Constructing vented crawl spaces is a bad idea... Venting a crawl space with exterior, humid air during the summer months leads to the wetting of crawl space assemblies, rather than drying, since crawl space surfaces will be cooler than the outside air.
Crawl-space vents can, in fact, be counterproductive. Samuelson (1994) stated that introducing outside air into a cool crawl space during summer, when temperatures are most conducive to mold and decay actually raises crawlspace relative humidity. This practice can easily produce relative humidities of 85-95%, even in a crawl space with dry soil or a soil cover.
Nancy W wrote:I am not sure that the Mid-Atlantic area is really considered "cold climate". Remember we rarely get very much snow and usually when we do get it, it is gone the next day.
Nancy W wrote:It seems very unusual to have the crawl space of the house extend under the porch. Most porches are built on piers and have LOTS of ventilation.
I think I would be inclined to add the foundation wall under the exterior wall of the house at the porch and then open significant areas of the foundation under the porch.
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