Crawl Space Dehumidifier Savannah, GA

A crawl space and the entire home should feel dry, smell dry, and look dry.

Just because you have had a crawl space encapsulation system installed, doesn't mean it's dry down there. An encapsulated crawl space can become damp even after a waterproofing system is installed (since any moisture that does get in from upstairs has nowhere to go), and this can lead to high relative humidity levels and condensation — leading to mold growth, musty smells, and other problems.

Three things can cause a below-grade environment that doesn't visibly leak water to become damp:

1. Capillary action or wicking can bring in moisture. A block wall may not visibly leak water, but it can feel damp because water that may be present in the core of the blocks is wicking to the interior crawl space wall surface like a sponge.
2. Water vapor permeating through the floor (especially in dirt crawl spaces!)and walls needs to be addressed.
3. Moisture can also enter your crawl space from exterior air leaking into the crawl space. This is not an issue as long as the outside air is cooler than the crawl space, however, the warmer summer air is a big concern as it can move lots of moisture into the crawl space.

Whenever the outside air is warmer than the inside air – and especially when it's a humid day outside – a crawl space is likely to have a condensation problem. So when it's a hot and humid Georgia day in the summer, rain or not, your crawlspace or crawl space may be the wettest it has been all year! This can cause musty, unpleasant smells, mold and rot to take over your crawl space.

In order to lower indoor relative humidity and eliminate condensation, either the indoor air needs to be heated (ridiculous in summer), or water needs to be removed (easy to do) – but removing water in an energy efficient manner is more difficult – unless you have the right equipment!

The Crawl Space Problem:
Even after you have encapsulated your crawl space with CleanSpace, dampness can collect below a home. Houses naturally draw air in from the lower levels, bringing in air from the outside through your crawl space. This is known as the stack effect, and it can bring up the relative humidity levels throughout a whole house. Up to 40% of the air on the first floor can come from the crawl space below.

This is a huge problem in the more humid summer months. Every degree that air cools raises its Relative Humidity by 2.2%, so when warm air is pulled into your cool crawl space the additional moisture will condense on your air conditioning ducts, CleanSpace system and even the floor joists. Wood and water are a bad combination, since all it takes is a little moisture on an organic material for rot and mold to take over. To add to the problem, that humid air is also drawn up and into a home via the stack effect – and brings any mold or musty smell up into living areas with it.

Mold, rot and fungus happen at 70% relative humidity.

There are only two ways to remove the damp. You could heat the air to lower the Relative Humidity – and pay the money for your air conditioner to fight the heater in your crawl space (while the moisture STILL condenses on your cold ducting) – or you can attack the problem directly with a sophisticated and appropriate dehumidifier.

Most dehumidifiers, however, are simply not up to the job. The small coil of a regular dehumidifier is inefficient at pulling moisture from the cooler, crawl space air, so it has to run longer and work harder. Additionally, many dehumidifiers are horribly inefficient in their own right and do not deal significantly with filtering the air.

The CleanSpace Solution:

The clear solution is a dehumidifier that is designed specially for a damp crawl space. After dealing with this problem for nearly 20 years, Basement Systems developed an amazing dehumidifier system to meet strict Energy Star requirements while maximizing the amount of water pulled from the air – the perfect solution for crawl space moisture. The SaniDry Crawl Space Air System can pull almost three times as much water from the air as its leading competitors – all while using less electricity! The SaniDry also has a two-stage filtration system that handles particles all the way down to two microns in size, cleaning your crawl space air while it sucks out the moisture.

The SaniDry Dehumidifier — The Best

Basement Systems has been dealing with this issue intensely for nearly 20 years. The only machine that will get you the results you need is one called a SaniDry Crawl Space Air System - and it's awesome.

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Lowcountry Basement Systems | PO Box 1906 | Rincon, GA 31326 | 912-927-7827