Fuller Home Inspection       

Trust, But Verify

These are three of the most famous words in the business world. 

Most home inspectors are good, honest, and trustworthy folks.  When your home inspector tells you about moisture in your home there is a strong basis for their comments.  Whether your home is a basement, crawl space, or on a slab there will be construction advantages and disadvantages to each design. 

Moisture intrusion and high relative humidity levels are detrimental to a home regardless of its construction.  If the home you are living in or considering for purchase has either of these conditions then you should be working to eliminate the causes or sources of the intrusion.

Don't take my word for this.  Look at what Tennessee has to say about keeping a healthy home by clicking the image below.



Basements and Crawl Spaces

Humidity Monitoring

Fuller Home Inspection recommends monitoring the humidity in your basement or crawl space on a daily basis.  There are several good home owner devices on the market that can be set up and monitored easily.  Companies like Oregon Scientific or Acurite offer remote monitoring devices for the home.  If you regularly see relative humidity readings in your basement or crawl space above 50% then the conditions in these areas are ideal for vermin infestation and mold growth. 

Fuller Home Inspection recommends you seek the advice of a professional moisture mitigation company if you find moisture in these areas or relative humidity readings above 50%.

Do Not Be Fooled by a sales pitch that will tell you that you do not need a dehumidifier in either of these locations of a home.  The key to controlling high humidity is with a dehumidifier.  Even the driest of basements or crawl spaces can evaporate as much as 10 gallons of water per day during periods of high outdoor humidity.

Fuller Home Inspection Recommendations and Opinions.

Basements: It is easy for most homeowners to know when their basement is wet or damp.  The basement will generally get human traffic on a regular basis.  Monitoring the humidity of what appears to be a dry basement will tell you if there is a need for dehumidification.

Crawl Spaces Recommendations:

1st Place:  Fuller Home Inspection recommends all crawl spaces be encapsulated with a dehumidifier.

2nd Place:  If encapsulation exceeds your budget you should consider a conditioned crawl space.  This should only be considered if the return air is expelled outside of the structure and a dehumidifier is installed. 

Not Recommended by Fuller Home Inspection:

1st Place:  Do nothing with your crawl space home. 

1st Place Also:  Installing encapsulated systems without the use of a dehumidifier in the crawl space.

3rd Place:  Installing a conditioned crawl space that vents the return air back into the home.  Venting the crawl space air back into the home is a bad idea regardless of the quality of the crawl space.  The goal is to keep the crawl space air out of the living area.