The benefits of foundation vents in homes can never be understated, from allowing air to pass through the Crawl Space to helping reduce the deterioration of the wooden foundation framing caused by either moisture or rot.
Just like your garage, it’s also essential for your vents to be screened. If left for a while with no proper care and maintenance, your Crawl Space may become a suitable breeding ground for squirrels, skunks, or other smaller animals.
In Alabama, foundation vents are necessary for any Crawl Space that hasn’t been mechanically vented and sealed properly from the ground against moisture, using a class 1 vapor barrier. However, if you stay in an older home(typically 40-70 years old), there’s a higher chance that your Crawl Space needs proper venting to adhere to the Alabama building code.
Older homes in Kentucky, North Carolina, and surrounding states need their Crawl Spaces vented properly to comply with their building codes.
When Should I Open or Close Foundation Vents?
Leaving your vents open during summer lets air flow freely under your home. This keeps the base cooler, draws out moisture, and helps ventilate the area when propane or gas lines pass under your home.
You’re also advised to close them during winter or strong summer storms. This helps in preventing snow and rain from penetrating down under your home. Aside from this, closing your foundation vents during this period helps protect the pipes running under the building from freezing due to cold winds.
How Can I Replace Foundation Vent Cover?
Replacing a foundation vent cover requires four steps:
- Removing existing foundation vents
- Measuring the opening for a new Crawl Space cover
- Picking a new foundation vent cover
- Mounting your new foundation vent cover
- Removing Exiting Foundation Vents
You can easily pull loose foundation vents from the hole if the vents aren’t too tight or hold with any mortar. If they’ve got mortar holding them in place, use a chisel and hammer to clear off the mortar from the perimeter of the hole. Carefully do this and avoid unnecessary digging into the foundation.
After chipping away the mortar, try pulling out the center of the vent. If it’s still rather stiff, go into your Crawl Space and check if any mortar is holding it from behind. Clear any visible mortar with your chisel and harmer, and remove the foundation vent from the hole.
- Measuring The Opening For A New Crawl Space Cover
After removing the old foundation vents cover, you’ll have to measure the current opening to get the proper size of the vent. The normal width is 16 inches with a height of 8 inches. This ‘16×8’ dimension is obtained from the foundation blocks’ width and height, standing at 16 ‘wide and 8’ tall.
However, if your opening is bigger or smaller than this size (mostly not greater than one difference in width or height), you’ll need to modify a standard replacement vent to cover the area properly.
- Picking A New Foundation Vent Cover
The next step in replacing foundation vent covers is choosing a new vent cover. Vanity Vents foundation covers are the real deal when talking about foundation vent covers.
Manufactured in America from long-lasting, 100% recycled materials, vanity vents foundation vent covers provide a huge lifetime of rodent control, insulation, and great looks. In addition, vanity vents weatherize your home’s Crawl Space foundation while boosting the overall value of your home with a higher curb appeal. Homes with higher curb appeal tend to sell faster and generate more profit on coverage.
- Mounting Your New Foundation Vent Cover
Mounting your new vent cover may be stressful and difficult while lying on the ground. However, it isn’t something you can’t do yourself: ensure you don’t mistakenly drop the wing nuts into your Crawl Space because that’ll be the end of them.
Long threaded rods are always available to help attach the front plate to the bracing at the exterior end of the foundation blocks. Remember to use sealants between the front cover and the foundation blocks before placing the cover, after which you’ll attach all necessary hard wares and tighten it all up.
After all of this, endeavor to seal the edges of the front panel, but with Vanity Vent Covers, you need to clip your covers to your vents. It’s that easy rather than going through all this stress.
