Crawl Space Repair & Encapsulation

A property’s crawl space is generally one of the least pleasant parts of the home. This makes sense; after all, they tend to be dark, cluttered, and cramped (since the average crawl space is three to five feet in height). As such, issues like mold and wood rot tend to have ample time to grow and spread when they take root in these kinds of spaces, because homeowners rarely enter them. Plus, with visibility being generally poor in these kinds of areas, it can be hard to get a good idea of what is going on in your crawl space.

As such, it pays to look for signs of damage within your home at large. If wood rot starts to flourish in your crawl space, it is most likely to impact your property’s flooring, more specifically the joists and supports that support it. There are three kinds of wood rot, and while they look different in many ways, they all have the same effect: they undermine the structural integrity of wood and cause it to lose its strength. This can present itself in many ways in your home, but the most common are instability, unevenness, or bounciness in your flooring.

Once you know what to look for, though, wood rot is fairly easy to see. Look for signs like discoloration, a honeycomb appearance, the presence of a white sheen on the affected wood, or a change in texture that ranges from brittleness to sponginess. Wood that is dealing with brown rot may also take on a cracked appearance that makes it look burnt. If you cannot see these signs inside your home, they may be present inside your crawl space and a great opportunity for an inspection. If you think that this is the case, we recommend that you call a professional for advice and support.

High levels of humidity or the presence of standing water in your York home can cause many different issues, but one of the most common and insidious is the formation of mold and mildew. That’s especially true during York’s humid summers, which follow the spring rains and give mold an ideal environment to form and thrive. Mold has a lot in common with wood rot fungus, when you break it down to the simplest terms. There is one key difference between the two, however: while wood rot fungi are generally not harmful to people (unless ingested), certain species of mold can be actively toxic. Learning to spot the difference between benign forms of mold and potentially lethal ones is not always easy, however. 

Thankfully, mold is fairly easy to spot in any home. Mold causes discoloration, changes in texture, and will produce a musty, often sweet smell when it really flourishes. So, if you notice this musty smell, you should check areas of your home that are rarely used and hidden corners in rooms that are often humid (like your kitchen or bathroom). Mold can thrive almost anywhere, but it favors dark, rarely disturbed corners. As for the formations, mold can be white, gray, pink, brown, black, or even green-ish in color. 

It is black mold that you should be most concerned about. Many other forms of mold are benign or only mildly damaging, but black mold can be seriously damaging to the health of anyone who has contact with it. Even if the contact is limited, the consequences can include infection, rashes, dizziness, issues breathing, and even fainting or seizures. Of course, those who are already vulnerable are the most at risk of serious and lasting repercussions from mold exposure. So, yes, in many cases mold can be dangerous and, as such, should be dealt with quickly.

Most crawl spaces are flawed in their design. Typically, they are built with open vents and lack a proper vapor barrier. This allows water and humidity into your crawl space, which leads to other problems like flooding, wood rot, mold, and pest infestations. None of these issues is safe or healthy for your crawl space, home, or family.

To protect your family’s health and your home’s structural integrity, it’s important to control water and humidity in your crawl space with waterproofing and encapsulation. This includes installing interior drainage, sump pumps, vapor barriers, thermal insulation, and dehumidifiers.

When installed together, these systems work in tandem to intercept and remove leaking water, as well as seal and condition your crawl space. In turn, this creates a water-tight environment, as well as improved air quality and energy efficiency for your home.

Yes. You should cover exposed crawl space vents in your Pittsburgh property if you want to avoid having problems with dampness, flooding, humidity, and pest infestation. There is really no situation in which having open crawl space vents is beneficial for your home. With that in mind, it is perfectly reasonable to ask why they were installed into properties in the first place. The reason is simple: when these properties were built, crawl space vents were believed to be beneficial to the health and wellbeing of the property as a whole.

Between the 1950s and 1990s, installing crawl space vents into new properties was considered to be construction best practice. This was because industry experts believed it would increase the level of airflow in the crawl space and prevent or minimize dampness and humidity in the property. Of course, further research found that these vents did increase airflow but that they actually were more likely to cause dampness and high humidity than to prevent it.

This is partly because of a process called the stack effect. The stack effect, sometimes called the chimney effect, is a channel of airflow that goes from the bottom of a property to the very top. This seriously disrupts the interior climate of a property and can cause condensation in your crawl space and attic, depending on the season and whether your HVAC system is created heat or cold. As well as contributing to dampness, the stack effect will cause fluctuations in temperature and even lead to increased energy bills and accelerated deterioration in your HVAC system, leading to avoidable breakdowns and damage. So, when simple vent covers can go a long way towards preventing this, it would be silly not to install them!

Yes! Waterproofing is an incredibly beneficial process that will protect your crawl space (and indeed your wider home) from dampness, humidity, flooding, and water damage in a number of ways. Of course, there are a few limitations to this process that you will need to keep in mind if you are to get the best results from it. The main limitation is the fact that your home needs to be in good condition for the process to be most effective.

If you try to waterproof and encapsulate a home that is already flooded or damp, or that has underlying damage in need of repair, then you could end up causing serious issues for your home. First, waterproofing and encapsulation can cover up the signs of structural damage and allow the issues to grow unchecked until they spread throughout your property or reach a breaking point. Secondly, if your waterproofed crawl space still takes on water, it will actually magnify the dampness and issues by preventing any natural drainage or evaporation that the space may have originally allowed for.

Of course, if your home is already healthy and fit for waterproofing, then the benefits can be truly amazing. Proper waterproofing will prevent flooding and water damage, lower relative humidity, and make your home’s internal climate generally healthier and more stable. This will have an effect on your property’s energy efficiency, temperature regulation, air quality, and, of course, your comfort. So, yes, crawl space waterproofing is a very good idea for homeowners in Johnstown, PA.

Unfortunately, many of the older properties around Central PA do not have crawl spaces that can be classed as being waterproof in any true sense of the word. This is partly to do with the recent advancements made in construction and the materials that are now available, but also it is to do with changes to what we consider ‘best practice’ in property construction, now. Between the 1950s and the 1990s, it was considered best practice to install crawl space vents because it was believed that the airflow would prevent dampness. This turned out to not be true.

In fact, the increased airflow (also known as the stack effect) actually increased levels of dampness. This happened because of how the air inside the property reacted to being heated or cooled by the HVAC system, as well as because of the clash of warm and cool air (which leads to condensation). This is why it is so common to see vent covers and doors on properties in the Central PA area now. Of course, this is not the only potential cause of dampness.

Damage can also lead to dampness and humidity inside your Central PA property, whether it is internal or external. Forms of internal damage that are most likely to cause dampness are damage to your home’s plumbing system or attached appliances. While a large plumbing flood is destructive, it also prompts quick and thorough action. This is why low-level, persistent leaks tend to be more damaging in the long-run. Finally, any form of structural damage can cause dampness and humidity by allowing water to seep into your home through small cracks and areas of damage.