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Hi, it’s Mike Stewart and I’m here with Eric Gardner, of Volunteer Rid-A-Pest, your premiere pest control in Chattanooga and Cleveland, Tennessee. And we’ve got another great question that Eric’s going to give us the answer to. I’ve heard that moisture under a crawl space is bad, so why is it bad and what can be done about it?
Well Mike, it is very bad and here’s the reason why, termites need moisture in order to be able to infest wood. If the woods at its normal moisture level, it’s just too dry. So what they have to do is bring moist dirt from the earth and pack it into the wood they’re infesting and feeding on. Now if there’s already excess moisture in the crawl space, they don’t have to do that. They can move about a lot more freely and can actually do damage a lot quicker. That’s the first reason.
Another reason is wood decay fungus can grow if the wood moisture content is above 15%. So in most crawl spaces, it is above that because the moisture from the soil underneath is contained in that crawl space. It can’t get out unless it’s got proper ventilation, and most don’t, and then the wood decay fungus can grow. When that happens the fungus actually feeds on the wood fibers and over time it will weaken the wood to the point where they can collapse. And so that’s another big issue.
The third is the air quality. Most people don’t know this, but when your heating air system turns on the place where the filter goes creates suction and it’s designed to recirculate the air in the home. However, it’ll pull air from any little crack or crevice it can find. Typically where the pipes and wires come through the floor from the crawl space into the living space, and any other little crack around, that air from the crawl space is being drawn into the living space along with it fungal spores, dust, all kinds of things that’ll aggravate allergies. A lot of people who have respiratory problems it’s because they have unhealthy air being drawn into the house from the crawl space.
So those are the main reasons that moisture in the crawl space is a bad thing.
Well doesn’t that moisture also contribute to mold problems? Actually in our home one time we had a lot of mold in our air ducts. I’m just curious. I know that moisture is bad for mold and mold is bad in your home.
Yeah, mold is a type of fungus and not all funguses mold. Well, not all mold is fungus, but all fungus is mold and it is just…Once you have too much moisture all those bad things can grow and they all travel, they produce spores, and those spores can be breathed in and it can be a very unhealthy thing to have.
So it’s a great idea to have your crawlspace checked out and make sure it’s not got too much moisture. There’s a lot of things you can do to eliminate it. It just depends on each individual situation, but there’s always a solution to that problem and get it dried out where it needs to be.
Well in detail, what can be done about it? And is this something that you do at Volunteer Rid-A-Pest?
Yeah, we handle this type of thing every day. We look and see if there is any wood decay, fungus actively growing. We have moisture meters we use to probe the wood and see what the wood moisture content currently is, to see if it’s above 15% which is the threshold that we’re looking for. Wood decay, fungus, and mold spores can grow on anything above 15%. If it’s below that they just land on it harmlessly and nothing happens until it gets above that point. So they got to have moisture in order to start to reproduce and feed on the wood.
All right.
But yeah, we can definitely take care of it.
Are there any protective measures that you recommend to keep it dry in the crawl space?
Well, one of the most common things is just a simple plastic vapor barrier. Just a sheet of plastic that’s laid on the floor of the crawl space, just to contain the moisture beneath it rather than let it just condense on the wood above it and start getting the moisture level too high.
Another thing is add additional foundation vents. Get a little cross ventilation going on under there. Air movement carries out a lot of the moisture. In some lower crawl spaces we have forced air ventilation where we have actual fans mounted on the vents that will exhaust the air from one end of the house and pull fresh air in from the other end, creating cross ventilation.
And in some situations it’s bad enough that we need to install a dehumidifier and just completely treat the air to remove all the moisture from it. And that’s the only method that can get it dry enough to solve the problem. So there’s all kinds of things that can be done. We try to find the most cost effective solution to that individual problem.
And the type of moisture you’re talking about is what happens naturally from the earth. You’re not talking about with…In the case of my son recently, he had a leak unbeknownst to him and it just created all…That was obvious moisture when you have a plumbing leak, a water hose leak, a crack in the pipes, and even just a slow dripping link. That just compounds the whole issue. So when you’re in there inspecting and looking around, those are the kinds of things that you can find and help people with, correct?
Well, yeah. And a lot of times that is the problem. They could have had a plumbing leak, they could have rain water running in from outside finding its way into the crawl space. It could just be a lot of different issues that lack of ventilation and over time the moisture’s built up.
But in a crawl space, once the moisture gets there, it’s not going to leave on its own unless it’s got proper ventilation and a way for it to leave. And so that’s where we come in. We can make sure we get it out of there.
Well, there you go. Moisture is not good in your crawl space and you need a professional to help you know what to do. And that’s what Eric and the team at Volunteer Rid-A-Pest can do for you. So thanks again, Eric for another great piece of advice.
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