Sealed Crawlspace

All the vents were like this

sealedcrawlspace.JPG Condensation formed on just about everything

sealedcrawlspace11.JPG This is a shot between to joists

I think this is what happens when home owners try to seal their crawlspaces

sealedcrawlspace.JPG

sealedcrawlspace3.JPG Copper gas line??

I wasn’t sure if that stuff would attack me so I stayed back

Is this last one some sort of fungus or mold?

sealedcrawlspace3.JPG

And then try to insulate it themselves too…

Juan, did you note the batt insulation between the joists is installed backwards. Vapor barrier needs to be against living area (heated side).

Yeah that is what I was alluding to by saying the home owner must have installed it. Good looking out though!

Were there any dehumidifiers in there?

No there was no vapor barrier, dehumidifier or anything else. Just sealed vents and a ton of mold and moisture.

Nice little petri dish down there

Yeah. I had never felt so thankful for my respirator.

At 24% moisture. Really?
Your a silly man. :stuck_out_tongue:

Welcome to the club my friend! Did you tell them it was f@#ked?
In that situation I always consider it 2 fold. First you obviously will need a mold inspection of some type.
Secondly you will need a framing evalaution and reapirs to adequately ventilate.
Did you find any wood decay? by the looks of the phots I would say yes!

Lol well I didn’t quite say that but after my writing it up I really felt compelled to write Good luck afterwards.

I recommended the crawl space mold to be tested and remediated if needed. A crawl space specialist to properly seal or ventilate the crawl space and a structural contractor to evaluate the severity of the wood decay.

That should pretty much cover it. Crawlspace are just no fun at all. :frowning:
Wait to you get one full of human poop. I looked in one and saw a broken pipe and crap everywhere. I looked at the buyer and said “aint gonna happen today” He looked in and said, nope were done.
Wanye had one where they built over a septic, and it was running out of the lid. :stuck_out_tongue:

Yeah I hate them. These sealed crawl space guys need to get around more to make my job easier.

Lol I haven’t had a crawl space to gross for me but I think sludge everywhere would do the trick. Gross.

Juan, was there any basement to this house or just a crawl?

Oh come now, bustle up that skirt and start looking at things more positively. If you’re ever going to find a body or a bag of money(or both!) it will most likely happen in a crawlspace. Florida and Texas boys don’t know what they’re missing. :wink:

No and I don’t think too many foundations here are configured that way. Why are you asking?

Around here if they have a basement, they just open a couple registers to the crawl, seal the walls and floor with plastic and ventilate the space to the attached basement. It’s an interior conditioned space at that point.

I was wondering about the sealed crawlspaces you mentioned. We have a company in this area that is relatively new. They encase the floor and walls in the equivalent of rubber roofing. What is the sealing method used there?

Gotcha. That wasn’t the case here.

There is a company here that “encapsulates” the crawl spaces. 6 mil poly properly installed over pretty much everything. The vents are sealed and a dehumidifier is installed of needed. They LOOK nice but I haven’t done enough research on them to know whether or not it actually works. Sure makes inspecting a walk in the park though.

The paper ‘Moisture Solution Becomes Efficiency Bonanza in Southeastern United States’ is a great study on the energy aspect of sealed crawls. This is a great study, involving 12 identical tract homes.