Charlie:
Sharon writes to us from the Heights. She says, “I’m building a pier and beam home and I understand vented crawl spaces can become nasty.” She’s wondering, “Is there any downside to air conditioning the crawl space, and what are the things to do to keep moisture out, given our high humidity?”
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Tom:
You need to move airflow, you wouldn’t air condition a crawl space. It doesn’t make any sense unless it was a basement, you’re living in it. That’s kind of a big crawl space. As far as that goes, just air movement underneath there. If you have to dehumidify, you can do it with some fans, if you need to move some air through. Usually it’s just a matter of just increasing your ventilation around the exterior of the wall of your crawl space.
Charlie:
A ventilated exterior, is what you’re saying?
Tom:
A ventilated exterior wall, yes. One square foot of opening per 150 square feet of square footage under the house.
Charlie:
There you go, now that is minimum.
Tom:
Minimum, you could have more. More is better.