Charlotte is a beautiful place to live in every season: In fool’s spring, football, and even in moisture season.
Moisture season? That’s right, from May to late summer, Queen City sits in a relative sauna of humidity, with profound effects on homes in NC towns from Stallings to Sugar Creek.
Humid air can easily get inside of your home, leading to indoor air quality issues that often go undetected. Much of that poor quality air enters the home through the crawl space. Here, the building envelope may be leakier than living areas of the home, where the air is being conditioned.
By adding a dehumidifier to your crawl space, you could improve the comfort of your home, while also helping the health of everyone inside. But that dehumidifier can’t do it all alone. Before calling a contractor, consider whether a combined solution of crawl space encapsulation in addition to a dehumidifier might be the best choice for your home.
Why Installing a Dehumidifier in Your Crawl Space Isn’t Enough To Solve Humidity Problems
With humidity levels as high as 80-90% at times of the year, it’s no surprise that Charlotte, NC area homes struggle with moisture issues. If you’re experiencing squeaky floors or condensation on your windows, you may have considered an under house dehumidifier to fight back against your humidity issue.
Dehumidifiers can lower humidity and improve home air quality, but without first having your crawl space encapsulated with a professional vapor barrier, you may experience:
– Lower performance from your dehumidifier
– No remedy to existing crawl space moisture issues
– Moisture damage to your foundation or crawl space cracks
While there’s no doubt that a dehumidifier could help remove excess moisture in your crawl space, it won’t stop the humid air from infiltrating the space. It’s like trying to pre-heat the oven with the door open: too many counteracting forces!
To cut off the humid air before it enters your crawl space, Greenserve offers professional crawl space encapsulation services in Newell NC and beyond.
Does an Encapsulated Crawl Space Need a Dehumidifier?
The best solution is a professionally installed vapor barrier and dehumidifier used in concert to create a sealed, encapsulated crawl space. With each of these services available, Greenserve is your Charlotte area whole-home contractor.
While all homes can benefit from underhouse encapsulation, many Charlotte area homes have large crawl spaces that can be consistent sources of moisture problems. Crawl space encapsulation is a great first step, but without a strong dehumidifier, it’s a band-aid, not a solution.
Plus, as you likely already know, North Carolina’s extreme weather conditions can cause issues for even the toughest houses. Heavy rain could drive excess moisture into your crawl space through ventilation. A dehumidifier removes humidity and moisture from your crawl space, stopping damage to the foundation or buildups of mold.
At Greenserve, we install the ATMOX system, which provides the best possible dehumidification performance for North Carolina homes. Portable dehumidifiers may be popular with contractors and DIYers, at Greenserve we believe in installing a more comprehensive solution. The superior mechanical ventilation of the ATMOX system, on top of a professionally installed vapor barrier, is the best possible long-term solution for your home.
What are the Best Steps to Take to Improve my Crawl Space Air Quality?
While every crawl space is different, by following these three steps, Charlotte homeowners can improve their comfort and health.
– Clean and mitigate existing moisture issues
– Professionally encapsulate the entire space
– Install an ATMOX system dehumidifier
Crawl space issues don’t go away on their own, they grow. Moisture, mold, and structural damage can lead to costly repairs, indoor air quality issues, and long-term risks to your home’s value and safety. That can drive homeowners to want to act fast, and that’s great. It’s better safe than sorry when what’s below your feet could be affecting your health and comfort.
But not properly scoping out your project could lead to a bad experience with a contractor applying a band aid, and not a permanent solution. There’s nothing worse than thinking you’ve fixed your crawl space moisture problems, only for them to return, forcing you to spend even more money.
While other contractors may be able to encapsulate your crawl space, or engage in moisture remediation in your NC home, Greenserve do it once and do it right! We’re the only contractor you’ll need to call: a crawl space superhero with a utility belt full of nifty tricks to improve your home’s comfort, and stop monstrous moisture damage.
Greenserve is a family-run business, not a franchise. Our team has over 25 years of experience and treats every house like it’s our own, with no shortcuts, no upsells, and no excuses. Got squeaky floors, misaligned doors, or condensation on your windows? Call us today to discuss what solutions could work for your home!
