The Truth About Your Crawl Space

 Dark, moldy, wet, smelly, scary, bugs, are just a few descriptions people use when talking about their crawl spaces. Truth be told, they are not necessarily wrong. Most crawl spaces in Indiana are exactly that, dark, moldy, wet, smelly, scary, and most have bugs. What's even worse is that most homeowners don't realize that whatever is in your crawl space is also in your living area. Whether its moisture, mold, and yes even bugs, it all can and will make it's way up into the living area of your home. In fact, up to 60% of the air your breath in comes directly from the crawl space below. This is due to what the experts like to call Stack Effect. Stack Effect is the process in which hot air rises up through your house and escapes out the of the upper levels of your house such as your attic. It is then replaced by crawl space air that again moves up through your house, and so on. This air carries with it all the unpleasant issues your crawl space has such as mold, dust mites, and moisture. This is why the health of your crawl space is so important, because the health of your crawl space directly effects the health of the living area above it. Musty and moldy smells in your home are usually a good indicator that something isn't right in your crawl space and could be one of the following crawl space problems. 

Standing Water In Your Crawl Space

Standing water in your crawl space is never a good thing. Standing water in your crawl space is usually the biggest and most important issue to get corrected as soon as possible. This is because standing water in your crawl space creates an environment that is ideal for mold growth and wood rot. Standing water in your crawl space creates extremely high moisture levels and the longer they stay high, the more likely your crawl space will experience mold growth which will then lead to wood rot. As we learned above about stack effect, this mold growth will make its way up into the living area of the home. Eventually effecting the health of the everyone in the home. This can also be a reason why you smell the musty, moldy odors in the living area as well. This is especially true is these smells only occur after a rain. 

Excessive Moisture In Your Crawl Space

Even a crawl space that is free of standing water can still have high enough moisture levels to create unwanted issues with mold and wood rot. This can happen because of a couple different reasons depending on where you live. In Indiana crawl spaces this happens because block seepage, moisture from the dirt floor, and crawl space vents. Block foundation walls are porous and over time will start to allow moisture and water from the exterior to seep into the crawl space via the block foundation wall. Although most of the time this seepage is not enough to create a standing water issue, it can however be enough to keep moisture levels high enough for mold growth. Moisture is also constantly escaping from your dirt crawl space floor. If your crawl space dirt floor is completely exposed and does not have any type of barrier installed on top of it, this moisture will escape help keep moisture levels high in the crawl space. This moisture will also make its way up via stack effect and can increase the moisture content of the structural wood in your crawl space, leading to mold growth and structural wood rot. Crawl space vents also play a big part in not only allowing but also creating excessive moisture in your crawl space. Crawl space vents in Indiana allow warm, hot, humid air into the crawl space during the summer months, carrying with it all the moisture that is in the air itself. Hot, humid air coming into the crawl space via crawl space vents also create additional moisture in condensation. Water lines and duct lines tend to condensate during the summer months due to the hot, humid outside air coming into the crawl space and hitting these ducts and water lines which are usually cold during the summer months. In a similar way that a soda can will condensate when taken out of the fridge on a hot summer day. 

Recommendations For A Dry, Healthy, Crawl Space

The best way to keep you crawl space dry and free of standing water is by installing a crawl space drainage system and a crawl space sump basin and sump pump. Installed correctly, an interior crawl space drainage system will keep your crawl space dry forever. This would be the first and most important step in maintaining a dry crawl space. Once the standing water issues is resolved, the next step would be a proper crawl space vapor barrier system being installed. If the crawl space does not have a major issue with moisture, then a standard 6mil vapor barrier installed along the crawl space dirt floor would be enough to keep the moisture from the dirt floor contained. Although, many crawl space may need to take the vapor barrier step further and install a complete crawl space encapsulation system. A complete crawl space encapsulation system would completely seal off the crawl space from all areas that cause the crawl space to experience excessive moisture. 

Top 3 Ways To Keep Your Crawl Space Dry

 Spring is right around the corner and for Indiana that means lots of rain as well. Now is the best time to make sure your homes crawl space stays dry. Protecting your crawl space against standing water is one of the best investments a homeowner can do. Standing water in the crawl space leads to expensive wood rot, musty smells and mold growth. Most of the air in your home you breath in comes directly from your crawl space. If your crawl space has standing water issues like mold growth, this mold also makes its way up into the air you breath in. Keeping your crawl space dry and free of standing water not only protects your home but also the health of everyone in it. Here are Top 3 Ways To Keep Your Crawl Space Dry. 

