Sill Plate Sealing In a Crawl Space

The number one place that air will escape and get into in a crawl space is the sill plate. The sill plate is the bottom materials, usually wood that attach to the vertical foundation of the wall. The sill plate is made to reinforce the foundation of the wall and to keep the house from leveling or cracking the foundation. One of the major problems with a sill plate is that it too often leaks, allowing moisture to collect in the crawl space.

When a sill plate leaks and allows air and moisture to enter into the crawl space, you can encounter all kinds of problems with your home. Mold, mildew and fungi may start to grow from the excess moisture in the space. Even though the mold is not in your actual home, the air from your crawl space still enters into your home, which means you may have mold spores coming into you home. As most people know, mold can be toxic and most people are allergic to it and will suffer allergic reactions in their home.

Another problem with excess moisture in your crawl space is that is possible for the sill plate to become weakened or warped due to the humidity in the space. When this happens, you can be facing all sorts of structural problems with your home such as cracks in the foundation walls, buckled floors, doorways not lining up with the doors, and cracks in your outside brick work. This can be a disaster and cost you thousands of dollars to repair the foundation on your house.

So, how do you prevent the mold growing your in crawl space and possible structural damage all due to a leaking sill plate? The best way to prevent this from happening is to encapsulate the entire crawl space including the sill plate. When you encapsulate your crawl space you are protecting the whole space from leaks and moisture from entering into the crawl space. It provides the best vapor barrier to keep water out. When you don't have excess water in the crawl space you don't have to worry about mold or mildew growing or getting possible structural damage to the home.

Even if you find that you don't have mold growing in your crawl space right now or you don't see any signs of foundation damage, it may be just be a matter of time before this happens if you have high humidity in your crawl space. The whole key to crawl space encapsulation is to do it before you have the problems.