3 Pros Basement Systems Case Studies: Mold in Crawl Space

Challenge

This home in Mount Vernon had 3 nasty crawl spaces! There was enough humidity in each of them that water dripped from the mold and mildewed insulation and joists. Several contractors had tried to help over the years to make this area beneath the home better.  Our team set out to promise to make it cleaner, healthier, more comfortable, and energy efficient.  The homeowner was breathing in all of this mold from beneath her home. 3 Pros was going to fix it, finally, the right way!

Solution

The first challenge for this home involved removing all of the old moldy insulation and vapor barrier. We found a plethora of wildlife both alive and dead under this house. Once the moldy materials had been removed and disposed of, we had to clean the crawl of debris. The HVAC equipment and ducting system was cleaned out and rid of mold and mildew.  We then used a hydrogen peroxide spray to kill all of the mold and mildew on the joists, and crawl space walls.  We encapsulated the HVAC duct work using closed cell foam spray to seal it from leakage and insulate it properly once and for all.  Then, we encapsulated the crawl space which makes it basically become part of the conditioned space within the home. TerraBlock insulation infused with hypo-allergenic materials was installed on the dirt floors to provide an insulation value.  A thick 20 mil CleanSpace barrier was installed over top of the TerraBlock to provide a moisture barrier and keep things dry now that the mold had been removed. Foam board insulation was installed on the walls of the crawl to keep it more like the temperatures of the rooms above.

Now this home has a healthy, safe, dry, and insulated crawl space. The result of this is a homeowner that has warm floors in the winter, safer air to breath for their family, and lower utility bills.