1. Positive Grading. The first step to ensuring your crawl space stays dry is to inspect the soil grading around your homes foundation. There are two type of soil grading around your home. The first being Negative Grading. Negative grading is when the soil around your foundation is sloped toward your house. This type of grading is bad. It allows storm water to drain toward your homes foundation and into the crawl space or basement. The second type of soil grading is positive grading. Positive grading is good. This is when the soil is sloped away from the homes foundation, allowing water to drain away from your home. Homeowners should inspect the soil grading around the entire foundation of the home. If negative grading is noticed, then more soil may need to be added to create a positive grade. Typically, a 5% slope is great for proper storm water drainage around the home. An easy way to think about it is a 5% slope translate to about a 6" drop per 10'. 

2. Down Spout Extensions. The second step to making sure your crawl space stays dry is making sure all your down spouts are properly extended away from your homes foundation. The roof of your home produces a large amount of water during rain storms. In fact, on a 1200sq.ft. roof 1" of rain will produce around 720 gallons of water. That is an extremely large amount of water that flows through your down spouts and into your yard. If your down spouts are not properly extended away from your home, all that water coming off your roof is then dump right next to your homes foundation. This not only leads to standing water issues in your crawl space, but can also lead to major foundation settling issues. Down spouts should be extended away from your home at a minimum of 10'-15'. This can vary depending of the property lay out. Some down spouts may need to be extended further if the yard is pretty flat or if there are negative grading issues. Extend the down spouts far enough away so that the water doesn't make it's way back to your foundation. This can be accomplished many different ways and can be extended either above the ground or below the ground. 

3. Crawl Space Drainage System. The third step to making sure your crawl space stays dry forever is to install a complete crawl space drainage system around the inside perimeter of the crawl space. In Indiana we tend to deal with high water table issues and have soil that does not allow water to drain very fast. Because of that, Indiana crawl spaces can still have major standing water issues even if the down spouts are extended and the soil has positive grade. When this happens the most effective, permanent solution is to install a interior crawl space drainage system with a sump basin and sump pump. This system collects and directs the water to the sump basin and sump pump which then pumps the water away from your house. For most, this is not a DIY project like the first two ways mentioned above. Homeowners who are dealing with standing water issues after completing the first two recommendations above should seek out a qualified crawl space waterproofing contractor to install a complete crawl space drainage system. In Indiana, our company SwainCo. Crawl Space and Basement Repair is the qualified crawl space waterproofing contractor to call for a complete crawl space drainage system. Click Here to find out more about Indy's most trusted crawl space waterproofer. 

Indiana Crawl Space Vents

Crawl space ventilation in Indiana was based on the idea that installing foundation vents around the perimeter of the crawl space foundation would allow for outside air to flow through crawl space, which in turn would allow the crawl space to dry out by allowing more air to circulate through the crawl space. But here in Indiana, the opposite is true and here’s why.

During the spring and summer months in Indiana, the outside air tends to be very hot and humid. Humid because of the relative humidity or the moisture that this outside air has in it. Your crawl space on the other hand tends to be relatively cool year round due to it basically being a large hole in the ground. Crawl space vents allow this hot and humid outside air to flow into your crawl space carrying with it the high levels of moisture that is already in the air. This alone introduces your crawl space to additional moisture by allowing the wet, hot outside air to flow into your crawl space. Additional moisture is also created in the crawl space due to the fact that this wet, humid outside air is now mixing with the cooler air in the crawl space.

Outside air mixing with the cooler air in the crawl space causes additional moisture due to the fact that for every (1) degree that warm air is cooled, the relative humidity increases by 2.2 percent. When the relative humidity of the air in your crawl space exceeds 100%, the moisture is released from the air in the form of actual water or condensation. Examples of this can be seen in the crawl space on duct lines and pipes in the form of condensation.

Based on these facts, we can now take a look at an example of an average size Indiana vented crawl space and how wet, humid outside air can affect the moisture levels. Let’s assume the outside temperature in the air is 80 degrees with a relative humidity of 80%. And we will assume the air temperature in the crawl space is 65 degrees. The difference in the temperature of the outside air versus the crawl space air is 15 degrees. We now know that for every degree the warm air is cooled, the relative humidity increases by 2.2%. If the outside air is cooled by 15 degrees, that creates an additional 33% increase in the relative humidity of the outside air once it makes it way into the crawl space. Which increases the overall relative humidity for the outside air to 113% which is impossible because once the relative humidity reaches 100%, moisture is released from the air in the form of water or condensation.

For these reasons, foundation vents that allow outside air into crawl space will not help in reducing the moisture levels of the crawl space. In fact, more ventilation of the crawl space will only increase the moisture problem of a crawl space. For more information click here or visit www.swaincollc.com 

Crawl Space Insulation And Indiana Cold Weather

As winter approaches, many Indiana homeowners start to consider ways to save money on energy and reduce heat loss. One of the best places for a homeowner to look at energy savings during the winter months is the crawl space, which then raises the question as to what is the proper way to insure your crawl space contributes to your homes energy savings and not the other way around.

