BLOG

Category: Crawl Space Repair

Crawl Space Waterproofing: Four Excellent Reasons to Check This Issue Before Installing New Flooring!

Today, residents of North Carolina frequently request inspections to promote crawl space waterproofing. At least four excellent reasons warrant taking this safeguard before installing new flooring. This simple precaution offers a smart way to promote more comfortable, watertight living areas.

About Crawl Space Waterproofing Inspections

In North Carolina, builders frequently place homes above ground-level or underground crawl spaces. The crawl space supplies a convenient means of accessing important utility and plumbing service connections. In most cases, these locations receive infrequent use.

Yet property owners need to remain alert to the need to waterproof these locations. A persistently wet, damp crawl space poses a significant real estate hazard. Water may wick upwards from dank, marshy sites beneath a residence. Over the course of time, this moisture damages man-made structures.

Before installing new or replacement flooring, consider requesting a crawl space waterproofing inspection. We’ll gladly help you assess whether or not your home remains watertight. Maintaining dry crawl spaces and basements assists homeowners. Don’t spend money installing new flooring until you waterproof ground level (or underground) crawl spaces.

Your Home’s Achilles Heel

The Ancient Greeks enjoyed reciting legends about mythical figures. One of their most popular stories related to a great warrior named “Achilles”. Also, he remained invincible in battle, except for one tiny location on his heel. His mother had dipped him as an infant in the protective waters of a magical river. Only the area covered by her hand where she held him remained vulnerable in combat.

In many ways, your home’s ground-level crawl space resembles this “Achilles heel”. Also, crawl space waterproofing proves essential. It helps property owners avoid a lot of preventable damage stemming from moisture seeping beneath a home. Unfortunately, homeowners sometimes tend to overlook this issue when they implement property improvements. Don’t let a wet crawl space harm your investment in your reality!

Consider This Issue Prior to Installing New Flooring

Why should you consider crawl space waterproofing before installing new flooring? At least four excellent reasons support looking into this issue first. Maintaining a dry ground level (or underground level) crawl space assists property owners:

1. Please Lenders

Will you finance new flooring? If so, your lender will greatly appreciate your efforts to verify adequate crawl space waterproofing. Typically, it makes sense to ensure a crawl space remains dry prior to installing flooring. Dank conditions may require crawl space repairs. If necessary, homeowners can request loan funding to cover both expenses.

2. Prevent Long Term Mildew Odors

Second, a dry crawl space helps prevent wood rot beneath a home. Persistently wet wood permits molds and mildews to grow underneath a floor. Also, over time, this plant life may create a dank, musty odor inside the home. Don’t install a stylish new carpet over a wet, moldy subfloor.

3. Prevent Uneven, Sagging Flooring

Long term wet conditions eventually cause wood to warp. This problem sometimes contributes to uneven, sagging floors. Also, it makes little sense to install new flooring without addressing this underlying concern. Performing crawl space repairs may help ensure adequate crawl space waterproofing.

4. Preserve The Anticipated Lifespan of New Flooring

Finally, consider obtaining a crawl space waterproofing inspection before new floor installation to save money. Correcting wet crawl space conditions first helps maintain the lifespan of beautiful flooring. It helps ensure property owners won’t need to dispose of flooring prematurely due to underlying molds, mildews, or wood rot!

Request Waterproofing Assistance in NC

Have you recently explored installing new flooring in a home in North Carolina? Many property owners in the Triangle Area implement this home improvement every year. Also, installing beautiful hardwood flooring or tile enhances the beauty of indoor living areas. Similarly, obtaining lovely new carpeting frequently enhances residential interiors.

Yet flooring installation proceeds more smoothly if a homeowner pays close attention to crawl space waterproofing issues. Save time, money, and heartbreak by requesting a waterproofing inspection first. Raleigh Waterproofing, Inc. offers valuable assistance in this situation.

Our company routinely conducts home waterproofing inspections for customers. We examine the condition of basements, yards, and interior crawl spaces. Ask us to examine your home’s ground level crawl spaces before you shop for new flooring.

Contact Us Today

We serve customers throughout the Greater Triangle Area of North Carolina. Contact us for assistance if you own realty in Chapel Hill, Durham, or Raleigh. Also, we conduct thorough, careful crawl space waterproofing inspections for residential homeowners and businesses. Call Raleigh Waterproofing Inc today at 919-877-9969 to request this service. Lastly, we look forward to speaking with you!

