Crawl Space Humidity Myths Debunked

Moisture problems lurking beneath your home? Crawl Space Ninja Michael Church cuts through the confusion with this eye-opening compilation on crawl space humidity myths that could be damaging your home's foundation.

Have you been told that simply laying down a vapor barrier will solve your humidity problems? Michael reveals why this common "solution" falls short. What many contractors call a vapor barrier is actually a vapor retarder – it slows moisture migration but doesn't eliminate it completely. If someone has promised that plastic alone will maintain healthy humidity levels under your home, you've been misled.

Another dangerous misconception Michael addresses is that removing standing water or adding ventilation fans will control humidity. While drainage solutions like trenches and sump pumps are important, they don't address the continuous moisture evaporation from soil. Even more concerning, adding fans in humid climates actually introduces more moisture to your crawl space, potentially worsening your problems instead of solving them.

The truth? Dehumidification is the only reliable method for controlling crawl space humidity. When combined with proper moisture barriers and drainage solutions, a quality dehumidifier creates the comprehensive system your home needs for protection against mold, rot, and structural damage.

Want to learn more about protecting your home's foundation? Michael's book covers additional humidity myths, waterproofing misconceptions, and practical solutions for homeowners. Check out the buymeacoffee link in the description to grab your copy or schedule a personal consultation with Michael himself. Your home's foundation is too important to trust to myths and half-measures!

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Check out Michael's book, "Crawl Space Repair Myths-Busted" now available on Amazon!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 0 (00:00):
Hey, michael Church, crawl Space Ninja.
A few years ago I put together13 videos about crawl space
myths that we run across everyday in our industry and I
decided to make a compilation ofthe ones about humidity that
you can watch, where I took outthe intros and the outros, so
you can watch all three of themtogether in this video.

(00:20):
But I wanna encourage you, ifyou get a chance, to check out
my book, because there's a lotmore humidity myths in the book,
along with waterproofing myths,dehumidifier myths, french
drain myths, things like that.
So if you get a chance, checkit out.
It's available on thebuymeacoffeecom website.
That's a link down below in thedescription if you want to

(00:41):
check that out.
Also, stay tuned to the end ifyou want to see all 13 of the
videos.
I'm going to have a playlistavailable for you at the end,
but check out thebuymeacoffeepage.
You can get a consultation withme if you like, or you can pick
up the book either autographedor in a PDF form, and also have
the Spanish version availablehere.

(01:03):
So let's check out these threemyths.
Does installing the vaporbarrier control humidity?
Yes, but it doesn't do itenough.
The vapor barrier is notnecessarily a barrier.
It's actually a retarder.
A vapor retarder keeps thehumidity behind the vapor
barrier but it will eventuallyescape through the seams and all

(01:25):
that kind of stuff.
So if somebody comes in andtells you that I'm going to put
a vapor barrier down in yourcrawl space, mr Jones, and your
humidity is going to be under60%, that's not true.
That's a myth.
Removing standing water does itcontrol humidity?
Removal of standing water alonedoes not control humidity.
I can't tell you how many timeswe talked to homeowners that

(01:48):
have paid somebody to install atrench and a sump pump and they
were told that that would lowerthe humidity so they wouldn't
grow mold on the joists.
Well, that's not true.
The only way really to controlhumidity is what A dehumidifier.
Now, of course the dehumidifierwill run less if the standing
water has been addressedproperly.

(02:10):
But removing standing wateralone does not control humidity.
So we call that a big myth outthere in the crawl space world.
Does adding fans controlrelative humidity?
I can't tell you how many timesI've been in front of a
homeowner and they say well,crawl space encapsulation
company A said all I needed todo was put in more vent fans in

(02:31):
the crawl space and I would getrid of all of the high humidity
in the crawl space.
That's a myth.
Now, if you live in a climatewhere you have a low outside
humidity all the time and youhave a fan pulling that outside
air into a crawl space that'shigh in humidity, then that is
true.
But most of our climate here inthe south is high outside

(02:55):
humidity, so adding more fanswill only bring in more humidity
into the crawl space.
So we're going to label that asa myth that installing crawl
space fans alone controlshumidity.