Removing Crawl Space Mold
Removing mold from a crawl space is more complex than in a bathroom due to limited height and accessibility issues. Simply removing the mold isn’t enough; preventing its return is crucial.
The best way to do that is with crawl space encapsulation. Read on to learn how to remove crawl space mold and keep it out for good.
How Do I Know If My Crawl Space Has Mold?
Since accessing the crawl space can be challenging and unsafe, you may not realize that mold is growing there. However, several signs inside the home may indicate mold presence.
The following problem signs indicate possible mold growth in your home’s crawl space:
Increased Allergic Reactions
Crawl space mold spreads spores into your home’s living areas through the air vents. This phenomenon is caused by the stack effect, a process where air moves from lower to upper levels.
As a result, you may experience health issues like allergic reactions, increased asthma attacks, eye irritation, skin rashes, or nose and throat discomfort. Addressing mold is crucial to maintaining a healthy living environment and protecting your loved ones from potential health risks.
Musty Odors
Mold has a lingering damp, stale, or musty odor. Persistent mold-like odors in your home suggest mold growth, possibly in your crawl space. A professional should identify and diagnose the mold source to protect your home and your family’s health.
Bouncy Floors
Bouncy floors indicate moisture and mold have compromised the wooden structures in your crawl space. When wooden joists and beams weaken from wood rot, it causes spongy or uneven flooring throughout your home.
This weakening is a significant issue requiring prompt attention, affecting structural integrity and posing safety risks. If you observe uneven, bouncy, sagging floors, schedule a free inspection to identify the cause and determine the necessary repair measures.
Pest Infestations
A dark, moldy crawl space is the ideal environment for pest infestations. Termites, rodents, and other pests leave droppings and shed wings, signaling their presence. If you notice pests, you may have mold in your crawl space.
If you suspect a crawl space problem, contact a professional like Groundworks for a free inspection and expert advice.
How Can I Remove Mold in a Crawl Space?
Mold removal is complex and requires addressing the underlying cause for long-term results. Since moisture is the primary cause of mold growth, it must be managed after the immediate mold is addressed. Complete crawl space encapsulation tackles the current moisture problems and prevents future occurrences is the most effective solution. For safe mold removal, we recommend soda blasting as a chemical-free solution. This method offers the following benefits:
- Safe: Soda blasting uses natural baking soda, safe for people, pets, and food preparation areas, eliminating the risks of harsh chemicals and hazardous fumes.
- Non-Abrasive: Soda blasting is gentle on wood, unlike other removal methods. It breaks down mold without damaging wood structures or fibers, preserving your property’s structural integrity and value.
- Efficient: This one-step process quickly removes large mold areas, reaching the surface and crevices where mold spores hide.
- Deodorizes: Baking soda absorbs unpleasant odors associated with mold growth, leaving your home fresh and clean.
- Easy Cleanup: Since baking soda is a dry powder, it is relatively easy to clean up.
Soda blasting cleans moldy surfaces using sodium bicarbonate, similar to baking soda, propelled by compressed air.
This eco-friendly solution removes crawl space mold with minimal damage to wood structures when implemented by a trained professional who ensures proper containment to minimize spore spread throughout the house.
While generally safer than harsh chemicals, DIY soda blasting is not recommended. Trained professionals have the proper tools and personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect against dust and potential mold spore exposure.
They also ensure proper containment to minimize the spread of mold spores throughout your home. Soda blasting is highly effective; however, additional precautions like applying a fungicide might be required to prevent regrowth, especially if the underlying moisture source is not addressed.
Professional crawl space encapsulation is recommended for a comprehensive approach to crawl space mold removal.
How Do You Mold-Proof a Crawl Space?
Moisture, the underlying cause of mold, must be addressed through crawl space encapsulation solutions. Crawl space encapsulation blocks groundwater moisture and outdoor humidity, preventing the moisture entry that causes mold.
Choosing a crawl space professional with a proven track record of excellence is essential for the optimal outcome. Groundworks is the local expert that does just that. After encapsulating thousands of crawl spaces nationwide, we diagnose and create customized solutions for homes across the United States.
Crawl space encapsulation involves installing a dehumidifier, sump pump, drainage systems, crawl space doors and vents, and vapor barriers. These processes ensure your crawl space and home remain safe, dry, and mold-free.
