Overview of Crawl Space Services: Cleaning and Sanitizing This Often-Overlooked Area

If your home comes complete with a crawl space, you very well may be like most people and pay little to no attention to this element of your residence. Indeed, you may shine a flashlight into your crawl space from time to time. You may make up ghost stories featuring that mysterious space at the base of your home. What you likely may not do is inspect your crawl space with any regularity nor have it cleaned and sanitized … ever. In fact, you should give serious consideration to available crawl space services designed to clean and ensure that part of your home is not the site of potentially dangerous substances or materials, including biohazards.

Removing Debris From a Crawl Space

Over time, debris of different types can end up accumulating in a crawl space. This can include potentially hazardous materials like animal nests and rodent droppings. (Because of the higher probability that rodent droppings may be found in a crawl space, and the particular hazard this type of waste can present, the matter of rodent feces in a crawl space is dealt with separately in a moment.)

In regard to removing debris from a crawl space, bear in mind that oftentimes this area under your home lacks suitable oxygen levels. Thus, if you are going to undertake dealing with the removal of crawl space debris on your own rather than hiring professional crawl space services, you need to understand the prospect that you will need a respirator to be able to breath appropriately and undertake work in that area. There may be other needs for a respirator as well, including the eradication of rodent droppings found in a crawl space.

Rodent Dropping Cleanup

Residential crawl spaces oftentimes are targeted by rodents like mice and rats. They end up infesting these types of spaces and in many cases live undisturbed by humans for what can amount to an extended period of times. With regular inspections of your crawl space you are alerted to the presence of rodents infesting the area.

When discovered, you need to be diligent in eradicating a rodent infestation in your craw space. Among the crawl space services you may want to engage is a professional rodent elimination or extermination company. Attempting to eliminate mice or rats from a crawl space on your own can prove a time-consuming and even futile endeavor.

Once rodents are eliminated from a crawl space, you still must address what can prove to be a serious and even potentially hazardous aftermath. This includes crawl space service that include rodent dropping cleanup.

In theory, you certainly can undertake crawl space rodent dropping cleanup on your own; however, there are real health risks associated with rodent dropping cleanup which are amplified when the contaminated area is a crawl space. The unique potential risks associated with a crawl space were discussed previously.

You need to be well advised that rodent droppings can contain dangerous pathogens capable of causing serious and even fatal illnesses in humans. Thus, crawl space rodent dropping cleanup necessitates specialized safety gear as well as sanitization agents and other biohazard cleaning supplies. In short, these are resources available through a company that provides craw space services like rodent dropping cleanup and biohazard remediation.

Remediating Mold and Mildew

Mold and mildew can be significant problems in a crawl space. Because of the nature of spores associated with these fungi, mold in mildew that originates in a crawl space can end up growing in livable spaces in a home. Mold and mildew growing in a residence can present very real health issues for you and your family. This particularly is the case if a member of your household already suffers from some sort of respiratory issue or malady.

Remediating mold and mildew represents another task that oftentimes calls for a professional company that provides crawl space services designed to remediate issues in such a space.

Scrubbing Efflorescence

Another problem that can arise in a crawl space is what is known as efflorescence. Efflorescence is a powdery deposit that accumulates on concrete typically found in a crawl space. This occurs when moisture causes minerals to leach out of concrete.

Although not hazardous, efflorescence can prove problematic is you desire to put your home on the market. A prospective buyer may conclude that the efflorescence occurring in a crawl space is indicative of a more serious issue with the foundation of a home. As a consequence, you are well served keeping efflorescence under control and not letting it accumulate to a point that complete removal becomes next to impossible.

Although you can scrub away efflorescence on your own, you still face the essential challenges of working in and tending to issues in a craw space. Thus, you should consider Efflorescence scrubbing as part of a comprehensive professional crawl space services.

Sewage and Black Water Cleanup

In some instances, a crawl space becomes contaminated by sewage or black water. Sewage and black water contain different types of biohazardous substances. As a result, if you make the decision to clean up sewage or blackwater in a crawl space on your own, you must wear appropriate personal protective equipment to protect your health in the process.

In fact, cleaning up sewage or black water is not something a homeowner should undertake on his or her own. Rather, the advisable course is engaging the assistance of a crawl space services company that provides comprehensive remediation assistance that includes sewage cleanup.