The Importance of Maintaining Dry Residential Crawl Spaces in North Carolina

The Importance of Maintaining Dry Residential Crawl Spaces

Property owners sometimes wonder why builders stress the vital importance of keeping residential crawl spaces in a dry, waterproof, well-maintained condition? These locations usually receive very little (if any) foot traffic. Why should you prioritize crawl space repair issues highly? This brief article will discuss some reasons to consider requesting a crawl space inspection in North Carolina.

Residential Crawl Spaces

Crawl Spaces: Out of Site, But Still Significant

Many homes in this region rely upon crawl spaces located directly beneath the residence. These hard-to-reach locations often furnish access to essential utility systems, such as plumbing or gas lines. While the dimensions of crawl spaces vary widely from one-floor plan to another, in many cases the crawl space extends only a few feet in height (hence the term “crawl space”). Particularly in the case of trailers or vintage wood frame homes, a crawl space may cover exposed ground rather than a concrete slab.

Even though residents rarely, if ever, access crawl spaces, ensuring this location remains dry and free from pooling water holds value. Since a house frequently sits directly above its crawl space, damp conditions there potentially allow moisture to impact the residence. The environment within the crawl space ultimately exerts a profound impact on everyone living in the home, in fact.

Rain in Raleigh

The online encyclopedia Wikipedia reports North Carolina receives around 45 inches of rain annually. Around 7 inches of snow falls in the Raleigh Area alone during a typical year.(1) While the forecast sometimes varies, residents of this region anticipate damp, rainy weather from time to time.

Depending upon a variety of factors, including yard drainage and site topography, property owners may encounter water saturated ground outside the home during certain periods of the year. It sometimes proves difficult to prevent water from collecting in low lying crawl spaces. Yet the formation of puddles and dank, moist conditions inside a crawl space may eventually create problems for residents.

The Challenge of Keeping Wet Crawl Spaces in Good Repair

Unless property owners take measures to encapsulate or seal crawl spaces, these locations may permit water to come into direct contact with surfaces composed of wood, metal, or stone. Damp, moist crawl space environments readily allow molds and mildew to begin growing in these infrequently visited locations. Since extended contact with water rots wood and rusts many types of metals, persistently damp conditions in crawl spaces sometimes cause significant harm to man-made structures.

Property owners obtain many advantages by ensuring a home’s crawl spaces remain in a well-maintained, dry condition. (2) If water causes damage in hard-to-access locations, the people living in the home may not appreciate the extent of the problem in the absence of regular, periodic inspections, of course. It usually makes sense to monitor the condition of residential crawl spaces. Just like attics, water leaks in these sites ultimately affect other parts of the premises. It may become necessary to perform repairs to damaged crawl spaces to prevent water damage from harming other portions of the residence.

An Example

To really appreciate the vital importance of maintaining waterproof crawl spaces in North Carolina homes, just consider one common situation. Suppose a vintage wood frame home sits above a narrow crawl space covering the exposed ground. If a storm causes the earth in this site to remain saturated with water for several weeks or months, the crawl space may grow sufficiently moist to permit molds and mildews to begin covering the wooden beams adjoining the home’s sub-flooring. These microscopic plants take root in a variety of surfaces, including woods. Over the course of time, robust mold growth may damage the house itself. Residents might not even notice this situation until portions of the floor begin sagging.

In this situation, a property owner who obtains a timely crawl space waterproofing inspection gains important advance information about the condition of the dwelling. The property owner might request crawl space repair services to replace damaged wood in the crawl space before water and mold damage the sub-flooring. Taking this step prevents minor water damage from necessitating expensive floor repairs at a later point in time.

Obtain Prompt Assistance

Raleigh Waterproofing, Inc. supplies experienced waterproofing assistance throughout the Greater Raleigh Area. We offer knowledgeable crawl space repair and crawl space encapsulation services. (Our founder holds a General Contractor license in the State of North Carolina.)

Contact us to request knowledgeable waterproofing inspections or any waterproofing construction services. Customers sometimes ask us to perform evaluations of residential crawl spaces. We’ll help you maintain these areas in a dry, safe condition. Call 919-877-9969 to speak with us. We look forward to helping you!

