Nashville Home Inspections – What’s Wrong with this Picture? 12-1-12

Nashville Home Inspections – What’s Wrong With This Picture? 12.1.12

Look at the picture below.  You are in a crawl space looking at the moisture barrier that covers the floor of the crawl space.  What’s wrong?

HINT:  Duct tape really has very little use in home construction.

ANSWER:  Moisture does a real number on duct tape.  Moisture is common in a crawl space.  So using duct tape in the crawl space to hold the moisture barrier to the foundation block wall probably will not last very long.  In fact it probably will take just a few days and it will look like the photo below.

Thank you,

Richard Acree

http://habitecinspections.com

HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Clarksville, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill and more! In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis. Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at http://habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753.

Nashville Home Inspector – Question – How Much Water in the Crawl Space is Too Much?

Question:  How much water or moisture in the crawl space is too much?  For instance, is the moisture indicated by the picture below too much?

ANSWER:  Yes!  When the mushrooms start growing in the crawl space, that has to be too much moisture.  I am not aware of any numerical metric to declare a crawl space too wet or not, but this has to be over the limit.  You can also see the very wet condition of the soil, and unfortunately, you can clearly see the wet soil, which should be covered by the moisture barrier.

Surely, despite all our best efforts, some moisture will still make its way into the crawl space.  But there are things we can and should do to minimize the issue.  HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC, encourages Clients to take every possible step to prevent moisture from entering a crawl space.  Zero defect water management on the outside is the first step.  An impenetrable moisture barrier on the inside of the crawl space is also a must.  And a functional positive drain to eliminate what gets by the first two efforts is a good backup.

Thank you,

Richard Acree

Comments in this blog posting are the copyrighted intellectual property of Richard Acree, President, HABITEC Home and Building Inspections, LLC,  and are intended to educate and otherwise assist home owners, sellers and buyers, building owners, sellers and buyers, realtors, real estate investors, property managers, and lenders in the process of owning, buying or selling homes or commercial buildings.  HABITEC is a residential (home) and commercial building inspection company serving Middle Tennessee including Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville, Dickson, Belle Meade, Columbia, Spring Hill, Lebanon, Gallatin and more!  In addition to building inspections HABITEC offers Environmental Services for mold assessments, radon testing and water quality analysis.  Additional information about HABITEC can be found on our website at http://habitecinspections.com, or call 615-376-2753. 

Richard Acree is the author of  the HABITEC Home and Building Inspections blog at ActiveRain, WordPress, and Blogger, and Founder of the ActiveRain Group Tennessee Home and Building Inspectors.  All are welcome to join and comment on those blogs and group.   You can also follow HABITEC on Facebook and Richard on Linked.  Thank you!