Crawl Space Mold

Crawl spaces are dark, moist and lonely places. Unfortunately, for most home owners, the crawl space is rarely visited and this means that problems can develop over time without the home owners knowledge. Before long, what started as a small problem, has now become a big problem.

A small leak, or water intrusion that has gone unnoticed can turn into crawl space mold growth, wood rot and insect/termite infestation. Keeping your crawl space dry is the most important factor in keeping your crawl space free of mold and our certified mold inspector thoroughly checks your crawl space so you don’t have to.

Due to the natural stack effect of air, where air rises from the bottom to the top, if you have a mold issue in your crawl space, the problem can eventually make its way into the home, especially through your duct system. So, our first step is to determine if you have a mold problem in your crawl space.

Once that is determined, we further investigate to note any potential sources of moisture, lack of ventilation, or proper air flow. Our certified inspector will take pictures along the way and add them to the final report.

One of the biggest causes of moisture in a crawl space is the lack of a moisture/vapor barrier. When a home is on a dirt floor with no barrier, many issues can arise, including mold, wood rot, insects, gases, odors, and more. In this area, there are 18 gallons per day of natural soil evaporation coming up from the earth’s floor.

When your home is on top of that floor with no moisture barrier, that 18 gallons per day of moisture is rising up to your home’s floor joist and sub-flooring. Worse yet, if you have insulation under your home, that moisture will eventually soak into the insulation to the point where it is no longer functioning properly and where it’s trapping moisture against the wood. This can cause mold growth and can be a big problem for the home owner.

When you have Dog Gone Mold install a moisture barrier in your crawl space, that 18 gallons per day of soil evaporation, goes down to a half gallon of moisture a day. That’s a big difference in the amount of moisture in your crawl space.

The key to preventing these types of problems is to have a properly installed vapor barrier and Dog Gone Mold knows how to do that right. We use 6-10 mil polyethylene plastic to cover the entire crawl space floor. We overlap and tape the seams, go up the footers, tape up around the piers, and place sod staples throughout to make sure the barrier stays in place.

None of the ground underneath your home is left exposed and no water intrusion can get from underneath the moisture barrier. This is one of the most important steps in keeping your crawl space dry.