What Damage Can Loose Crawl Space Doors Cause?

Loose crawl space doors or ill-fitting crawl space vents can cause a huge amount of damage to your crawl space and, of course, your property as a whole. This may seem surprising, but you must remember that your crawl space is still a part of your home as a whole. 

Crawl Space Damage 

Loose crawl space doors primarily cause the environment in your property to shift and become less healthy. This deterioration is caused by dampness and moisture. Persistent dampness and humidity in your property’s crawl space are incredibly damaging in several ways. From mold and mildew formation to wet rot, dampness creates situations that are unsafe as well as unhygienic. Some species of mold can be damaging to your health and wellbeing. Black mold, for example, can cause skin irritation, rashes, headaches, dizziness, and respiratory problems. This will, of course, most seriously impact people who already have health problems. 

Wet rot, by contrast, is most likely to impact your crawl space insulation and exposed wooden beams and joists, the structure of your home, in short, rather than your personal health and wellbeing. This will cause your property’s energy efficiency to drop and attract pests, many of which will nest in rotting insulation, and could even damage your property’s flooring. Wet rot in wood makes it lose its structural integrity and can cause flooring supported by damaged joists to sag, warp, or even collapse. Unfortunately, there is no way to restore the wood to its original condition after it has started to rot. 

Issues for the Whole Property 

When your crawl space is suffering from dampness and humidity, the causes may be localized, but the effects will be felt throughout your whole home very quickly. This is partly because of the stack effect, which increases airflow and spreads airborne allergens throughout a property very quickly. As such, when you have issues with dampness, humidity, and mold formation in your crawl space, this will quickly affect your whole home. Certain species of mold could even spread through your property’s HVAC vents, making them hard to get rid of. 

This can cause many issues, including bad smells, fluctuating temperatures, the spread of mold into your main home, or even an increase in your property’s energy usage and bills. This decrease in energy efficiency occurs because humid air is far more difficult for HVAC systems to process than arid air. This will lead to them working harder to produce the same results and could increase wear and tear on your system, leading to avoidable breakdowns and damage. Furthermore, your interior climate will be unstable when relative humidity is high.