Steps to Installing a Vapor Barrier in Your Crawl Space Installing a vapor barrier is not a difficult or expensive task, but it can be strenuous since you will likely spend much time crawling on your hands and knees in cramped spaces. While doing this job alone is possible, having at least...
Keep your landscaping tidy and trimmed to help prevent these pests from finding and moving into your crawl space. Seal crawl space openings where pests may enter You can't do much if your crawl space's floor is bare soil. However, you can help limit and deter pests by sealing as many ...
Housewraps are moisture barriers, or water barriers, or rain barriers because they keep actual drops of water out of the building wall cavity, but they do not trap the much-smaller individual molecules of water H2O - water vapor. Housewrap is a moisture barrier that also serves as an air...
The most obvious way to determine that you have a mold problem is if you can see the mold. Sometimes mold is visibly growing in your crawl space, which lets you know you have a problem, as well as visually gives you an idea of how much mold you have. Mold is not always so noticeab...
Building science labs are still testing various configurations and attachment systems. The photo below shows a test of long screws through two layers of 2 inch thick rigid foam 8 feet high. Hanging from the bottom of each is a bucket of rocks. A deflection gauge measures how much the weight...
the house took time to caulk cracks, gaps, and other holes in the home's exterior "skin." While minute gaps around doors and windows might not seem as though they could possibly add up to much, under certain conditions it is surprising how much air they can let into and out of a ...
Crawl Space Learning Center High relative humidity cause condensation to form over everything in the crawlspace. Fungus grows on floor joists, and rot begins. When the relative humidity reaches 100%, the air is holding as much moisture as it possibly can at its current temperature. ...
Like I said, we have put the foam rafter vents in the entire length from the big peak beam to soffit. I just don't know how much to stuff in that space. Fill it up with scrap? If so, does it matter what direction the scrap goes in? I would think the gap needs to be filled,...
Typical building air convection currents tend to move air up and out from lower to upper building levels, so one would not think that much mold would movedownfrom an attic into the living area. But important exceptions to this can quickly move problem mold from an attic into a living area....
First use heat and dry air to dry out the wood as much as possible. In some cases, you may be able to scrub off the mold with water and dish detergent. If you need something more, you can try a nonacidic solution containing washing soda or trisodium phosphate (8 to 10 tablespoons in...