When it comes to mold, one of the biggest residential problem areas is your crawl space. We often forget to properly maintain these little hideaways in our homes and as a result, crawl spaces can often be hotbeds for mold.

The mold grows and festers in the insulation, slowly moving its way up into the living space. So it is important to properly clean these tiny problem areas.

This article outlines the steps you should take to properly protect your home. First of all, do not enter or work in a moldy area without respiratory protection.

Once you have properly protected yourself, it is time to evaluate your potential mold problem. Look for evidence of water entry into the crawl space. Some of the warning signs include:

• • Present or past wet conditions, whether “once”, episodic, or recurrent water entry
  • Marginal or no ventilation. Actually I prefer to stop trying to vent crawl spaces since when we want venting it’s usually inadequate, and depending on weather conditions venting a crawl space can actually increase its moisture level and make matters worse. A preferred approach is to dry out, enclose, and seal a crawl space under a building, making it into conditioned space.
  • Exposed dirt. If the crawl space has a dirt floor, put down 6-mil plastic over the dirt to reduce moisture movement from the soil into the crawl space.
  • Presence of fiberglass or other fibrous insulation
  • Roof gutter or downspout spillage by the building foundation.

And of course, look for any visible mold. You should inspect the exposed sides of all framing, joists, girders, posts and the under-side of the over-head subflooring. There are special screening tests you can utilize in your mold search.

If you find any evidence of mold, you should strongly consider calling a mold removal professional. You can contact Advance Mold Remediation if you have any questions. Simply call 1-877-411-MOLD or click here today!