areas is the dirt crawl space under your home.  For years builders have vented those crawl spaces, and currently there isnt any evidence or science that says a vented crawl space makes sense.   Having said that, there is tons of evidence showing vented crawl spaces being a serious problem, and developing into a health epidemic.  Yet thousands of new homes and thousands of additions are built each year with dirt crawl spaces that are vented.  Currently there are 27 million of them.

The building codes not only allow for dirt crawl spaces, but actually made the problem much worse by allowing the dirt crawl spaces to be vented.  Homeowners and the US economy are paying the price in so many ways.  In the winter months homeowner are paying higher heating costs, and in the summer higher cooling costs as the outside are is coming in through the vents and blending with the inside air.  In the winter the air ducts that run under the dirt crawl are chilled from the outside air being drawn into the crawl space, and inversely the same is heated in the summer months.  This is causing inefficient heating and cooling, which is raising costs over all.  Your home costs money to operate - to heat and cool, and to maintain.  A vented dirt crawl space raises your
heating and cooling cost 15% and up 25% every month, and makes it very likely you will have a big expense for mold removal and/or rotten wood replacement.

In addition, the vents allow allergens, dust, and bugs to enter your home.  Did you ever wonder why there were so many spider webs in your dirt crawl space?  Another issue is the musty moldy odor produced out of the dirt crawl space. 

Complete encapulation of your dirt crawl space is the only answer.  If your home, with the venter dirt crawl space is worth owning, it is worth fixing!!