Don’t let mold grow inside your home or office!
If you look at the homes around you in Benson, NC, you may find a vented crawl space. Did you recently move into a Johnston County home, or have you lived in it for a while? Either way, you may not know whether you have a sealed crawl space. Also, the most important part is knowing whether you need one if you don’t have it. While they were once standard in many homes, are they still required? And if you don’t have a vented crawl space, should you get one?
Sealed Solution can help you learn all you need to know about vented crawl spaces and whether your Benson, NC home needs it. Below, we’ll discuss how to tell if you have one, how they work, the benefits, if you should close your vents, and if you should inspect them. For everything that you need to know about a vented crawl space and crawl space insulation, keep on reading.
Do You Have a Vented Crawl Space?
Do you know if you have a vented crawl space in your home? Before considering the advantages or disadvantages of a vented crawl space, you need to determine if you have one yet. A few factors affect whether you have vents in your crawl space. For one, your location plays a role. If you live in a humid area that often has wet soil, your home may have a crawl space.
Also, older homes often had vented crawl spaces. You will most likely have vents if you live in a house built during the 1950s. Back then, crawl space vents were mandatory. So unless a previous owner removed the vents, you most likely have them in your home.
What’s the Purpose of Venting?
It’s clear to see that venting was essential back in the 1950s since it was mandatory, but what is its purpose? The last thing you want in your home is a completely enclosed area. You risk water getting into the enclosed area if you have a home without crawl space insulation or vents. Also, vents or insulation help your home regulate temperature. Before insulation became widely used, vents were the top way people kept their homes at a comfortable temperature. With vents, their home could be cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
To properly regulate air, you need a controlled environment. That’s why crawl spaces utilize venting, insulation, vapor barriers, and more. Having these aspects keeps out unwanted things—like water and pests—and keeps everything else inside.
Does Ventilation Work?
However, does ventilation work? While they were popular for a long time, many people have recently turned their noses up to vents. However, they often have a good reason for it. The goal of vents is to allow air to circulate throughout the crawl space and lower moisture levels. However, it seems that they do the opposite. Some contractors believe that vents cause these problems rather than stop them.
Vents originally entered homes to prevent mold growth. However, homes with vented crawl spaces can see mold, rusting, and corrosion. Why is that? Vents take air from outside, which is often a different temperature than that in your house. This temperature variation can cause condensation, leading to mold growth and other issues. Therefore, many contractors would rather install crawl space insulation in your Benson, NC home instead of vents.
Not every contractor believes this, though. There are two sides of the coin with the argument over whether a vented crawl space works. In many areas, local codes dictate whether your home can ditch the vent. Before considering whether you want a ventless crawl space, you should look up local codes in Johnston County or ask Sealed Solution to see if your home requires vents.
Mold Problems
As we previously mentioned, a vented crawl space can cause mold problems, even though they aim to prevent them. That may not sound like an issue, but you need to remember the damages that mold can do to your health and house. Mold can cause allergy-like symptoms, such as a runny nose, coughing, and a sore throat. It can also cause many respiratory issues, especially after long-term exposure.
Mold growth can also cause wood to deteriorate, which you want to avoid in your crawl space. So mold can negatively impact your house and cause your home to deteriorate. No one wants that.
Affect Your Home’s Air Quality
Ventilation also affects your home’s air quality. Air circulates from your crawl space up through the rest of your house. Therefore, if you have mold issues or bad air quality in your crawl space, that air will make its way up to the top floor of your house, infecting every inch.
When Should You Close Off Your Vents?
If you do have a vented crawl space in Johnston County, should you close off the vents? This answer, just as the previous one, will vary based on who you ask. However, if you worry about mold growth or poor air quality in your home, you should close off the vents. This will keep cool outside air from coming in, forming condensation with the warm air in your house.
If you want to remove the vents in your crawl space but can’t due to the codes in Benson, NC, you should close them instead.
Should You Inspect Your Vents?
If you do have a vented crawl space, should you inspect the vents? Like any area of your home, you should inspect it to ensure everything works as it should. This is essential if you leave your vents open to know if any damage starts to appear in your crawl space. If you want to hire a professional to inspect your crawl space, call Sealed Solution. We work with vents and crawl space insulation.
Hopefully, you now know a bit more about whether you have a vented crawl space and some complications that can come from them. Remember to review the Johnston County codes and talk to Sealed Solution about whether you should keep your vented crawl space. Call us at 919-302-1081 for more information.
Benson is a town in Johnston County, North Carolina, United States, near the intersection of Interstates 95 and 40. Each year Benson celebrates Mule Days the 4th Saturday of September, a festival that attracts over 60,000 people each year. In 2010, the population was 3,311, up from 2,923 in 2000.
The town of Benson, which derives its name from early settler Alfred Monroe (‘Mim’) Benson, owes much of its historical development to the railroad line which passed through the present location in town in 1886 on its route between Fayetteville and Contentnea. More information on the history of Benson and the surrounding communities may be found at the new Benson Museum of Local History located at 102 W. Main Street, next to the Mary Duncan Library.
Mr. Benson’s purchase of a 402-acre (1.63 km2) tract along the Smithfield-Fayetteville Road in 1874 initiated the settlement of the area now known as Benson. During the 1880s Benson sold portions of his original tract to incoming settlers, many of whom were farmers. Benson was incorporated in 1887 and soon attracted a number of entrepreneurs wishing to take advantage of this new town along an important transportation route.
A prominent early resident of the Benson area was John William Wood Sr. (December 28, 1855 – October 31, 1928) who rode to Benson each morning on a mule and wagon from his home at Peacocks Crossroads near Meadow. After having served on the Board of Education and as a county commissioner, where he was known to be a watchdog of the treasury, he was elected to a term in the State House of Representatives in 1927. Meadow School was built on land donated by him.
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