Seasonal Showers & Your Crawl Space Or Basement

Wenatchee Home Yard Flooded

April showers bring May flowers….or flooded crawl spaces and basements!  Seasonal water damage isn’t as obvious as you may think.  It doesn’t take a severe flood to do water damage to your home just increased saturation.  For most of the Wenatchee, Leavenworth and Seattle areas we’ve experienced an increase in precipitation and strong winds over the last week.  Now is the time to pay close attention to your crawl space, basements and drainage in your yard.

Right now is a good time to take a trip down to your crawl space.  Prolonged moisture in the crawl space can attribute to mold, mildew, sill rot, joist rot, soil settlement, contamination of insulation and insect attraction.  Monitor the walls in your basement for signs of moisture as well.

Follow these tips to keep the water out of your home.  Clear gutters and downspouts of debris ensuring that water will be pulled from the roof and away from your home.  Remember, a downspout doesn’t do any good if it deposits the water next to house!  If your home’s yard frequently floods like the picture then you have problems resulting from a negative grade to the property.  In other words your home should built up so that water slopes away from the home’s foundation.  Finally, clear the storm water drains on the streets by your home frequently.  This will avoid blockage and buildup of water causing dangerous street and property flooding.  Should the property become a bigger problem than you can manage call the municipality.  Of course, we are happy to perform a maintenance inspection on your home to determine any damages resulting from seasonal floods or moisture intrusion.

No Fungus Among Us

We usually correlate a bathroom exhaust fan with the need to eliminate odors, but these fans play an important role in controlling excessive moisture.  Hot water steams in the shower or sink promoting damp air to hang in the bathroom unless a fan pulls that moisture out of the enclosed space.  The fan prevents the moisture from accumulating.  If you don’t use an exhaust fan there could be problems with mold, mildew, fungus and warped wood in cabinets or doors.  The fan stabilizes the humidity and keeps fixtures, walls, windows and mirrors dry.  Next time you take a hot shower, turn on that exhaust fan.  If you’re looking to upgrade your fan they are really affordable and easy to install.  You have options for heat lamps, timers, low noise, etc.  We’ll often see moisture damage in bathrooms due to poor ventilation.  Just the other day in Seattle I saw a bathroom windowsill with peeling paint and obvious moisture damage.