Crawl spaces are not uncommon in hot, flood-prone southern Louisiana. Many historic homes were built raised to prevent flooding, but crawl spaces also created a way to allow cooling air to circulate throughout a home before air conditioning. Today, many homes still have crawl spaces to provide easy access to pipes and other equipment that’s kept out of sight.
While crawl spaces are the source of many problems for homeowners in Louisiana, most of these can be resolved with a proper installation of closed cell spray foam. Let’s take a look at the most common problems and how spray foam insulation resolves them.
Moisture damage
Moisture rising up from dirt floors and humidity trapped in crawl spaces causes numerous problems. Mold and mildew thrive in this sort of environment and leak through cracks into your home, creating musty smells and allergens. Additionally, hardwood floors buckle as a result of becoming damp and then dry over and over. Wood also becomes rotten as a result of moisture damage.
Closed cell spray foam provides a monolithic vapor barrier that eliminates moisture damage. Its rigid consistency additionally improves the overall structural integrity of your sub-flooring.
Pest damage
Louisiana’s sub-tropical climate is a rich habitat for insects and other pests. Termites, in particular, pose a yearly problem for homeowners in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and surrounding cities and towns. Unprotected crawl spaces provide a happy home for pests, and rotten wood is sure to invite termites.
By eliminating rotten wood, closed cell spray foam gets rid of termites’ favorite food. Spray foam is not only unappetizing to pests, it’s also uninhabitable.
Energy loss
Without insulation or air sealing, crawl spaces become a drain on a home’s energy. Conditioned air seeps through cracks and gaps while unconditioned air penetrates those very same spaces. That means that homeowners are forced to run their HVAC units far longer to create a comfortable atmosphere.
Advanced Energy of Raleigh, NC found that an encapsulated crawl space reduces home energy use by as much as 15%. Because conditioned air can’t escape through leaks in floorboards, your home’s interior remains consistently comfortable without the need for incessant heating and cooling.
Learn about encapsulating crawl spaces with closed cell spray foam today!
If you own a home with a crawl space, contact our energy and insulation experts today. We’ll help you determine the amount of energy your home is losing as well as other damage caused by the unprotected space.
Locations:
Main Office: Sunlight Contractors, LLC 2323 Bainbridge St #110, Kenner, LA 70062 (504) 919-9993
New Orleans location: Sunlight Contractors, LLC 650 Poydras St, Suite 1400, Rm 33, New Orleans, LA 70130 (504) 302-0058
Proudly Serving the following areas:
[wpgmza id=”2″]