Standing water is not the major problem – it’s the stuff that it allows to grow and the humidity it causes. Both lead to health concerns for you and your family and problems like moisture in the building materials of your home.
Because hot air rises, your entire home acts like a chimney drawing air from under the home up through the living areas into the attic and out through your attic vents. This is called the Stack Effect and is why moisture in your crawl space is a whole home problem.
How does a dehumidifier in my basement or crawl space lower my energy costs when I have to power it?
Our dehumidifiers are very energy efficient and cost pennies to operate. Moisture is an effective conductor and insulator. Dehumidifiers reduce moisture in the air which prevents energy transfer, better maintains the temperature in your home, and allows your AC and furnace to turn on less often – thus reducing energy costs.
The vapor barrier in your crawl space gives the water vapor emitting from the soil under your home a place to condensate and return to the soil. A home without a vapor barrier risks elevated humidity levels which are dangerous for your health and your home.
It doesn’t have to be. Building code requires an opaque (not clear) barrier with a minimum thickness of 6-mil. A clear vapor barrier allows UV light through, which in turn could encourage the growth of ground fungus. Fungus is what produces that “old attic” odor that no one wants in their home.
Encapsulation is a way of correcting all the inherent problems associated with home construction on a crawl space. We install a drainage system to control groundwater as needed. Next, we completely seal the ground, blocking humidity and lowing radon emission. The last step is to seal the foundation vents to control the home’s humidity and filter the air with a dehumidifier.
When you dig a hole next to the ocean, hydrostatic pressure (groundwater) comes in from the sides to fill your hole. The same thing occurs when you pierce the water table when building your home. All the water comes in from the sides through your foundation, not up from the ground. The most effective, long-term drainage system collects that water as it enters and evacuates that water from your space.
Because we’re operating in your closed and living spaces, we do it the old fashioned way with shovels and picks. It is very labor intensive work, but we do it every day and we’re pretty darn good at it!
To best long term solution for mold is to remove the environmental conditions that are helping it thrive. Mold needs a food source (organic material like your posts and beams) and a humid environment to grow. By controlling humidity, we keep it from sporing and spreading. Of course, step one is to kill it and step two is to keep it from coming back.