When it comes to home improvement, there are several areas around the house that usually get paid the most attention. The kitchen, bathroom, and living quarters are typically the go-to places that get redone or, at the very least, cleaned up and renovated. However, there is one area that is usually overlooked, literally. We’re talking, of course, about your crawl space. Most homeowners never think about this awkward area unless there’s a problem, and even then they still don’t worry about it once the problem is solved. However, there are many benefits to cleaning out and maintaining your crawl space; below we’ll outline what those are.
Cost Effectiveness
As a homeowner, the price of having and maintaining a house is enormous. Beyond the typical costs of upkeep, you are losing money if your home is inefficiently constructed. Poor insulation, aging installations, and gaps in the structure can lead to higher utility bills, costing you more in the long run. Your crawl space can be one of the biggest contributors as most of them are not properly sealed or ventilated. By cleaning and insulating your crawl space, you can help ensure that your home is operating at maximum efficiency.
Health and Safety
For most homes, dust and mold are serious problems that are not easily remedied. If you or a member of your family has breathing problems or is allergic to dust, it can be hard to maintain a clean living area. Further exacerbating matters is the fact that crawl spaces are magnets for both mold and dust, meaning that cleaning this area is critical to ridding the problem more efficiently. Even if you managed to cleanse each room, the fact that the crawl space is covered with either material means that it will only return sooner rather than later. Keeping a clean crawl space can go a long way towards eliminating mold and dust from your home entirely.
Pest Control
As mentioned above, pests love to settle in crawl spaces, due largely in part to the fact that they are so often ignored. It doesn’t take long for an infestation to occur, and if that does happen, removing it can be much more costly than preventing it. If you already notice pests inside your house, such as rats or cockroaches, it’s entirely possible that they could be nesting in the area under your house. Cleaning it out and putting down some kind of covering, such as plastic or paneling, can help ensure that any unwanted critters stay away from your home. Furthermore, regular spraying under the house can help prevent any new infestations from occurring.
