Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
wrote in message
...
On Jun 17, 8:37 pm, Albert wrote:
I was looking on the Internet for some Window Wells to prevent dirt
from piling up near my crawl space vents. Then I see something like
this on the Internet suggesting that the thinking is now to seal the
vents to save on energy and keep out moisture?

http://www.basementsystems.com/crawl...oducts/crawlsp...

What is recommended, to seal the crawl space vents or leave them open
for air flow?

Ventilation is very important. It is much better to properly insulate
the floor joists in the crawl space than to seal off the vents. That
is what they are there for.

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Curious, did you read the web page posted? What are you basing your
statements on?

It states:
If Crawl Space Ventilation Doesn't Work, What's the Solution?
There is an informative article by Advanced Energy, a national
resource who focuses on applied building science, on venting crawl spaces
entitled, "To Vent or Not to Vent." [Download PDF]
Crawl space encapsulation is the solution! Seal the crawl space with a vapor
barrier, sealer the crawl space vents with vent covers, seal any gaps or
holes to the outside, seal the crawl space door - seal it up as tight as
possible.






Do you think it is possible that the thinking has changed and engineering is
proving the ventilation method is wrong?



Most modern houses I've seen with crawls don't even HAVE vents. When did
Visqueen and similar become widely available? Late 1950s or so, IIRC? In
the old days, there was no practical method to seal the dirt with a
vapor barrier, and if you had a lot of ground moisture (due to climate,
high water table, bad grading and poor footer drainage, etc), venting
was the only way to keep it halfway dried out. A hundred years of
tradition takes a few decades to fade away. Remember, in most parts of
the country, concrete floors in basements (outside of big cities) didn't
get common till the 20s and 30s. Of course back then, the cellar
entrance was usually outside-only.

--
aem sends...