How to Shut Crawlspace Vents: The $4 Fix That Cut a Heating Bill in Half

📘 HOUSES DON’T LIE: What to check, what needs fixing, and what repairs could cost → https://lyledanforth.com/ Forty-eight degrees on the kitchen floor with the heat on and the thermostat at sixty-eight. The man who lives there wears his boots in the kitchen from Thanksgiving to Easter. The problem wasn't the furnace. It was under the house, and it had been there since the fifties. In thirty-one years of inspecting old houses, I've crawled under more of them than I care to count. In this video I go under a 1931 bungalow in a river town down the Ohio from Pittsburgh and show you the little iron vents on the foundation that the builders meant to open every spring and shut every fall: what they were for, how to tell if yours still work without crawling anywhere, the five mistakes I write up under houses like this one, and the four-dollar fix that shut all eight. I'll also tell you straight where "half" came from and what to expect in your own house, because I don't sell miracles. If anything under your house burns fuel, have a qualified pro check it before you close the vents, and keep a carbon monoxide alarm on every floor. CHAPTERS 0:00 A 48-degree kitchen floor 1:02 The little iron vent on your foundation 1:56 What I found under this house 3:07 What the vents were for, summer and winter 4:27 Why shut vents protect your pipes 5:19 5 ways to check yours without crawling 6:17 Why builders stopped using them 7:39 5. The fiberglass wad 8:18 4. Vents sealed for good 9:01 3. The crawlspace hatch 9:37 2. The vent that became a drain 10:24 1. Nobody turns them 11:04 Where "half" came from (and what to expect) 11:53 When to leave them alone 12:29 The $4 fix, and what comes next 13:37 Before you tear a vent out 14:09 What to do this week Tell me in the comments what year your house was built and how many vents you counted on your foundation. I'm Lyle Danforth. Houses don't lie. Go look at yours. #oldhouse #crawlspace #coldfloors #heatingbill #homeinspection #homemaintenance #oldhomes #winterprep