You may not know this, but under your crawl space large amounts of water is constantly rising up near the surface and evaporating. This water vapor then proceeds to rise up through the floor and right into the crawl space. The vapor has two negative effects. First off, it brings odors into your house. Secondly, and more importantly, the water vapor will start to collect, which leads to moisture seeping into support beams, insulation, etc. This leads to mold and can even cause structural damage. To combat this water vapor, a lot of people outfit their crawl space with a moisture barrier (also known as a vapor barrier), which is the most effective way to protect your crawl spaces from moisture damage. While it is generally better to let a licensed professional install them, if you choose to install the moisture barrier yourself, here are a few important tips that you will want to keep in mind.

Make sure the floor is completely clear

Before you go to lay down the material for the moisture barrier, take the time to make sure the floor of the crawl space is smooth and that there aren’t any sharp objects laying around. Make sure to be thorough when checking, because any sharp objects left on the floor could rip through the barrier, making it less effective.

Use the right kind of tape

When installing your moisture barrier, you are going to have to seal the seams with tape. But, although you might be tempted to just use regular duct tape, you shouldn’t. Regular duct tape doesn’t have the strength too reliably hold the moisture barrier together. So, you should use specialty tape, like seam tape, to make sure that your barrier actually works.

Crawl Space Moisture Barrier:  Use stakes to hold the plastic down

If you want to keep the plastic the ground firmly in place, try using fabric pegs to help keep the plastic from moving around too much when people are moving around on top of it. I know this sounds counterintuitive, but the holes created by the fabric pegs are too small to actually reduce the effectiveness of the moisture barrier. And as an added bonus, if for some reason water ever gets on top of the barrier (for example, say because a pipe is leaking), the water can actually drain through the small holes created by the fabric pegs.

Plan everything out first

With a job as complex as this, you want to make sure everything is meticulously planned out in advance. For example, accurately measure your crawl space, and get as much information as you possibly can. Likewise, avoid cutting in the actual crawl space; instead you should measure everything out, and then cut everything outside the crawl space. Finally, avoid buying any materials until you have everything planned out and have done research on the best type of materials to use in your crawl space. This isn’t the type of job you take up on a whim, it requires serious planning beforehand.

Call  E-Mora Construction  today to solve all your Crawl Space Barrier problems : (925) 219-7513   or see our other crawl space services here

How To Know When You Need A Professional To Clean Up Your Crawl Space

Cleaning out your crawlspace isn’t usually something that requires professional help. After all, it is just moving around boxes and other assorted items around, why would anyone need professional help to do that? Well, usually that’s the case, but sometimes there is something wrong in the crawlspace, (mold, leaking water, etc.) that will require a professional to deal with. Here are some signs that indicate that you need some professional crawl space cleanup.

Strange smells

A crawlspace is always going to smell very dusty and dirty. But if you start to notice a strong mildew smell, that’s a sure sign that there is leaking somewhere in the crawl space, which is then encouraging the growth of mildew or other types of mold. Other smells, like say a strong smell of fecal matter, are a good sign you have an animal infestation. Finally, a strong sewage smell is probably a good sign that something has gone wrong with your sewage pipes. Strange smells are the first sign that something is seriously wrong with your crawl space and that you will need to get professional crawl space cleanup.

Crawl Space Cleanup Animal carcasses or droppings

The next sure sign to watch out for are animal droppings or even worse, animal carcasses. The droppings and carcasses carry diseases and the handling of them should generally be left to professionals, due to the risk of infection. The actual animals themselves (because if there are carcasses or droppings, you can rest assured that there are lives one still running about) are also a massive nuisance. Mice and rats have a tendency to destroy wood and insulation, meaning that they can cause quite a bit of damage if not dealt with promptly.

Mold

Mold loves to grow in dark, damp, and poorly ventilated areas, so it finds a natural home in many crawl spaces. Unfortunately, if you spot mold (make sure to be thorough when checking, mold loves to grow on studs, support beams, etc.), it means that you are going to have to call a professional to deal with the mold and find the source of the mold growth. Generally speaking, working near mold without the proper safety equipment is dangerous, and so actually dealing with mold should be left to professionals. It is also important that you deal with mold infections promptly, to both prevent the spread of mold and to limit its negative health impacts.

Crawl Space Cleanup Wet or otherwise damaged insulation

If you ever notice that the insulation in your crawl space is damp, moldy, or otherwise damaged, you are going to want to get professionals in to determine whether any of the insulation can be saved, and if not, to rip it out. There are a couple reasons for this. First off, if the insulation is damp it becomes a fertile breeding ground for mold. Secondly, wet insulation loses its effectiveness; depending on how wet the insulation is, you may be able to just dry it out, but in other cases, if the insulation is too wet, it will need to be replaced.

Call  E-Mora Construction  today to solve all your Crawl Space Barrier problems : (925) 219-7513   or see our other crawl space services.

A popular DIY (do-it-yourself) home project is the installation of a crawl space barrier. Barriers are sometimes installed in the crawl space when the house is built, but other times the crawl space is left with no protection. Crawl space barriers provide protection against water vapor, which leads to mold growth and can cause rusting and structural damage. If you are one of those people who is choosing to install a barrier themselves instead of getting a contractor to do it, then you might be wondering what tools and what materials you need to get the job done.

What tools you should get beforehand

If you are tackling a project as complex as installing a crawl space barrier, then chances are you probably already have most of the tools necessary to do the job, but just in case, you should make sure you have the following supplies before starting:

• A quality utility knife or a multi-tool (if you want, you can also try using a good pair of utility shears).
• A very good power drill.
• Seal tape (you’re probably thinking that regular duct tape is good enough, but for this job, you really need specialty tape that won’t stop working if it comes into contact with water).
• Measuring tape (almost everyone probably has measuring tape lying around, but it is worth mentioning anyways).
• Foundation pins (pins are the best way to make keep the barrier attached to the foundation, as tape is unreliable).
• Fabric pegs (these are useful for keeping the barrier material stuck to the ground)

Choosing your material

Once you get all the tools together, you can start planning what kind of plastic you want to use in your crawl space barrier. You want to make sure you get a high-quality plastic; lower quality plastic just degrades far too quickly. You should also pay attention to a material’s “perm rating,” which refers to a material’s vapor permeability. Materials with low perm ratings do the best job at protecting your crawl space from water vapor.

You also need to determine how thick the plastic needs to be (your choices generally range from 8mm to 20mm). If you don’t know how thick the plastic needs to be, there are three factors that you should consider. Firstly, how much water vapor is there in the air? If there is a lot, then you should go for the thicker plastic, as it will do a better job of protecting your crawl space. Secondly, consider what your crawl space floor is made of. If it is a rough material, like dirt, then you are going to want to use thicker plastic to protect against tearing. Finally, consider what is actually in your crawl space. If you have wiring or ductwork in your crawl space, then chances are someone will eventually have to service those. If people are going to be moving around on top of your plastic barrier, then you need to get a thicker plastic to prevent possible tears.

Call  E-Mora Construction  today to solve all your Crawl Space Barrier problems : (925) 219-7513   or see our other crawl space services here