Wood rot or wood decay in your crawl space can be very dangerous as it can cause foundation damage and compromise the structural integrity of your property. It often develops in hard-to-reach areas such as beams, joists, sill plates, sub-flooring, and wooden pier extensions. It is the reason why encapsulating a crawl space is crucial.
Through encapsulation, you can prevent wood decay from happening in the first place. But how? To answer this question, let us first learn about the cause of crawl space wood rot.
Water Is the Main Cause of Crawl Space Wood Rot
If there’s standing water in your crawl space, the moisture and humidity levels in the area will increase. And if they do, the underside of your home can be infested with insects, mold, and mildew. The combination of high wood moisture and wood-destroying fungi are the primary causes of wood rot in the area.
Mold feeds on organic materials like damp wood fibers. Insects, such as termites, carpenter ants, woodworms, and wood-destroying beetles, can also cause significant damage to the wooden structures of your crawl space.
How to Prevent Wood Rot in Crawl Space
Encapsulating a crawl space is one of the best ways to prevent wood decay. As stated above, water is the main cause of wood rot on the underside of your home. So, to prevent such a problem from happening, you need to ensure that water never gets into the area, which crawl space encapsulation does.
Encapsulation involves sealing all outside vents and insulating the walls and rim joists. It also includes conditioning the air and installing a high-performance vapor retarder on all exposed wall and floor surfaces at or below grade.
Reach out to Dry-Tek Environmental for crawl space encapsulation services!
Dry-Tek Environmental is a waterproofing company that has been helping homeowners in protecting their crawl spaces and basements for years. We offer insulation, encapsulation, and moisture barrier installation services. If you’re unsure whether the underside of your home has wood rot or not, our team of experts can help you. Contact us now and get your crawl space inspected by our professionals!
