DownSpout Extensions-Why and How

For many Indiana homeowners, extending your downspouts away from your home can have many benefits. Especially when installed correctly. One benefit of extending your downspouts away from your home is that it will greatly reduces your chance for potential foundation issues down the road. When downspouts are not extended the water is dumping usually right next to your foundation. This excess amount of water will expand, and erode soil around your foundation, which in return can cause structure foundation issues such as settling. Extending the downspouts can also help cut down on the amount of water or moisture that gets into your crawl space. As mentioned before, when not extended, downspouts allow large amounts of water to be dumped next to your homes foundation. This water can also tend to seep thru the foundation and into the crawl space. To give you an idea of the amount of water your downspouts can produce consider this. One inch of rain on a 1200 sq.ft. home produces about 750 gallons of water. That is a lot of water to be dumping right next to your homes foundation. Also you want to be sure that the downspout extensions your installing are done correctly. A few things to stay from when installing downspout extensions. First thing I would recommend would be to always use a solid form of pipe or tile to extend your downspouts, whether you extend them underground or above. I have seen many houses who have downspout extensions running into a perforated pipe or tile. This still allows the water to seep out next to the foundation. A solid pipe or tile will prevent this seepage from happening. Be sure to extend them far enough away so that the water isn't making its way back toward your foundation. As far as what type of solid pipe or tile to use really depends on your preference. I typically would recommend a solid 4" PVC type of pipe, such as a schedule 40. I recommend this because this type of downspout extension has a few more benefits than other forms of solid pipe, such as flex tile. Downspout extensions can tend to get clogged with roof debris and leaves. With a solid PVC type of downspout extension, they can easily be snaked to relive any type of clog. This is much harder with a solid flex tile. Also, if your downspout extension is going to be installed underground in an area where heavy equipment or cars may be crossing over, a solid PVC type of downspout extension proves to be much stronger as well. To find out more information on downspout extensions and other crawl space issues visit www.crawlspacecompany.com 

Fiberglass Insulation In Your Crawl Space???

I have inspected many crawl spaces over the last ten years, and the question comes up more often than not. Should I install fiberglass insulation in my crawl space? The answer to this question is not a simply yes or no. A lot of it depends on where we are talking about installing this fiberglass insulation and what the conditions of the crawl space are. If we are talking about installing fiberglass insulation on the foundation walls of the crawl space than my answer for that is always no. Foundation walls in a crawl space tend to seep moisture or water. This moisture or water is then soaked into the fiberglass insulation like a sponge. The fiberglass insulation installed all the foundation walls can also allow moisture or water to wick upwards towards the structure wood components of the house in the crawl space. This in return can lead to mold growth or possible wood rot. Now if we are talking about installing fiberglass insulation under the sub-floor, between the floor joist in your crawl space than my answer is yes, but only if certain conditions are meet. Fiberglass insulation installed between the floor joist can also work like a sponge and absorb moisture and hold it between the structure wood. But if the crawl space is conditioned right so that moisture is no longer a problem in your crawl space than fiberglass insulation between your floor joist can be beneficial. In order to make sure moisture is not a problem in your crawl space before you consider any type of fiberglass insulation you might want to consider some type of encapsulation system for your crawl space first. An encapsulation system in your crawl space would be the best method of eliminating any moisture before you install fiberglass insulation. To find out more information about crawl spaces please visit www.crawlspacecompany.com.

A Vapor Barrier Alone May Not Be Enough

When dealing with high levels of moisture coming from a crawl space, a simple 6mill vapor barrier may not be enough to reduces and eliminate those high levels of moisture. Here is a few reasons why. First we have to look at what is causing the high moisture levels in the crawl space. If standing water is an issue than installing a vapor barrier alone would do little if any to help the matter. In fact with out some type of drainage system and a pit/pump, a vapor barrier alone could possibly make things worse by allowing the water to sit on top of the barrier with no where to go but up into the living areas. If standing water is not an issue than more than likely you are getting the unwanted moisture in your crawl space from 3 possible areas. First would be the crawl space dirt floor. Moisture is always constantly coming out the dirt floor ground in you crawl space. This moisture than moves with the nature air flow of the home, which is from bottom to top, or what some refer to as stack effect. Stack effect is the reason we see moisture in the crawl space causing issues in the living area, such as mold, buckled or warped floors and even moisture on the windows. A simple 6mill vapor barrier laid across the entire crawl space floor will help keep moisture from the dirt crawl space floor from getting into your crawl space of the living areas of the home. The moisture is simple somewhat encapsulated under this barrier. But a 6mill vapor barrier is recommended to be installed a few inches away from the walls due to block seepage and it is not a complete seal of the dirt crawl space floor, so there are still areas that moisture may be able to come up through the dirt crawl space floor. Even with a vapor barrier we still have two other areas that moisture is able to get into your crawl space that a simple vapor barrier cannot address. The second area is the foundation walls. Whether they are block, poured, or stone, foundation walls tend to seep moisture. Although most homes built in the last 40 yrs would have some type of waterproof membrane on the exterior side of your foundation, these tend to not last very long. And areas that have a high water table can cause the seepage of moisture through your block walls to increase as well, adding to the unwanted high moisture levels in your crawl space. The last place your crawl space may be getting moisture from is your vents. Although they were intended to help keep you crawl space dry, they may in fact be doing the exact opposite. Consider this, on a hot humid day in the middle of the summer when your vents are to be open, the outside air has a large amount of moisture in it. When that air comes into your crawl space through vents your simply bringing all that moisture in with it. Not to mention if you have duct work in your crawl space this hot humid air is going to make them and pipes as well sweat, thus creating even more unwanted moisture in your crawl space. So to address all these areas that moisture comes from in your crawl space a simple 6mill vapor barrier may not be enough. The only sure way to permanently seal this outside moisture from getting into your crawl space would be a crawl space encapsulation system. To see more information on permanent crawl space solutions such as an encapsulation system visit www.crawlspacecompany.com     

