Category: Crawl Space Health

Living in the Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington area means that we have to deal with a lot of rain. Sometimes that rain finds its way into your crawlspace and you are left with harmful standing water. Many times, in these situations, our company will recommend a sump pump installation. Listed below are some of the common questions that customers ask us before deciding on moving forward with a sump pump installation.

Water is the enemy of homes in the Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington area. Our homes here in the Pacific Northwest are constantly shielding us from the abundance of rainfall. Most of the time they do a good job and keep water flowing away from the house, but sometimes water can find a way inside your home. When water seeps in through your roof, you are sure to find it, but when water makes its way in underneath your home and into your crawl space, it is not so easy to detect. Often times, standing water can go unnoticed for months, even years, slowly damaging the structural stability of your home.

Here in the Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington area, we live in a very wet place. Our homes are pummeled with rain throughout the year and, unfortunately, some of that water sticks around. Water accumulation in the crawl space underneath our homes is a major concern that can wreak extensive damage to the structural components of your house. As a drainage contractor in the Portland Metro area, I see homes all the time that have serious issues with standing water and design drainage systems to rectify these issues.

A vapor barrier (also called a “moisture barrier”) serves an important purpose underneath your home. A crawl space is a damp, dark place that provides the perfect setting for moisture related problems to arise. This is especially true in the Pacific Northwest where we get such an excessive amount of rain throughout the year. As a drainage contractor serving the Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA area, we get a lot of questions regarding the installation of vapor barriers. Here are some commonly asked questions if you are considering having this service done.

How Much Does It Cost To Have A Vapor Barrier Installed?

Water is the enemy of your home and we get a lot of it in the Portland Metro area. Your home is designed to repel water away from it, but sometimes it finds a way to sleek and slither its way into the vulnerable wood that holds your house up. When moisture gets to where it is not supposed to be, it can wreak havoc on your home. One area of the home that can hold a considerable amount of water in your home without you noticing is your crawl space. Standing water in the crawl space can create a whole host of problems for your home including mold, wood rot and more. So, how do you get rid of standing water in a crawl space?

Maybe you got a chuckle out of the Allstate commercial where Mayhem is a raccoon living in an attic. You know, the one where Mayhem says, “I’m a raccoon and this time in your attic has been the best week of my raccoon life”. It’s a funny commercial, but there is nothing funny when a raccoon or any other animal makes it into your attic or crawl space.

It doesn’t take long before substantial damages take place. When we inspect a crawl space or attic that has had a raccoon infestation, we typically find some pretty serious problems. Their little paws are more like hands and they can use them to pull down insulation to bed in, detach air ducts to heat the space and even worse, start having babies. All of things combine for a significant level of contamination that really needs to be cleaned up.

We are now entering the time

When you step into your crawl space, you expect to see the usual things. Some spider webs, darkness and all the rest, but you would never expect to see what one of our customers saw. As he opened his crawl space hatch, he saw hot steaming water about a foot deep in his crawl space. What prompted this visit to the crawl space was the soaring water bill costs. He assumed that maybe a water pipe was leaking, but he didn’t expect to find a hot water pipe completely burst open, filling his crawl space with hot water.

Of course, the consequences were disastrous. Insulation was ruined, duct work was ruined, and the hot water created a mold creating factory down there. It was a mess that nobody wants to have to deal with and it all could have been avoided.

Now, this example is the extreme, but it is not uncommon to have standing water in the crawl space wreak havoc. Normally, it is a process that happens over time as water slowly accumulates, but regarless of how it gets there, it is important to have a system in place that will move it out of there.

Your crawl space is a really important part of your home. You might not realize this because you probably spend very little time down there. It is dark, damp and even a little creepy, but it houses the most important elements of your home. Your plumbing pipes, air ducts and even the structural integrity of your home depend on the crawl space being in good shape in order for your home to stay healthy. Since this area of the home is so crucial, you should probably be aware of what factors can ruin it.

Animals Can Make Your Crawl Space A Very Unhealthy Place

We go into a lot of crawl spaces and see all sorts of things that can really make for an unhealthy environment, but probably the most common is an animal infestation.