We’ve been evacuated from our house for, well we don’t know how long, at least a month apparently. In the thread linked above I talk about trying to rig a sump pump to a battery. I didn’t get that done, the power did fail, but the water stayed in the crawl space and did not get into the living area of the house.
When we left there was quite a bit of water in places in the crawl space. I’m guessing maybe up to 5 inches depending on where in the crawl space you measure. Some spots are dry. The crawl space is dirt with some plastic on top. We generally have good drainage but I suspect some water will be sitting on the plastic for quite some time.
I’m worried about mold. The access to the crawl space is via the living area and I closed it before we left. I’m wondering if I should have left it open to help it dry out or if doing that would increase the chance of mold in the living area. This is in Colorado so we generally have a dry climate. Yeah, not so much lately I know.
So my question is that if I manage to get access to the house in the next week or even later should I open the access to the crawl space and leave it open?
If I get access I won’t be able to monitor anything. It will be in and out.
I’m assuming I won’t be able to set up any fans and there won’t be any electricity. If I can setup fans I’m almost certain I should try to blow the area out.
Any advice welcome but I’d really like to hear from mold experts if there are any available.
I’d suggest checking the humidity in the house. mechanical or electronic hygrometer are fairly inexpensive.
My concern would be the crawlspace moisture getting into the house’s walls. Other than checking the humidity in the rooms there not much you can do. Except makes sure your foundation vents are open, and open the crawlspace door.
You’ll just have to wait and look for mold after the space dries out. There are mold remediation services you can use. Don’t try treating large areas of mold yourself. That stuff is toxic. They can spray and kill mold in the crawlspace.
Unfortunately I have no access to the house at this time. I do have an analog hygrometer if I can gain access for a real length of time. Probably access will be accompanied by a Sheriff’s deputy for a few minutes to grab stuff and do a little stuff and then back out of town.
If I gain access it will likely be for I didn’t mention it but I do have a neighbor that has not evacuated. I can get him to open the crawl space into the house but my options are pretty much open it and leave it open indefinitely or leave it closed indefinitely.
There are water absorbing mats, sheets that could help dry the crawl space. Theres also pellets, but they would be too hard to sweep up in a crawlspace. I can’t point to a specific product but there are products that will soak up water.
That might help you after you get longer access. Get some of that water out of there. A wet dry shop vac can get any big puddles.
Our crawl space frequently had standing water in it until we had landscaping done to move water away from the house and put in a sump pump when that didn’t work.
We never had a problem with mold. We did have a problem with the wood at the foundation dry rotting though.
I would think that pouring a couple of gallons of bleach into the standing water might kill off any nasty stuff growing in the crawl space.
Just found out that we will be able to get passes to visit our homes for brief periods of time during daylight hours starting tomorrow! This is earlier than I expected and is welcome news.
JerrySTL - I like the bleach idea and I think I’ll do that if there is still water down there.
On an unrelated note I also have a month to month apartment reserved starting on October 10th so now the worse case is that my wife and 2 daughters and I are living in a pop-up camper until then. We are actually quite comfortable for now but it might be nice to have a more substantial roof in Colorado in the Winter.