New Mexico homes mostly are either built on a slab or they have a crawl space underneath. A few homes in Albuquerque are being built with cellars but this is increasingly rare. You probably have a crawl space under your home and there are both advantages and disadvantages to this kind of construction.
The most important thing to know is that if you have a crawl space, you need to have it inspected. I’m going to explain why that is.
Someone Needs to Take a Look
Most homeowners don’t want to think about crawling around in their crawl space—an appropriately named area. It’s not the cleanest, nicest part of your whole property. You could find puddles, bug colonies, rodent nests or other less-than-ideal discoveries. Once they nest in your crawl space, it’s easy for these pests to make their way into your home.
An increasing number of pests in your home is a sign that there could be a problem down under. That’s the downside of a crawl space. It provides nesting for nasties.
The Upside of a Crawl Space
On the upside, you’ve got many of your utilities running through the crawl space and that means that they are accessible. You may find any or all of the following in your crawl space:
- Sewer lines
- Electrical wiring
- Gas lines
- Water lines
- Air conditioning and heating ductwork
- Insulation
- Furnaces and AC equipment
- Plumbing
And the Downside of Crawl Spaces
If you get a leak in your water lines, sewer line or other plumbing equipment, it’s easy to accumulate moisture in this space. And that would be bad, especially because the accumulation is out of sight. You can then develop mold problems. Moisture will also attract bugs. I’ve seen this many times and it’s really nasty. Moisture can also gradually cause structural damage to your home.
Additionally, if your HVAC ductwork leaks, you are heating or air conditioning your crawl space instead of your home. It’s good to learn about any leaks sooner rather than later so you can keep your energy bills as low as possible.
Who’s Going to Crawl In and Look?
As long as you have someone willing to crawl around your crawl space, you can have all these systems inspected or repaired with relative ease by accessing them there. My Albuquerque plumbing crew and I perform these inspections and repairs of anything related to plumbing, heating and cooling all the time.
We take care of problems like the ones below by accessing them through crawl spaces:
- Leaking ducts
- Leaking sewer lines
- Heating or cooling leaks
- Air conditioner or furnace equipment problems
We do the crawling and repairing so homeowners don’t have to crawl around under their homes themselves.
Annual Inspections
Not many people think about asking someone to crawl around under their homes every year but it’s a really good idea. If you can detect leaks while they’re little and before they’ve had a chance to cost you a lot of money or necessitate a big repair, then it’s a great investment for you to make.
It’s also important to learn if there are any problems with getting enough ventilation under your house. If you don’t have enough ventilation, any moisture that comes up from the ground won’t dissipate and could make your home damp or musty.
We’ve crawled through enough of these areas to know what to look for so feel free to call us if you think there might be a problem. Or maybe you’ve lived in your home for years and no one’s ever taken a look.
If you notice an increasing problem with moisture or pests, that’s the time you really need to request a crawl space inspection. Give us a call if you need help: 505-243-1227.