Indiana Crawl Space Access Doors

Crawl spaces in Indiana are notorious for many things. Water, moisture, mold, termites, ect.. But their is something that tends to fly under the radar when Indiana homeowners began to discuss their crawl space and it's problems; a crawl space access door. A crawl space access door can play a major role in keeping a crawl space problem free. A properly installed crawl space access door can keep unwanted water from entering the crawl space during heavy rains. It can keep unwanted moisture out during those hot, humid summer days. Another big benefit to a properly installed crawl space access door is the fact that it can also help keep pest and creepy critters from entering your home via the crawl space. The crawl space access door should be able to be latched shut easily. It should have a metal frame for the door itself to easily fit into. Many homes in Indiana lack either one or both of these when it comes to their crawl space access door. At SwainCo.,LLC we install some of the most affordable crawl space access doors in central Indiana. We also have a wide range of options, including various sizes and even a waterproof sealed crawl space access door. To find out more visit www.americanbasementsolutions.com or call1-877-40-WATER

Spring Rains Bring Flooded Crawlspaces

As winter ends and spring begins, most Indiana homeowners know what comes next. The unpredictable weather and heavy rains that Indiana is slowly becoming known for. It is during this spring time that many Indiana homeowners start to realize the drainage problems they have in their crawlspace. Drainage problems that could lead to more damaging and exspensive future problems.  To find out more visit www.americanbasementsolutions.com or call1-877-40-WATER

No Mold is Good Mold

A question I seem to get asked often when noticing signs of mold growth in a homeowners crawlspace is whether or not this mold is bad mold, or harmful mold. For this question to be answered one would have to know what type of mold it is. There happen to be estimates that range from thousands of different types of mold to hundreds of thousands of different types. So to be sure on the exact type of mold a homeowner has or even if it is mold, one would need to have it sent off and tested by mold growth experts to determine the type of mold it is. Without going through the headache and exspense of testing mold, perhaps a better answer would be to just simply eliminate any mold growth in a crawlspace best as possible. And of the most effective ways of doing this is to take away one of the things mold needs to survive, MOISTURE. Although their are all kinds of mold sprays or paints that are designed to stop current mold growth, they don't address the cause of mold growth. Meaning a homeowner has to continuously spray every so often to insure that they have no active mold. But if the cause of the mold growth reduced or even eliminated this could save a homeowner hundreds of dollars in the long run by not having to spray the mold so often, hiring a company every other year to do this. A homeowner may also save money by preventing damage to structure components of their home that can be caused by mold growth. But even better is the fact that a homeowner can have a better piece of mind knowing that the upstairs environment is now a healthier environment to live in when there isn't the presence of mold in a crawlspace. In the long run, preventing or stopping moisture issues in a crawlspace, out way the benefits of many other methods that deal with stopping mold growth. To find out more visit www.americanbasementsolutions.com or call1-877-40-WATER
Thanks,
Indiana Crawlspace Waterproofer

Two Great Ways to Help Keep Water Away From Your Homes Foundation

  The following are three great ways to help homeowners keep water away from their homes foundation. Which in return will aid in keeping your crawlspace or basement dry and your foundation from potential settling issues.

1. Keep Gutters Clean
       On a 1200 sq.ft. home, the roof alone produces about 750 gallons of water per 1 inch of rain. That is a lot of water for any gutter system to handle. So when a gutter system starts to get clogged with leaves, branches, etc.. the runoff water from the roof has no where to go but over the sides of the gutter, falling to the ground next to your homes foundation. This can cause large amounts of excessive water to run down the backside of your homes foundation, seeping into the blocks, or cracks, or possible overloading an existing drainage system that was not designed for so much water capacity. To insure this doesn't happen to you, periodically check your gutter system for any debris.

2. Extend All Downspouts 
      Using the above statistics on gallons of water per inch of rain your roof can produces, you can imagine the amount of water that runs through your downspouts. Homes that have downspouts dumping right next to the foundation are at risk for not only unwanted water penetration into their basements or crawlspaces, but also potential settling issues. Extending downspouts away from your homes foundation can in some cases dramatically drop the amount of water penetration into your basement or crawlspace and aid in the prevention of future settling issues. Their are many methods a homeowner can consider when deciding on how best to extend ones downspout. In my opinion the most effective method would be to run your downspouts into a solid PVC line installed 4"-6" under ground. This PVC line would run out 10'-12' into a bubble or small dry well of some sort. This would accomplish the goal of keeping water away from the house and at the same time eliminate the headache of having to move your extension for various reasons, such as mowing the yard. I prefer PVC instead of the standard black flex tile because if by chance leaves and debris block the downspout extension, PVC lines are proven much easier to snake out than it's black flex tile friend. 

Till Next Time,
Indiana Crawlspace Waterproofer

For more information and great waterproofing ideas and solutions, visit www.americanbasementsolutions.com or call1-877-40-WATER