Why Are There Water Droplets in My Crawl Space?

When checking your crawl space, you might be surprised to find some dew drops hanging from the pipes, ductwork, walls, and wood. If you’re determined to keep water and humidity out of your crawl space, seeing these dew drops might alarm you. The truth is, if you’re seeing water droplets in your crawl space, there’s already a substantial amount of humidity in the space. These water droplets occur due to condensation, which is common in crawl spaces with poor humidity control.

Condensation occurs when the water vapor in the air turns into liquid—it’s essentially the opposite of evaporation. Condensation can occur in two ways and both spell trouble for your crawl space. In order for the water vapor to turn into water droplets, the temperature in the space needs to reach its dew point. The entirety of the space does not need to change temperature; even just a small area can produce droplets. This is why you’re most likely to find dew drops on the AC vents and pipes, which are usually cold and create the perfect contrast against the warm crawl space air to cause condensation.

The second way condensation can occur is when the air becomes so saturated with moisture, the water particles come together until there is enough to form water droplets. Whether it’s because of the temperature or the amount of moisture in the air, the existence of the dew drops is a major problem. Somehow, moisture is getting into your crawl space, enough for there to be high levels of humidity. Moisture can produce wood rot, invite pests, encourage mold, cause high energy bills, and debilitate the structural integrity of concrete. If you want to avoid these problems, you need to consider waterproofing solutions for your crawl space.