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Discussion Forum

Crawl Space Ventilation

billb3682 | Posted in General Discussion on July 29, 2010 12:50pm

In my house moisture is a concern in the crawl space. Two crawl space vents were inadvertently covered over. Below a deck is an access door to the crawl  space. It measures 32″ X28″. Instead of cutting two new vents, could I remove this door and install a heavy screen to cover the opening? This appears to be a simpler and less expensive option. In advance thanke for your advice.  BillB

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  1. calvin | Jul 29, 2010 06:43am | #1

    Venting a crawl won't necessarily make it dryer

    Where is the source of the moisture coming from? 

    Imagine warm moist exterior air slowly moving about that cool crawl.  That would be introducing more moisture that could form condensation on hard surfaces.

    Do you have heavy visqueen down on the crawl dirt/stone?

    Are downspouts directing or taking rain water away from the area?

  2. Clewless1 | Jul 29, 2010 09:38am | #2

    As Calvin said ... what's the moisture source?

    You have a 'concern' or you actually have a problem? What is your location?

    A possible issue w/ your solution is that two distributed vents are now at one location. Code requires vents to be reasonably distributed for good cross venting.

    Consider a vapor retarder installed on the ground in the crawl to control moisture coming up through the ground ... which generally is the usual source of moisture and the reason venting is required.

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