Sub Floor Ventilation: Identifying The Need, Installation And Management Tips

Copyright (c) 2015 Matt Reardon

Having inadequate ventilation in your home sub floor could trigger a number long-term problems like wood rot, mould growth and structural building weakness. With a suitably installed ventilation system, it is easy to extract the harmful damp air found in your sub floor space and get in fresh flowing air. This will give you a healthy, economical and safe home.

In 1996, the International Energy Agency declared ventilation as being the single most influencing aspect in terms of energy consumption in buildings. As such, you should give it the attention it deserves because apart from securing the well being your family and building, it also has the potential of saving you on that utility bill at the end of the month.

Problems Of Inadequate Sub Floor Ventilation

The name given to the type of dampness that seems to crawl and move up your walls is rising damp. Having insufficient ventilation in your under floor is a major contributor to rising damp as the deficiency in fresh air in your under floor leads to humidity build-up.

In turn, this results in suppressed evaporation down there causing the ever increasing dampness to begin rising up your walls.

Usually you can identify cases of rising damp in your house by what may be termed as a distinctive "tide mark" that appears on the lower sections of your affected house walls. The mark is brought about by soluble salts contained in most of groundwater.

Signs And Indicators Of Insufficient Ventilation

Signs of poor ventilation and subfloor mould are in most cases quite detectible without having to actually enter your subfloor space if you are keen and know what to actually look for. When the building subfloor area has mould you will start experiencing the following scenarios:

- An increasing musty smell.
- Signs or visible dust mite and mould, and its associated allergies.

In your crawlspace itself, the warning signs will be:

- Walls which are always wet to the touch.
- Pools of water collecting at the bottom of your walls.
- Musty odours.
- Clearly visible mould growth.
- Wall discoloration.
- Signs of wood damage.

As the under floor starts to slowly rot and decay, those floors above will also start to buckle, sag and begin to become rather uneven. Ultimately, your flooring and carpeting will begin to get affected.

Subfloor systems which are correctly installed help in slowing and stopping the process of rising damp intensification. This is because by having sufficient ventilation in your subfloor space, effectively you will be reducing the levels of moisture content.

Legal Requirements

In Australia, the mater of ventilating your building has been given much attention. The Building Code of Australia (BCA) lays down explicit guidelines on what you must do to ensure you sub floor has sufficient ventilation. The Australian Building Code is maintained and also implemented by the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) and is enforceable across Australian.

Important Final Words

Ventilating your sub floor or crawl space will in most cases assist in dealing with the symptoms; however, you always should try fixing the problem at its root. This can be achieved through improving the house drainage in your house and fixing possible leaks.


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Matt Reardon has been assisting Mould Buster clients to make wise decisions when they are acquiring their household appliances and fixtures. With his extensive experience, Matt understands all about home ventilation systems. He will guide you to make the best choice. You can also visit our website at http://mouldbuster.com.au/sub-floor-ventilation/ for additional details.