Contact Groundworks for Expert Crawl Space Solutions
Do you suspect mold in your home’s crawl space? Groundworks has extensive foundation repair, crawl space encapsulation, and waterproofing expertise. Our proprietary solutions include transferable, long-term warranties, ensuring trusted, long-lasting safety for your home and family.
Schedule your free crawl space inspection to explore customized solutions for your home today.
Crawl Space Mold FAQs
Ignoring a problem won’t make it go away; this is true of mold, mildew, and plenty of other problems that you may see in your crawl space. Regardless of the exact problems you’re experiencing, you can’t just ignore what’s going on. That may lead to disaster.
- Avoiding the Mold Problem
The problem with avoiding mold in your home is that the problem absolutely won’t go away. It’s going to continue growing because mold tends to propagate itself. When you avoid the problem, you’re much more likely to have serious concerns in the rest of your home, which may include mold growth in other areas, allergies, asthma flare-ups, and more.
You can’t just pretend that you don’t have mold problems. Fixing the mold problems for good will be much more effective than avoiding them. However, you need to make sure that you’re fixing the problem starting at the top. That’s where an expert can come into play.
- Talking to an Expert About Your Mold Problems
Instead of just pretending the mold problems don’t exist, you should talk to an expert to learn more about your potential mold problems. Learning more will be incredibly helpful. You’ll understand where the mold is coming from, which steps you can take to avoid creating a breeding ground for mold, and how you can fix the underlying problem.
Whether you know you have mold problems or you’re just worried about the fact that you might, talking to a Groundworks expert will make it easier for you to tackle the problems. You can create a much more effective solution with help from a Groundworks expert.
When you hear that high levels of humidity often cause mold, your first thought may be to use a dehumidifier to reduce the humidity levels in your crawl space. Although this is an admirable thought, it may not be the best first step. Here’s what you need if you want to fix the mold problem overall.
- Getting Rid of General Humidity
When it comes to getting rid of the general humidity in the area, a dehumidifier is a great option. Dehumidifiers are good for ensuring that your crawl space remains at a specific humidity level. All you have to do is set the humidity level that you prefer, then leave the dehumidifier to do its job; it’ll shut off once it gets to that humidity level.
In this respect, a dehumidifier can be very effective. Controlling general humidity levels in your crawl space will be an element of crawl space encapsulation, which means that a dehumidifier can be extremely helpful. The thing is, if you’re assuming that your dehumidifier will do more than this, you’re probably mistaken.
- Getting Rid of the Baseline Cause
When it comes to getting rid of the reason for your crawl space humidity, dehumidifiers aren’t very effective. That’s because the baseline cause of your crawl space humidity will typically be under the surface. For example, if you have open crawl space vents, you’ll be letting in humidity every day, which the dehumidifier won’t be able to stand up to.What can you do when you’re dealing with serious problems regarding your crawl space humidity? Crawl space encapsulation will be much more effective in this situation. Rather than just handling the symptoms of the concern, crawl space encapsulation will typically solve the problem for good. Talking to an expert should be your first move.
Some homeowners don’t worry about their crawl space moisture at all. However, it’s a crucial element of a home’s health. The problem is that many homeowners don’t know why it’s so important. Here is what to remember about crawl space moisture.
- Issues with High Moisture Levels
Most crawl spaces have much higher levels of moisture than they should have. For the most part, it’s common for crawl spaces to have levels of moisture that are at or above the healthy level, often because of a variety of untreated problems that your crawl space may naturally have.
If you’re experiencing high moisture levels in your crawl space, you’re almost certainly also going to end up with high moisture levels elsewhere in your house. Crawl spaces share air with the rest of the home, which means those high levels of moisture are going to end up invading the home at large. That can be upsetting and damaging for your home’s structural integrity.
- Secondary Reasons for High Crawl Space Moisture
Especially if you have an unencapsulated crawl space or you’re experiencing leaks and floods, you might have much higher crawl space moisture levels than are healthy. There is a myriad of reasons for experiencing this unnatural humidity, but not every reason might apply to your crawl space.
When you’re trying to reduce humidity, fixing the problem at its root should be one of your top priorities. Managing your crawl space moisture means removing crawl space entrances, which may include vents and dirt floors, and checking up on the kinds of leaking happening in the space.
