Why Huntsville Homes Have a Crawl Space PROBLEM

Let's start with the climate because this is where most of the confusion begins.

Huntsville sits in a spot where the summers are warm and humid, and there are stretches where the rain just doesn't let up.

Now, the old advice, the advice most people still follow, is to open up the crawl space vents so that the space can breathe.

But here's what that does in a climate like this one, whether it's in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, or any other hot, humid climate.

Opening your crawl space vents in Huntsville in July is like opening your bathroom window while you're running a hot shower and expecting the mirror to stop fogging up.

That only works if the outside humidity is lower than the inside humidity.

Otherwise, you're not letting moisture out at all.

In fact, you could be inviting more moisture in.

Now, in regard to your crawl space, that warm, humid outside air hits the cooler surfaces under your home, like the HVAC ducts, the fiberglass subfloor insulation, plumbing pipes, the concrete foundation walls, and in some cases, the wood itself.

It condenses, and now you've got a crawl space that is potentially even wetter than before.

That's not a guess.

That's what the data on crawl space ventilation in humid climates shows every time.

Yeah, Michael, but what if I install a crawl space vent fan? Keep in mind, a fan moves air.

It does not remove moisture from that air.

Those are two completely different jobs, and a lot of homeowners think they're the same thing.

Now let's talk about what's happening below the vents because this is where it gets specific to Huntsville.

A lot of this city sits on clay-heavy soil, and clay soil behaves a lot like a bowl.

It doesn't drain water away the way sandy soil does.

It holds onto it and then pushes that water wherever it can go.

And a lot of time, that's straight towards your foundation.

Add in improper grading, gutters that dump water two feet from the house instead of 10, and you've got a setup where every heavy rain sends water looking to the lowest, easiest path, your crawl space.

I want you to notice something here.

This is a completely different problem than the humid air I just talked about.

One is bulk water, one is vapor in the air.

You can run a dehumidifier twenty-four hours a day and it will do absolutely nothing about the water that's physically running towards your foundation every time it rains.