Whatcom County Home Inspection (King of the House): Standing Water and Mold

As a home inspector, I see quite a lot of standing water in crawl spaces and, less frequently, in basements. I have found, over the years, that the amount of water that is actually in the crawl space can be deceiving and way more than is initially expected. For example, once I was in a crawl space with two different large "pools" of ground water.  One was at one end and the other was at the other side. At the first location, the area was about 15' x 15' and the water was an average of 3" deep. If you put that into one of the handy and easy to use online calculators, for converting to cubic gallons, that ends up being 56 cubic feet of water or 420 gallons. At the other side of the crawl space, the water was in an area about 10' x 10' and it was 2" deep. That converts to 16 cubic feet of water or 123 gallons. Add those two wet areas together and that totals 543 gallons of water in the crawl space. That number is something we can all relate to, just think of buying 543 gallons of  milk. That would be like buying a gallon and a half of milk daily for a year.

Water, of this magnitude in the crawl space, is conducive to decay of the structural wood and, of course, as it evaporates it will get in the underfloor insulation. This degree of standing water, evaporating up into the living area above, is a prime contributor to mold. To prevent mold growth, in the Pacific Northwest climate, those in the know suggest that relative humidity be kept between 30% and 50%. When a home has standing water in the crawl space, in the quantity described above, that RH reading tends to be much higher than is recommended. In homes with wet crawl spaces, I regularly find the RH reading to be 70% or higher up in the home. That is further confirmation that the evaporating water is taking a toll on the home and, overtime, that can have a negative impact on the inhabitants as well.

• Crawl space disaster
• Mold information
• More Mold information
• King of the House home page

• Rate this Post!

  Select Your Rating:

  • 5 Stars (Excellent!)
  • 4 Stars
  • 3 Stars
  • 2 Stars
  • 1 Stars (Poor)

• Share this Post

  Share With A Friend:

  Your Name Your Email

  Friend's Name Friend's Email

  Optional Message

  Send

• Print
• Social Bookmarking

  Add to Bookmarks: