Does Standing Water in A Crawl Space Affect My Main Home?

Your crawl space may seem like an isolated zone since you rarely visit it and it’s mostly secluded away from your main living space. However, if standing water builds in your crawl space, it opens the door to many threats that will eventually invade your main home. Aside from structural damage over the following weeks and months, you’ll notice this most drastically as: 

• Pests  

Standing water attracts pests and rodents. Once rats, cockroaches, and other critters gather around the water to drink and live, they will make nests and begin to expand their population. As this happens, they can easily make their way into your living space and may even be drawn there by the warm temperatures and tempting smells of your kitchen. 

Of course, removing the standing water can’t remove the bugs or rodents themselves. However, by solving that issue, you can remove one of the biggest draws your home has for pests. If you encapsulate the space, this will also make it more difficult for any unwanted visitors to find access points in the exposed underbelly of your home.  

• Mold and Mildew 

Mold thrives in moist, dark, damp environments. As it makes its way into your home, you may find that it’s nearly impossible to properly kill off. Even once you bleach your floors, kitchens, and bathrooms, it will spread back in earnest. That’s because the spores can readily find access to the rest of your home from the main colony in your crawl space. 

As such, it won’t be possible to safeguard your property against this health risk until the standing water is removed from your crawl space. All kinds of mildew, fungus, and other growth will readily spring back as long as they have somewhere to thrive and give off spores.