The crawl space is not mandatory, but it brings many advantages, both economically and in terms of home comfort.
When building my house, the architect strongly advised me to install a crawl space under the house, because I had no basement. He presented to me the benefits of the crawl space which are, without a doubt, very interesting. To better understand the system, here is a description of the crawl space:it is an empty space between the ground and the first floor.
The house is therefore not built at ground level, but with a void of 20 cm to a maximum of 1.80 m. Thanks to the ventilation system of the crawl space, in terms of comfort, there is less humidity:no more traces of mold and peeling paint on the walls. The air is healthier and we have a temperature of at least 10° which makes the house healthier. It is also very effective when there is a risk of flooding, as water would flow through it. Another advantage is that the risk of exposure to radon gas, present in certain regions, is reduced. Its installation also allows a better stability of the dwelling, which is appreciable in the event of seismic risks.
Once again, my architect gave good advice by encouraging me to make the crawl space accessible. If the pipes need repairs, but also like now when I have bad smells coming up from the crawl space, it is easier for me to fix them. To get rid of the bad smells, I had to look for the causes and eliminate them one by one.
First, you have to try to locate as close as possible the corner where the smell is felt the most and then determine when. It can be during the rainy season or summer or when it is windy, in the morning or in the evening. Then, you have to look for the causes:a leak in the plumbing which can cause high humidity and therefore a possibility of the presence of fungi.
There may also be a dead animal lying around or the ventilation grille may not be big enough. I made a visit to the crawl space without much success, no corpse or visible mold. Unable to solve the problem on my own, I called in a specialist who, as soon as he entered the house, confirmed the bad smell coming from the crawl space.
After an inspection in every corner of the house, the verdict is in:bad smell of humidity! However, I did not see any mold, but after a second visit, accompanied by the expert, he noticed a leak, I would say a micro leak in the pipes of the bathroom passing through the crawl space. Once the pipe was repaired and the mold cleaned, the bad odors disappeared.
Do not hesitate to inspect the most unlikely corners of your crawl space to find the source of the humidity. In most cases, it is the humidity that causes the bad odors brought by the molds and fungi that grow everywhere.
