Restoring Musty Crawl Space in Bemidji, MN

Thursday, May 4th, 2023 by Ella Wiebusch

Challenge

David, from Bemidji, MN, was growing more concerned over the state of his crawl space. If a crawl space begins to rot, grow mold, or experience structural problems, issues can extend to all parts of the home. David wanted to understand why it was happening, make sure that the issue was corrected, and restore peace of mind moving forward. After deciding on our company, we set him up with a FREE inspection. A few weeks later, our Design Specialist, Richie, headed out to the property. Once he completed his walkthrough, he made recommendations as to how American Waterworks could help. Richie explained that crawl spaces will show mold, must, and wood rot, even if it is ventilation, because these vents simply do not work.

Solution

Our Foreman, Tanner, went out with his crew to help solve the problems of dampness and must that can lead to things like foundation issues and even radon gas. Tanner and the team cleared out the space and then implemented our drainage matting; a dimpled matting that gets installed onto the floor of the crawl space, giving any excess water a route to flow through the space and be disposed of at an external site such as a drain or a sump system. The second step was our CleanSpace vapor barrier, a 100% waterproof tarp that works to trap any excess moisture in the space, redirecting it to the appropriate disposal site. Finally, our team added an Aprilaire dehumidifier, which creates healthy air and can reduce the number of viable viruses in the air to less than 1% in two days' time when set to 50% relative humidity. This, combined with our crawl space liner, will create a drier, healthier crawl space. Our crawl space liner is made with seven layers of tough, durable material that's designed to withstand traffic from the homeowner and workers -- with a 25-year written, transferable warranty! David was very pleased with the results and grateful his peace of mind was restored.