To properly answer this question we must first understand a little bit more about Indiana crawl spaces in general. Most vented Indiana crawl spaces tend to be very wet, damp environments. The dirt floor of these crawl spaces also continuously has moisture escaping out of it and moving in an upward motion into the crawl space and up into the living areas (Stack Effect). Because of this, just simply installing fiberglass insulation in your crawl space without address any of the moisture issues can actually lead to more problems down the road and here's why. Fiberglass insulation installed in the crawl space between the floor joist will tend to act like a sponge for moisture that is escaping out of the dirt crawl space floor and working its way up through the house. This in turn allows the fiberglass insulation to absorb that moisture. Many times this makes the fiberglass insulation much heavier and runs the risk of falling out from between the floor joist and on the damp crawl space dirt floor. Fallen insulation in your crawl space can then become a problem for possible mold growth. The other, and sometimes more severe issue with fiberglass insulation holding moisture, is if the fiberglass insulation does not fall from between the floor joist. If the insulation remains installed between the floor joist and continues to hold moisture, then that moisture will eventually begin to effect the structural wood on the floor joist. Prolonged high moisture levels in the floor joist will eventually lead to costly issues such as mold growth or wood rot.

Because of these possible issues the real question becomes whether or not you should use fiberglass insulation in your Indiana crawl space at all? My answer to that would be a cautious yes, just as long as the homeowner has had the crawl space inspected for any excessive moisture issues that may effect the fiberglass insulation. If the crawl space is found to have issues with excessive moisture than the following solutions should be considered prior to any installation of fiberglass insulation in your crawl space.

1. Drainage/Sump Pump-If excessive moisture in your crawl space is being caused by standing water in your crawl space then the first step would be to install a proper sump basin and sump pump. Depending on the amount of standing water that the crawl space gets, a complete crawl space drainage system may need to be considered as well in order to keep the crawl space free of standing water permanently.

1. Vapor Barrier-Installing a proper vapor barrier across the entire dirt floor of your crawl space should be the first consideration when dealing with excessive crawl space moisture that is not being caused by standing water. A proper crawl space vapor barrier works by trapping the moisture escaping out of the dirt floor, keeping it from moving up into the crawl space and becoming absorbed by the fiberglass insulation.

2. Crawl Space Encapsulation System-Sometimes a vapor barrier alone may not reduce the moisture levels in your crawl space to an acceptable level. This tends to be the issue when there are other factors contributing to the excessive moisture other than just the dirt crawl space floor. These other factors can include foundation block seepage or excessive moisture being caused by outside air coming into the crawl space from the crawl space vents. If these other factors are playing a part in the excessive moisture issues of your crawl space then a complete crawl space encapsulation system may need to be considered. A crawl space encapsulation system works by sealing the crawl space off from all of the outside environments, which in turn creates a barrier from all areas that are contributing to the excessive moisture rather than just the dirt crawl space floor.

For more information about crawl space insulation or any other crawl space issue please click here or visit www.swaincollc.com

Indianapolis Crawl Space Water Problems?

Now is the time that many Indianapolis homeowners are forced to take notice of their crawl space. Spring time in Indiana can be great. The weather starts to get warmer and the snow is finally gone. But spring time in Indiana also brings with it heavy rains. And for those of us who live above a crawl space or basement in Indiana, heavy spring rains is not always a welcome surprise. The recent heavy amounts of rainfall that has taken place over central Indiana has had many homeowners on edge due to their crawl space or basement flooding. But it doesn't have to always be this way. Their are many steps a homeowner can take to limit the amount of water that enters their crawl space or basement. Some of the best steps to take include making sure your gutters remain clean and free of any debris. A clogged gutter system will allow water run off from your roof to dump over the gutters and right next to your homes foundation. This increases the likelihood of that water making its way into your crawl space or basement. Extending any downspouts away from your homes foundation can also go a long way in helping keep excessive water out of your crawl space and basement. But as many Indiana homeowners already know, sometimes these steps are just not enough to keep you crawl space or basement dry permanently. In those cases, an interior crawl space or basement drainage system along with a sump basin and sump pump would more than likely need to be installed. A properly installed drainage system around the inside perimeter of the crawl space or basement can give many Indiana homeowners piece of mind knowing they will maintain a dry, healthy crawl space or basement during these times of heavy rains. Additional benefits of these types of drainage systems include being able to have a usable space in your basement free of any water problems, a dryer and healthy living space above the crawl space and basement, and makes for a much easier selling process if indeed you ever decide to sale your home. At SwainCo. Crawl Space and Basement Repair we understand the headache that comes from living above a crawl space or basement in Indiana. We are central Indiana's most trusted crawl space repair contractor. Our crawl space and basement drainage systems will keep Indiana homeowners dry once and for all. If you think your crawl space or basement has a water problem or to find out more about how SwainCo. Crawl Space and Basement Repair can transform your wet crawl space or basement into a dry, healthy crawl space or basement than click here or call 317-407-1868.

