Huntsville, Alabama's #1 Foundation Repair Company
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Huntsville (HSV) Crawlspace & Foundation Repair knows the number one most overlooked and undervalued spot in the home is the crawl space. Who cares about the crawl space under the house or in the basement, right? Everyone has wonderful ideas for how to utilize their closest, garage, and storage room space but no one has any crawl space ideas! It’s an area that is always overlooked! It’s comparable to one’s health, which most often is never appreciated or given attention until something is negatively affecting it, which then in turn affects every facet of your day-to-day life. For the vast majority of homeowners, the crawl space is simply a large storage area, nothing more, nothing less. There is rarely any clean-up or care given, for most it is merely a place for boxes and random items to gather on top of the loose gravel that was placed there during construction. End of story.
The bad news is that while everything appears fine and dandy on the surface, down in your crawl space there are a lot of things happening. Things that if not properly treated, are going to negatively affect you and your loved ones. Insects, rodents, odor, and moisture are seeping in through tiny openings 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Some of these openings may be so small you can’t even see them with the naked eye, but rest assured, they are there. As a result of moisture constantly entering the home, mold (often yellow mold) will inevitably become present under the home, especially in a climate with as much humidity as Huntsville, Alabama. Mold For the everyday person out there, we don’t understand much about this area of the home. In fact, we get hung up wondering if crawl space is one or two words, not to mention the in’s and out’s of that dark and dingy little place. Most of us have not a sliver of understanding in relation to the crawlspace and the questions regarding it. There may be a few out there that have heard about crawl space conversion and even individuals turning their crawl spaces into grow rooms. Yes, almost like a greenhouse! With this exception, many individuals are not familiar with crawl space encapsulation process or the purpose that it serves. Everyone can greatly benefit from understanding how mold grows under the home and what negative repercussions it may currently be causing. Science Behind Yellow Mold Anyone who has ever spent time in Huntsville, Alabama (especially during the summer months) can agree that Huntsville is a very hot and humid place. Any of you that are reading this that have previously held a job that had you working outdoors can especially testify to this. The science behind the crawl space mold is that the crawl space in your home is ordinarily cool and dry. During the summer months the hot and humid air enters the crawlspace through cracks and miniscule holes in the home. More often than not, air also enters through the crawl space access and access well, depending on the crawl space access well size. This hot and humid air mixed with the cool temperature in the basement create condensation. Condensation is always bad because that means water where it shouldn’t be. The condensation is then soaked up by the wood underneath the house, raising the wood moisture content. In turn this creates mold, which is responsible for sagging floors and bad air quality. After understanding the formula behind how the mold gets in the crawl space, crawl space encapsulation is simply a method of preventing the home from allowing in the hot and humid air through those vents and other openings that lead to the crawl space. If you are an individual who deals with asthma, allergies, or any other type of health condition that has to do with your breathing, taking care of your crawl space can help! |
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DIY
Surely there are some of you that have it in your mind that you are crawlspace DIY type people. Perhaps you have heard through talking to other like-minded DIY people that encapsulation costs are much higher than doing it yourself. You may even have that friend that is constantly in your ear telling you that the process is simple. Telling you that to start, all you need to do is open up the crawlspace entry or hatch, take some crawlspace covers, crawlspace plastic, a sump pump, and make sure to get buy a crawl space ladder if you don’t already have one(he probably doesn’t even know what it’s for and thinks the ladder is for your crawl space well). This same friend most likely is telling you to go to Lowes or Home Depot, or order a dehumidifier off amazon. After you have finished doing that, the same person probably told you to make sure you avoid the plumbing in the crawlspace, try not to ruin the insulation, and be careful not to ruin the gas water heater in the process. After that start with the foundation and floor, lay the crawlspace ground cover first, make sure to lap it over itself and just get-er done. If only it were that easy. Certified Crawl Space Contractor Think about the question, “would you let your accountant perform open heart surgery on you?” Obviously not. So why do we let your neighbor who holds a desk job with no experience in crawl space anything, give you advice? Don’t worry, we’ve all been victim. There are things that an everyday person can not know unless he or she has been in the trenches of this business. Things like:
