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Will whole-house luxury vinyl tile (LVT) flooring over an encapsulated crawlspace cause issues with moisture in the subfloor?

pwratch | Posted in General Questions on

Single-story house in mixed-humid climate in the process of being air-sealed and properly insulated. Do I need to provide for air exchange between crawlspace and living space?

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  1. GBA Editor
    Martin Holladay | | #1

    Patrick,
    Q. "Will whole-house luxury vinyl tile (LVT) flooring over an encapsulated crawlspace cause issues with moisture in the subfloor?"

    A. No, as long as your crawl space has details and features to keep it relatively dry.

    Q. "Do I need to provide for air exchange between the crawlspace and living space?"

    A. Building codes require that you condition the air in your crawl space by one of two methods: either you need to provide a supply register in your crawl space that is connected to a forced-air heating and cooling system, or you need to provide a properly sized exhaust fan in the rim joist of the crawl space, blowing crawl space air outdoors. With either approach, the code requires you to have an open grille in the floor above the crawl space to allow communication of the house air with the crawl space air.

    Here is a link to an article that explains these code requirements: Building an Unvented Crawl Space.

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