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What can I do to prevent mold and musty smells from a crawlspace with a dirt floor?
bonna gordy
May 15, 2020Updated: Sept. 11, 2020
I bought a home that has a dirt floor crawl space with about 24 inches from dirt to underside of floor and it gets wet which causes the floor joists and under flooring to get damp and moldy. What can i do to stop this?
We get a lot of questions about how to fix crawlspace floors that are humid and moldy. The following page will help you come up with a solution -
How to fix a dirt floor crawlspace and prevent mold
We aren’t big fans of crawlspaces for many reasons, and a big one is the height. It is tough enough walking around hunched over, but with 2 feet yours won’t be an easy one because you will need to get in there all the way to the farthest corners.
Most unprotected crawlspaces are humid and moldy, but in your case, if your floor joists are actually wet to the touch then you have extremely high levels of humidity down there, I think the proximity to the ground being only 2 feet really doesn’t help. What you will need to do is install a membrane to prevent moisture in the dirt from evaporating into the air. But one question first, where are you located? Are you in a high-risk area for Radon contamination? If so that can be mitigated at the same time, so we always recommend that anyone with a dirt crawlspace floor first check the radon levels, as the membrane you are about to install can also serve as a soil gas barrier, you can read more here on our page about how to remove radon gas from crawlspaces.