Green Building Initiative: Conditioned Crawl Spaces
Since our inception in the mid-1990s Woodlands has been pushing the envelope and including green building practices on every project. Wrapped in the final package of a finished house, these features are easy to miss and so in this ongoing series we will shine a spotlight on practices that we all can do to make our living spaces more healthy and efficient.
Conditioned crawl spaces refer to a sealed, insulated, and vented area under a building. This might look like a regular crawl space at first glance, but with insulation protecting the walls from the ground up to the floor boards, and a thick layer of insulation under the house, they are sealed from the elements so they never get damp or bug-ridden. In addition, the HVAC system circulates a small amount of heated or cooled air into the crawl space and the vents allow airflow that prevents mold, rot, and stale air.
In houses without a conditioned crawl space, a significant percentage of the air in the living space moves up through the floors from the basement/crawl space, bringing with it the damp air and mold from that space. This lowers the overall air quality in the home, increases heating costs, and gives us feet cold all winter!
Conditioned crawl spaces solve all these issues. These spaces significantly improve air quality in the upstairs, reduce heating and cooling costs, and mitigate mold and rot issues common in our damp local climate. More efficient heating and cooling, healthier air, and less deterioration of the house’s structure mean fewer resources are needed to maintain the house and the structure will survive longer.
Conditioned crawl spaces are an investment in the health of our communities, residents, and environment!
New Units Opening on the Banks of the Blackwater River
Woodlands Development and Lending is excited to open the doors to tenants at the new Blackwater Avenue apartments in Davis, WV in early 2022. This community complex of 8 ...
Read More
Shades of Green
Since our inception Woodlands has been driving sustainable and energy efficient building practices in our region. We use sustainable construction practices in all our building projects. Our units are ...
Read More
Big Timber Shows the Big Impact of Small Businesses
Matt and Ashley Kwasniewski were shopping around for startup capital for their craft brewery idea in 2012, just as we opened the doors of Lenders. None of the commercial ...
Read More
Invest Appalachia Announces $19M in New Funding
Invest Appalachia (IA) has announced $19M of new investment in a fund to provide capital to community economic development projects. Focused on increasing investment in Appalachia overall, 90% of ...
Read More
The World Needs More Dale’s Trails
Tucker County, WV is known across the country as a mountain bike destination. With a thriving community of riders, endless miles of trails, and a growing group of local support ...
Read More
Coe’s Country Store: A Study in Rural Collaboration
On a sparkling day at the tail end of winter Woodlands Development & Lending joined Nicole Coe and a host of her family and supporters to cut the ribbon ...
Read More
Northview Apartments Impress Local Residents and US Senators
When we completed work on our Northview Senior Apartments in 2016 the project was lauded by everyone from our US Senator Shelly Moore Capito to the new tenants of ...
Read More
A Golden Rule Ghost Story
all words and photos by JoLynn Powers, reprinted with permission JoLynn Powers served as an Americorps with Woodlands during the early stages of reconstruction work on the Golden Rule ...
Read More
Local Bank Support Critical to CDFI Success
As a CDFI focused on small business development, Lenders is a complement to local banks’ loan programs, not a competitor. Hoy Ferguson, President of Davis Trust Company in Elkins ...
Read More
Barbour County Businesses Continue to Expand Collaborations
Despite everyone’s busy December schedule, a wonderfully diverse cross section of businesses and organizations attended the December Small Business Solutions meeting in Barbour County. As always, the relaxed, informal ...
Read More
Strategic Lending for Housing Development
The availability of appropriate housing for residents is a critical component of a functioning local economy. Lenders is often able to provide flexible gap financing to allow housing development ...
Read More