Crawl Space Mold & Rot Issues
How Mold Negatively Impacts Your Health And Home
The Journal Of Property Management reports that tens of thousands of lawsuits have been filed in recent years over mold-related issues.
With few standards for acceptable mold levels established by the EPA, mold lawsuits have become a legal battleground -- one where homeowners and building managers are often the casualties. A $250,000 home can easily have $100,000 in damages from mold-related issues!
As a result, most general liability and property insurance companies no longer include mold damage in their policies.
Combating mold and rot has been a serious challenge for crawl space contractors since the first structure was built.
For more than 50 years, the primary weapon of a crawl space contractor has been to ventilate the crawl space. But despite their best efforts, the problem has persisted.
Mold and rot can lead to a wide variety of the problems in the home, including various types of structural damage, unpleasant odors from the crawl space, and potentially serious health issues for residents with allergies or asthma.
Eliminating Crawl Space Mold
There are a great number of temporary solutions for mold cleanup, including bleach solutions, biocides, and specialized cleaning agents.
The unfortunate truth, however, is that these tend to provide a temporary solution for mold damage, and are chronically ineffective on porous substances.
And while mold-resistant coatings may keep mold off the surfaces they're in contact with, mold will still find a surface to grow on unless you also coat your ventilation ducts and every piece of organic material that enters the house.
At Basement Systems, we know that attacking mold's food source is not the answer! The simples, most effective way to control mold is to lower the humidity levels below 60% -- eliminating their source of life-giving moisture.
We have warrantied, common-sense solutions for controlling crawl space mold! Our warrantied systems have been used in hundreds of thousands of homes to transform them into drier, healthier, and more energy efficiency spaces.
To schedule your free dry crawl space estimate, contact us today!
Crawl Space Mold Learning Center
To help you learn more about crawl space mold issues -- including how they affect your health, how they damage your home, and what to do to address them -- we've compiled these six articles, which cover the most common mold-related questions we hear from our customers.
Mold & Your Health
Mold allergens affect at least one individual in half of the homes in the United States. If you're sensitive to mold, an allergic reaction can occur after exposure to a mere 3-5 mold spores!
Fortunately, there are some simple solutions to controlling this health-damaging allergen.
Highlights Of This Article:
- Who Is At Highest Risk?
- What Conditions Does Mold Need To Live?
- How Mold Spores Pass From Crawl Space To Living Space
- Mold Removal Facts
- Controlling Crawl Space Mold
Dust Mite Allergens
Dust mites are microscopic creatures that survive by feeding on human and pet dander. They're present in the home year-round, particularly in carpets, bedding, basements, and crawl spaces.
Dust mite waste makes up 80%-90% of the allergic component of house dust. Controlling dust mites in a basement or crawl space is as easy as sealing and dehumidifying the area.
Highlights Of This Article:
- Symptoms Of Dust Mite Allergies
- What They Need To Survive
- Where Dust Mites Are Found
- Cleaning & Prevention
Crawl Space Ventilation
Crawl space vents have been a part of local building codes since the 1950's -- but those codes have rapidly begun to change in recent years.
Decades of moldy, rotten crawl spaces have proven that venting the crawl space simply is not effective. In this article, we explain what works (and what doesn't) for your crawl space.
Highlights Of This Article:
- Understanding How Relative Humidity Works
- Venting A Crawl Space In The Winter
- Crawl Space Ventilation In The Summer
- What We Recommend For A Dry, Usable Crawl Space
Dry Rot Damage
Dry rot is one of the most destructive fungi that can live in your home. According to the USDA Forest Service, a 1% decrease in the weight of dry-rot-damaged wood can result in a 75% loss of the toughness of the wood!
Eliminating dry rot is certainly possible, but careful steps should be taken to make sure it doesn't return. And even with the repairs complete, the damage will recur unless steps are taken.
Highlights Of This Article:
- What Dry Rot Damage Looks Like
- Repairing Damaged Wood
- Controlling Future Dry Rot Infestations.
The "Stack Effect"
The natural flow of air in your home sends hot air out of your home through the roof and upper levels, and pulls new outside air from your basement, crawl space, and lower levels.
This process, known as the stack effect, can lead to unnecessarily high utility bills, as well as significant health effects if your crawl space has mold.
Highlights Of This Article:
- How The Stack Effect Works
- Air Leaks In Your Home
- The Stack Effect & Your Crawl Space
- The Stack Effect & Your Attic
Repairing Rot-Damaged Wood
To date, approximately 10% of annual wood production is used to repair damage from rotting wood. Rot destroys an annual 20 billion board feet of wood, and leads to expensive and otherwise unnecessary repairs.
Repairing rot-damaged wood now can prevent potential structural repairs. Addressing the source of the problem can help prevent the need for more repairs in the future.
Highlights Of This Article:
- What To Do Before The Repairs
- Restoring Damaged Wood
- Structural Crawl Space Repairs
- What To Do To Prevent Future Damages
What Type Of Wood Damage Is It?
Finding moldy structural wood can be alarming! But not all types of mold or rot damage are equal.
Some wood will need to be replaced, some reinforced, and some can simply be restored. Our guide is a good starting point in determining how serious the problem is.
Highlights Of This Article:
- Wet Rot Wood Damage
- Cosmetically Damaging Mold
- Dry/Brown Rot Issues
- Termite-Eaten Wood
- Carpenter Ant Infested Wood
- Powderpost Beetle Issues
We Can Dry And Seal Your Crawl Space To Control Mold!
We have the experience, training, and warrantied products you need to control mold and keep your crawl space dry -- all the time!
Our network of Certified Crawl Space Specialists operates across Canada and the United States. To schedule a free, no-obligation dry crawl space estimate, contact us by phone or through our online contact for today!
Looking for a price? Get a no cost, no obligation free estimate.