What’s That Smell? HVAC, IAQ, and Crawl Spaces

Building science blogger Allison Bailes explains how to prevent crawl spaces and vents from transporting unwanted odors into the home such as, say, dead animal stench.

Homeowners in Tennessee contacted the energy-efficiency consulting company E3 Innovate to help locate where the bad smell in their home was coming from. After going into the crawl space, they found a decaying dead possum right next to the disconnected return duct.

According to Bailes, a preventative solution is to encapsulate a vented crawl space. “When you go to all this trouble to encapsulate a crawl space, it's a lot less likely that you're going to get possums in there," Bailes writes. “I'm not saying it'll never happen, but it's improbable. If one does get in there, it's pretty easy to find and remove.”

Find out more at Energy Vanguard.