Helpful Resources

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_North_Carolina 
2. https://www.raleighwaterproofinginc.com/crawl-space-repair.html

Four Signs of Possible Slab, Crawls Space or Foundation Waterproofing Problems

Possible Slab, Crawls Space or Foundation Waterproofing Problems

People living in Raleigh frequently contact us to request assistance preventing water from leaking around a residential slab, crawl space or foundation waterproofing. In some cases, the problem has remained unnoticed for weeks, months, or even years. We offer a variety of specialized services to correct water damage in these places.

Water leaks often occur in unseen locations, so even identifying the nature of the problem may require construction expertise. We prefer to detect slab and crawl space water leaks as soon as possible in order to prevent further harm from occurring. What types of common signs in your home could reveal the presence of leaking water impacting the slab, the foundation, or a crawl space? If you notice any of these issues, consider requesting a waterproofing inspection:

Excavation outside the foundation Foundation Waterproofing

Continuously Wet Floors

If your house sits on a concrete slab and you’ve experienced problems with some sections of flooring (or carpeting) becoming soggy or wet for extended periods of time, it might indicate problems with leaking plumbing pipes located within the slab itself.

Many plumbing companies cannot resolve these types of leaks easily. You may need to contact a waterproofing firm with experience repairing slab leaks.

Today, most builders construct slabs with cavities to provide connections for underground utility connections, such as water and wastewater pipes. Depending upon the extent of the damage and the location, leaks in pipes located within the slab or within buried underground residential pipes may necessitate excavation in order to perform repair or replacement.

Over the course of time, undetected water draining into the slab from leaking pipes may cause significant damage.

A Waterlogged Residential Perimeter

Have you noticed continuously damp, soggy ground around the perimeter of your home? Your yard may suffer from a drainage issue. During the year, wet, waterlogged conditions sometimes occur for brief periods in some types of soils simply due to the sheer volume of rainwater or melting snow in the vicinity.

Yet continued dampness even after the arrival of sunny weather and dry conditions elsewhere should raise a “red flag”. Persistently water saturated ground for extended periods of time could threaten a home’s foundation and slab.

You may find it helpful in this situation to contact a waterproofing firm such as Raleigh Waterproofing, Inc. and request an inspection. Sometimes comparatively inexpensive landscaping solutions help correct drainage issues in yards.

Since you’ve invested a lot in your home’s slab and foundation already, it simply makes economic sense to ensure drainage problems don’t cause water to collect around the perimeter of the residence.

Musty Or Moldy Odors Indoors

A wide variety of waterproofing issues potentially cause lingering moldy odors within a home. Not all of these problems stem from underground leaks damaging slabs or crawl spaces. However, if you notice a deteriorated musty air quality, it usually indicates excessive moisture indoors.

Molds and mildew grow abundantly in the natural world. Damp conditions cause wood and drywall in the home to rot and provide an appealing habitat for these fungi.

Whether caused by a leaky roof, damaged plumbing, dirty vents, or a slab leak, this problem typically persists until corrected. Damp conditions indoors over an extended period of time can damage the property’s value and detract from the quality of daily life there.

Badly Askew Floors And Doors 

Have you noticed a lack of alignment developing over the course of time between floors, doors and walls so that these structures begin to appear askew? Consider asking us to check for undetected waterproofing problems as a precaution.

While most buildings “settle” somewhat with age, the residence should not display significantly sagging floors, or doors that no longer close and remain shut.

Water leaks sometimes contribute to shifting foundations. This situation may even cause slab damage. A waterproofing inspection by an experienced contractor may prove helpful. In this situation, our firm sometimes works closely with other consultants, including engineers or architects. We’ll help you evaluate the condition of the residence and we may suggest some possible waterproofing solutions.

Contact Us

To request waterproofing assistance from a knowledgeable licensed General Contractor in the Greater Raleigh Area and its environs, contact Raleigh Waterproofing, Inc. We offer foundation and crawl space repair services to fix damage caused by leaking water.

We furnish many types of waterproofing assistance during new construction, too. Our firm also performs excavations, and provides crack injection repair services. We help prevent water intrusions into basements, slabs, and yards.

We possess extensive experience in this specialized field. To consult with us or to request a waterproofing inspection, simply call 919-877-9969. You can also reach us by using the website contact form. We look forward to helping you!