Indiana Crawl Space Mold Remediation

SwainCo. HydroSafe Crawl Space Mold Remediation 

100% Safe Mold Remediation Process

What is HydroSafe Mold Remediation
Most crawl space mold remediation services are not only costly, but they are also performed by using an array of potentially harmful chemicals. In face, some of these mold remediation techniques require homeowners to vacate their house during the process and can leave long lasting odors in the upstairs living areas. SwainCo. HydroSafe Crawl Space Mold Remediation process eliminates much of the health concerns that are posed by using other mold remediation techniques. This is accomplished by using a much less toxic application applied to the areas of mold growth. The product used is an 8% strength hydrogen peroxide and 92% water mixture. This process is also known as the Carolina Protocol.

How Does It Work
The SwainCo. HydroSafe Crawl Space Mold Remediation utilizes a relatively new and effective proven method of mold remediation called the Carolina Protocol. The Carolina Protocol involves the use of an 8% strength hydrogen peroxide as the cleaning agent. The 8% strength hydrogen peroxide is applied to the areas of mold growth on the structural wood in the crawl space, causing the mold to be destroyed by a process called oxidation. This is the same process that takes place when, like many of us have, applied hydrogen peroxide to a small cut on our hand. After hydrogen peroxide is applied to a cut we see a bubbling action take place shortly after. This bubbling action is the bacteria in the cut being destroyed by oxidation. Although the hydrogen peroxide used to clean cuts is of a less strength, the same oxidation process that destroys the bacteria in the cut is the same oxidation process that destroys the mold growth.

Crawl space mold remediation does not need to be so time consuming, costly, or unhealthy for the homeowners. SwainCo's process of crawl space mold remediation is done is in 3 easy steps. SwainCo. also provides additional services to treat the underlining issues that caused the mold growth in your crawl space to begin with. Some of these additional services may include crawl space drainage systems, crawl space vapor barriers, or crawl space encapsulation systems. To find out more about our crawl space mold remediation process click here. If your Indiana crawl space is a problem crawl space click here to find out how SwainCo. Crawl Space and Basement Repair can transform your unhealthy crawl space into a dry, mold free, healthy crawl space.

Crawl Space Encapsulation Systems In Indiana

The crawl space encapsulation system, is a vapor barrier system designed to seal the crawl space off from the outside environment. Excessive moisture in the crawl space can cause many problems, such as mold growth, wood rot, musty smells, and foundation issues. A crawl space will typically get excessive moisture or water from the following three main areas. 

1. Floor-The crawl space dirt floor, much like the soil around the house, contains moisture. This moisture is constantly trying to evaporate, and when it does, it makes its way up through the house with a process called stack effect or the natural airflow of the house, which is from bottom to top.

2. Foundation Walls-Moisture or water seepage from the exterior foundation walls of home and into the crawl space also increase the moisture levels in the crawl space. Many times stopping foundation wall seepage can prove to be very difficult. Trying the stop the seepage involves excavating around the entire perimeter of the home to the depth of the footer and re-waterproofing the foundation itself. Many times this is not possible due items that have been built around the home, such as slab porches, garages, sidewalks, additions, ect.

3. Crawl Space Vents-The idea behind having a vented crawl space was to allow air flow into the crawl space to reduce moisture. In reality what crawl space vents can actually do is dramatically increase moisture levels in a crawl space. This is especial true during the summer months. During hot humid summer days, the outside air flowing into the crawl space from vents contains a large amount of moisture in it. This moisture is brought into the crawl space through the vents. The hot, humid air will also come into contact with cooler air, pipes, and duct work and create condensation which also will increase moisture levels in the crawl space. This is even more so true for Indiana crawl spaces due to the type of summers that we have. 

Because of these reasons, a complete crawl space encapsulation system is installed along the dirt crawl space floor and up the foundation walls. Sealing off areas that cause excessive moisture in the crawl space. Part of a complete crawl space encapsulation system is to also seal off all crawl space vents. If the crawl space vents are not sealed off in a crawl space that has a complete encapsulation system, it will actually work again the encapsulation system by causing more moisture. Vents that remain open will allow hot, humid air that contains a great deal of moisture to enter into the crawl space. For this reason, it is never recommended to open the crawl space vents when a complete crawl spaceencapsulation system is installed.  

For more information on crawl space encapsulation systems or crawl space vapor barriers in the Indianapolis, Indiana or the surrounding areas click here.