Is Crawl Space Water That Bad?

To many homeowners, water in a crawl space is little more than a nuisance. After all, a crawl space is meant to protect your ground floor from soil, snow, water, and whatever else might ruin a home’s structure. What many may not realize, however, is that a crawl space is the most important part of a home’s structure. If you wouldn’t want water in your home, you don’t want it in your crawl space. 

Water is a damaging element that can destroy your crawl space. The problems that come with a water-damaged crawl space are many and they end up costing you a lot of money in the long run. 

• Structural Problems 

Water in your crawl space has the potential to damage your foundation in multiple ways. Wood rot is a common problem in water-damaged spaces and it’s one of the leading causes of sagging floors. Due to frost damage, water also damages the surface of your concrete, making large cracks and gaps more likely and allowing for further leaking. 

Too much damage to your home’s foundation causes settling. Having your home sink to one side is the worst thing that can happen to it because the entire house is eventually affected as things begin to break apart. A settling foundation means warped window and door frames, more leaking problems, more humidity, and higher energy bills. The more the house is allowed to settle, the more severe the problems will be and the more you will have to pay to repair. 

• Health Problems 

Where there is standing water, there is humidity. Water in your crawl space increases the overall humidity levels of both the crawl space and your home. This leads to mold growth. Mold is more than just an ugly stain on your walls—it’s a microorganism that eats away at organic matter. Being exposed to mold triggers allergies and irritates your nose, eyes, throat, skin, and lungs. 

Due to the stack effect, the air that’s in your uninsulated crawl space is the same air you breathe in your home. Long-term exposure to mold can cause permanent damage to your respiratory system. Chronic allergic rhinitis and mycotoxicosis (mold poisoning) are just two of the many health issues you can struggle with if you allow water and mold in your crawl space.