Three Great Reasons to Check Your Home’s Crawl Spaces

Check Your Home’s Crawl Spaces

Some Raleigh residents examine their home’s crawl spaces infrequently. Yet did you know, property owners usually save money over the long term by taking steps to ensure they maintain these locations in a dry, water-free condition? Three rewards await homeowners who appreciate the importance of periodic crawl space inspections:

Residential Crawl Spaces Home's Crawl Spaces

One: Prevent Mold and Mildew From Damaging Your Home

A musty-smelling crawl space could indicate moisture and dampness issues. Just a you wouldn’t want to allow walls, ceilings or floors in your residence to remain wet for extended periods, you shouldn’t permit these conditions to develop within your home’s crawl spaces, either. Water permeating wood repeatedly over time will eventually cause it to rot and decay. Moist environments encourage the growth of potentially damaging fungi, such as mold and mildew.

Requesting your home’s crawl space inspections and waterproofing services assists homeowners in maintaining their dwelling in a much safer condition. Dry interior crawl spaces help promote better overall air quality, while ensuring destructive molds don’t obtain a foothold and begin spreading inside the premises. Some individuals suffer physical discomfort residing in close contact with mold. Taking action to correct this problem contributes to a more comfortable living environment, and also helps preserve a property’s resale value.

Two: Help Control Water Inside Your Home’s Crawl Spaces

By ensuring your residential crawl spaces remain clean and dry, you may ultimately improve your ability to control some types of potentially damaging water leaks. Consider that under normal conditions, water entering the home stems from one of three likely locations: rain, plumbing problems, or condensation. When leaks occur inside a dwelling, it may become important for the residents to determine the source. By keeping crawl spaces in good condition, property owners sometimes receive early indications of a maintenance issue developing in another of the home.

Roof Leaks

For instance, while most people readily identify large holes in a roof, occasionally hail storms may cause undetected damage. When water penetrates into the home through the roof, it doesn’t necessarily travel in straight lines as it drains to lower elevations. Moisture droplets may appear in visible places, such as ceilings, or they may flow into interior structures inside the residence. Sometimes a damp crawl space alerts homeowners to the need for a roof inspection.

Leaky Water Pipes

Additionally, some types of plumbing pipe leaks don’t always become apparent immediately. An excessively damp, wet crawl space could indicate the presence of a broken water pipe inside an adjoining wall, for example. By requesting a crawl space inspection, property owners sometimes gather valuable information about the condition of the plumbing system. They may resolve minor damage before a leaking, deteriorating water pipe breaks and contributes to higher water bills. (If you notice an unexplained spike in your monthly water bill and you plumber cannot determine the source of the increased water flow, you might find it helpful to schedule a crawl space inspection.)

Condensation

In some circumstances, humid conditions and poor ventilation contribute to condensation buildup within the crawl space itself. Trained waterproofing contractors offer expertise in resolving this type of problem. The presence of moisture inside the crawl space over an extended period of time produces dank, water-coated surfaces. Available waterproofing strategies can help correct this situation.

Three: Don’t Let Your Home’s Crawl Space Become a “Free Lunch”

Another big reason to obtain occasional crawl space inspections relates to deterring a tiny intruder: the termite. Although most people rarely see termites, these shy insects cause significant real estate losses in North Carolina every year. Wet, rotting wood attracts termite activity.

Termites reside in colonies and somewhat resemble ants in appearance. Although they can bite, they typically avoid direct contact with humans. Termites chew through the interior of wood. Over time, they can cause a lot of property damage by degrading the strength of wooden structures in a home. The wet, rotting wood in a persistently water-soaked crawl space offers a nearly perfect termite habitat.

Unfortunately, simply maintaining a dry crawl space won’t prevent a termite infestation. (We still recommend obtaining periodic termite inspections in this part of North Carolina.) Yet by keeping the wood in your home’s crawl spaces dry, you’ll reduce the chances a termite colony will find your premises inviting.

Obtain Crawl Space Services in The Raleigh Area

Raleigh Waterproofing, Inc. offers a variety of useful waterproofing services. We assist customers throughout Raleigh and the Triangle. You can contact us at 919-877-9969 to request an inspection of residential or commercial crawl spaces, or to explore available solutions for damp, water-soaked premises.

