The insulation in your crawl space does more than you might think when it comes to protecting the overall value and safety of your home. If you choose to let damaged insulation sit, or if you don’t work to protect the insulation you have in place, you’re doing more than just letting an investment fall by the wayside. If you’re not careful, you may find both your family’s health and the overall value of your home compromised.
Family Health
As mentioned, your crawl space dictates the overall health of your home. In doing so, it also has an impact on the health of your family. Any damaged insulation in your crawl space tends to indicate you may have a moisture problem on your hands. If this is the case, you may start to endure similar crawl space-related problems, including a mold infestation. While there are several different kinds of molds that can make their way into your home, none of them are good for your family to come into contact with. If you let these molds linger for too long, you may find yourself contending with respiratory issues that previously didn’t plague your family.
In a similar vein, damaged insulation tends to beget damaged walls in your crawl space. As your walls takes on additional moisture, they can start to bow, causing the structural supports throughout the rest of your home to lose some of their stability. Over time, this may result in uneven floors and unstable walls, both of which can cause bodily harm to your family if you’re not careful.
Home Market Value
Not only is the health of your family at risk when your crawl space insulation gives out, but the value of your home is as well. Again, damaged crawl space insulation tends to indicate that there’s something wrong with the crawl space’s structural integrity. There may even be something wrong with the structural integrity of your foundation. If this is the case, you must disclose as such should you ever be interested in selling your home.
Unfortunately, should you choose not to replace your damaged insulation or otherwise see to the status of your crawl space, you won’t be able to sell your home for as much as you may like. Homes with damaged crawl spaces can lose up to 30 percent of their market value should they go onto the market with this kind of damage. Similarly, as you’re required to disclose damage of this sort to potential buyers, you may have a more difficult time arranging for someone to take your home off your hands.