Inspection We will provide services that DIY people wouldn’t ever think about. We will perform an inspection first to see what needs to be done, and we can do this by taking into consideration things like the crawl space height, and what kind of repair products are going to be needed. For example, will we need fans? Also do those fans need to be crawl space exhaust fans? Think about this, there may be no reason to encapsulate your crawlspace when all you need is insulation removal, dehumidification, or simply a better drainage system. You don’t take medicine without first diagnosing the problem, so why not first get the ‘forgotten about space’ under your house inspected? Huntsville Companies & Contractors We aren’t narcissistic enough to believe that 100% of those reading this, found us on purpose. It’s Huntsville, and due to the fact that more and more people are moving in from out of Huntsville, and even from out of Alabama in general, it is hard to survive on a good name alone. We get it, you probably grabbed your mobile phone, opened up a fresh Google page and searched for ‘crawl space repair company’ or a ‘crawl space repair service’, maybe even as specific as ‘crawl space contractors near me’. No matter how you found us, thanks for reading this far! We want to be the first company that pops up when you search for ‘crawl space company near me!’ Check out our crawl space encapsulation reviews on our Yelp, Google +, or Facebook page to see for yourself. Crawl Space Repair Quote If it’s a crawl space repair quote that you are looking for, you can either click one of our phone numbers on this page and call us directly, or you can simply fill out the quote form to receive immediate, estimated, prices and repair costs. Make sure to check exactly which services you are interested in, so that we can specifically quote you on a repair and encapsulation cost for example. The difference between HSV Crawlspace and all the other crawl space repair and waterproofing specialist in Huntsville, is that we have knowledge that allows us to perform sometimes unconventional methods to get the job done. An example would be our knowledge with somewhat common crawl space problems as well as their solutions. Another would be our expertise in knowing exactly which crawl space door, barrier, or vapor barrier to select. You may not think that selecting the right access door is a big deal, but the crawl space access and access size can play a huge part in crawl space storage and future uses of the space. Think that the vent or vent fan is something to just think about as an afterthought? Think again. Your current vent may be the main reason you are reading this page today and could have been prevented by doing it right the first time. From crawl space radon, to crawl space grates, our knowledge runs deep on any subject related to these often temperamental spaces in our homes. Whether your home is an older home or a new construction, or whether you have an excavated or unexcavated crawl space, we have a solution to your problem. Maybe it’s a simple crawl space question such as, “what is the crawl space to basement conversion cost?” No matter what it is, call us today and let HSV Crawlspace be of service to you! Why Is There Water In My Crawl Space? Still hesitant about calling and receiving a free crawl space repair quote? You aren’t alone, and we don’t blame you for that matter. Think about all the areas of your life that you are the most uncertain and fearful about. Without exception, in every single case it is an area or subject that you know very little about or are not very good at. If you don’t know the logic behind doing a crawl space encapsulation, or better yet, know how moisture even enters into that treacherous part of the home, you aren’t going to feel very confident talking to anyone about it. The science behind water in the crawl space is quite simple, because we live in a hot, humid climate we start at a disadvantage in this area to those that live in more arid, desert climates. Twenty years ago it was thought that by including vents in the crawl space, one could actually let moisture out of the home. Recently we’ve seen how this couldn’t be further from the truth. What these vents actually do is let moisture in. What happens when you mix hot air with cold air? Vapor is formed. Wherever there is vapor, there is moisture, and most the time wherever you find water, you also find trouble. In the case of the basement or the crawl space, moisture means mold. With the rare exception of penicillin, mold isn’t usually a good thing. Mold is bacteria and with that bacteria comes a musk, dank smell that can permeate the entire home. If you’ve ever heard the term Radon, that is scentless odor that comes from the crawl space that has proved to be very toxic. The simple fact of the matter is, regardless of the climate you live in, moisture in the home is never good. Luckily for hot, desert climates in the west the dryness in the air will clear most of the moisture up on its own. For those of us that are proud to call Huntsville, Alabama home, it’s just a part of life. The task and the job of the homeowner is to keep humidity out of the crawl space itself, including the vents and door. If you’re a little late to the party and you already have water in the home, don’t sweat it. We deal with these situations for a living and though it may sound scary, if it’s just water, it’s nothing we can’t handle. |