Innovations in Crawl Space Technology

A Variety of Crawl Space Technology

Today, the remarkable variety of innovative architectural designs has given rise to a shift in crawl space technology. Both commercial buildings and residential properties typically include these passages. Some crawl spaces permit easy access; others do not.

If you own a home, it usually proves helpful to learn details about crawl spaces on the property. Request periodic inspections of these locations by a trained expert in order to make certain these areas remain clean, dry and secure. Inventors immersed in crawl space technology recently developed some tools  to assist waterproofing companies in carrying out this assignment.

Crawl Space Technology

Some Unusual Crawl Spaces

Two startling news items demonstrate the surprising diversity of crawl spaces in modern buildings. While these stories remain exceptional, they do highlight the importance of periodic inspections. Most people rarely (if ever) access these sites in residential structures. Yet as the two media reports demonstrate, crawl space technology can impact buildings profoundly:

An Unexpected Solution to an Unusual Problem

During the excavation of a commercial development in Miami, Florida, builders uncovered some surprising discoveries. The site sits adjoining a area where archaeologists in 1998 uncovered centuries-old artifacts along the northern bank of the Miami River. They retrieved objects manufactured by the Tequesta, people residing there when Spanish explorers first arrived in Florida. The planners responsible for building multistory Met Square, an office tower, apartment complex and cinema scheduled to open in 2018, decided to revise their plans in order to incorporate an innovation: in addition to a Gallery operated by a local historical museum, the development will contain a specially designed underground crawl space. The passageway will permit ongoing archaeological excavation. Archaeologists plan to use this location to continue researching the Tequesta settlement.

Completely Unforeseen Damage

The potential for infrequently utilized crawl spaces to factor into unanticipated events also became evident a few years ago in downtown Denver, Colorado. In 2014, an unfortunate situation occurred when a man secretly began living above the ceiling of a popular local restaurant. His presence became known when he fell through the rafters into a crawl space inside a wall containing water pipes and HVAC equipment. He sustained injuries and broke some of the pipes, turning on a fire sprinkler system and causing extensive property damage in the restaurant and an adjoining hotel before emergency crews rescued him by cutting away a portion of the drywall. The police later arrested the man for burglary.

High Tech Tools For Investigating Crawl Spaces

Fortunately, most crawl spaces don’t generate news stories. Yet since these structures may occur in variable sizes and locations, relying on some high tech surveillance tools often assists waterproofing experts. Unless they house HVAC or electrical equipment, most crawl spaces lack lighting. Builders and homeowners can assist the process of checking these areas by installing motion or voice activated battery-powered LED lights. Try and place the light in a dry location close to the top of the entrance of the crawl space. It may enable you to determine the need for professional waterproofing assistance rapidly if an emergency occurs.

If crawl spaces don’t allow ready access, technicians today can often use technology to assist them in checking extremely narrow or inconveniently located crawl spaces. For instance, Dewalt has developed a waterproof inspection camera with an attached manually held display screen. It supplies a camera affixed to the end of a long metal hose. The unit costs a few hundred dollars. It offers assistance checking and documenting the condition of crawl spaces, pipes, drains and chimneys.

Robotic Tools

Some manufacturers have also recently developed sophisticated robotic tools to check crawl spaces remotely. The Japanese firm Daiwa House utilizes a robot called “Moogle” (pronounced “Moggle”) to conduct crawl space inspections on the properties it warranties. The home builder relies on the 30-pound mobile machine to check out and document conditions in these locations. Moogle operates on miniature tank tracks and offers two cameras, wireless connectivity and even a laser for measuring distances accurately. Available for lease in Japan for the equivalent of $500, or for sale at $2500, the compact robot can fit comfortably into very restricted spaces.

Although still expensive, robots today prove very useful in investigating potentially hazardous crawl space environments. For example, in cases in which the stability of an overlying structure remains questionable, they may help prevent tragic accidents. It seems likely the use of automated inspection technologies will increase rapidly during coming decades.

Further Assistance

If you require skilled professional help checking and maintaining your home or business crawl spaces, call on us. We offer expert waterproofing assistance and consultations about the latest in crawl space technology. Ask us to address problems involving crawl spaces, basements, foundations and retaining walls.

BLOG CATEGORIES