If your access door to your crawl space is on the outside of your home, you need to make sure that the area around the door is clean. This means that you clear away any debris or leaves that may gather around the door. More importantly you want to make sure that no water is gathering near the access door. If water gets into your crawl space, it can be a disaster as it can lead to structural problems with your house.
No matter if you have an outside or inside access door, you want to make sure that regularly check your gutters for debris to make sure that they are not getting backed-up. If you gutters do get backed-up it is possible for the water that should be running down your gutters to enter into your home or your crawl space because it has nowhere else to go. Also, you want make sure that the water that is coming out of your downspouts from your gutters is far enough away from the house and is not emptying out right by the foundation of your home. You may have to extend your downspouts even farther away from your home if you notice that you have standing water by your home. If your gutters are emptying out right by your access door to your crawl space, this can be potentially a dangerous situation. The water can easily seep into the crawl space through the door, causing more damage than you would like to your crawl space and home.
It is important that you take care of your crawl space access doors and make sure that they are well-sealed and in good working condition. If your doors are not well-sealed they could be letting moisture into the crawl space or they could be letting too much air from the crawl space into your home. If you you are unsure about how sealed your doors are or you can feel the air coming out of the access door, you will need a contractor to come out and potentially have your crawl space insulated or encapsulated to protect it from moisture and potentially mold. If you start getting mold growing your crawl space it can cause many different problems with your home and even with your home. This is why it is so important to monitor your crawls space and your access doors so that you keep your home in the best possible condition and prevent structural damage.
Free Crawl Space Inspection
If the problem is not obvious from the outside, please contact our crawl space experts for a free inspection. We are more than happy to come out, take a look, and provide you specific details on how you can protect your crawl space!
