Crawlspace
Ventilation
What happens when the
builder knows how to
do it right, but the
codes haven't caught up
yet? That's pretty
much where we
stand right now
with crawlspace construction. Thanks
to solid research done in the late 1980s
and early 1990s by Princeton Energy
Partners, Florida Solar Energy Center,
and the University of Illinois's Building
Research Council, quality builders
know that a crawlspace should be carefully
sealed and insulated (see Figure 1,
next page). Otherwise, you invite serious
moisture problems, especially in
hot, humid climates.
"The problem is, most building codes
still require ventilation in the crawlspace,"
says John Tooley, a building science
specialist with Advanced Energy of
Raleigh, N.C. "That puts builders in a
real bind. Either they build it wrong