Before & After Photos

This crawl space got a complete face lift with crawl space encapsulation, keeping the environment dry, pest and mold-free.

Recently, I went out on a service call for one of our commercial clients, an apartment complex in Belmar, NJ. The property manager had contacted us after a tenant in one of the lower-level apartments reported a mouse infestation. Mice are more than a nuisance. They pose a significant health hazard. Mice can contaminate food and counter surfaces with their urine and droppings, particles of which can become airborne.  Mice can transmit numerous diseases including Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS), a severe, sometimes fatal, respiratory disease and Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis (LCM) that affects the membranes of the brain and spinal cord. If that weren’t enough, they often carry in Lyme-carrying ticks or disease-ridden fleas with them as well.

Once I arrived, I began my inspection along the exterior perimeter of the apartment where mice were reported to locate potential entry points. I discovered many access points where the mice could easily enter the structure. There were spaces around piping entering the building, gaps around the windows and doors and a large space between the soil and the landing to the staircase leading upstairs. 

As I continued my inspection inside the garage and apartment, I came across a large number of mouse droppings. This unit had a heavy rodent infestation that required extensive treatment.

With rodents, it is essential to keep them out in the first place by excluding any areas where the rodents are gaining access. I stuffed chew-proof copper mesh material into small spaces around pipes and sealed the gaps around the larger holes with metal flashing. Mice hate the taste and feel of copper mesh, and once they come in contact with this material, they quickly decide to go elsewhere. 

After all the points of entry were sealed, I placed several rodent bait stations throughout the property. Typically, the number of rodent bait stations we use depends on the severity of the infestation. In this case, I set up twelve small rodent bait stations in the inside of the apartment and one larger station along the exterior perimeter. After placing all rodent bait stations, I carefully removed all of the hazardous mouse droppings.

Due to the severity of this infestation, it will take longer than usual to rid this apartment of mice. I scheduled periodic follow-ups to monitor the level of infestation and replenish the bait in the stations until this mouse problem is completely resolved.

Soil is a porous medium that acts like a sponge. After rainfall, soil soaks up water, and once the soil is saturated, it will form surface puddles along with moisture and humidity. This was the case for this homeowner in Belmar, NJ who realized there was a problem and wanted our crawl space specialists to handle it.

First, we removed all of the debris, flattened the surface and laid down a drainage matting. The drainage matting allows moisture to work its way over to the new sump pump that we installed. Next, we lined the entire crawl space with a super-durable, 20-mil 7-ply vapor barrier, which is made up of high and low-density polyethylene with a polyester-cord reinforcement. This barrier will deter moisture from entering the crawl space, is puncture and tear-resistant, and is treated with an antimicrobial solution to prevent mold. 

Afterward, we lined the walls of the crawl space with foam insulation called SilverGlo™. SilverGlo™ not only has a higher R-value than standard EPS foam but also comes with a shiny integral radiant barrier that reflects heat for enhanced energy efficiency. The homeowner previously purchased a commercial-grade dehumidifier and planned on installing it after we were finished. Now, the homeowner has a dry, energy-efficient, and healthy crawl space. 

A homeowner in Belmar, NJ was having issues with wildlife entering the void above the soffit. Soffits are the horizontal boards that fit under the eaves of the roof. They protect the area underneath a roof’s overhang from rain and snow which, if left unprotected, could cause the beams to rot, become vulnerable to mold growth, and attract insects and wildlife. Also, soffits are often vented in order to help air to circulate in the attic. Separate from a home’s soffits are the fascia boards, which cover the front of the soffit. The fascia gives a roof’s edge a finished look and serves as a mount for the home’s gutter system which funnels rain and snow run-off off the roof and away from the home’s foundation. Since soffits and fascia are exposed to the elements, they will often start to decay if not maintained. All too often, we see wildlife, especially squirrels and raccoons, exploiting weaknesses in a home’s structure. Often, they’ll rip their way through damaged fascia boards, soffits, or roofing shingles, to gain access inside the attic. 

This home’s soffits were in poor shape. Much of it was falling and left unsecured, leaving it wide open for wildlife to enter — which they did! The only good news for this Belmar homeowner was that the soffit wasn’t connected to the attic, so the wildlife simply nested in the void above and did not gain access inside the home. Once wildlife enters the attic, damage can be extensive. Usually, if the infestation is not quickly resolved, the insulation is destroyed and the whole area becomes a toxic mess from all the wildlife droppings. 

The Cowleys home improvement crew was called in. We removed the damaged soffits, cleaned out all of the built-up nesting debris, and then replaced the soffits with high-performance PVC trim boards. This material won’t rot, cup, split, twist, or warp. The new soffits looked great and blended in with the house. Now, with this home improvement, this homeowner will not have any further issues with wildlife exploiting weakened and damaged soffits in order to gain access to the void above to use as their private nesting home for their offspring.

A homeowner in Belmar, NJ, who was in the process of building his dream home, decided to invest in a dehumidifier for his basement, and he contacted us. Cowleys has a contractor division with an experienced crew that installs and services SaniDry dehumidifiers. These commercial-grade dehumidifiers that are specifically engineered for the challenging environments of crawl spaces and basements, and we limit our line to these workhorse machines. In these sub-grade areas of homes, chronic humidity is a problem, especially with our hot and muggy New Jersey summers. 

Dehumidification is the only effective long-term solution to remove excess moisture in the air. High indoor humidity levels are responsible for a host of problems for including mold growth, a favorable environment for insects, wood rot and other structural damage. Also, dehumidifiers improve the liveability of a home. They help eliminate musty odors that can waft into the living areas of the home and dramatically improve indoor air quality by removing airborne mold spores and other allergens, helping relieve allergy and other lung and respiratory symptoms. After inspecting the homeowner's basement, and based on the size (cubic volume) of the basement, we recommended a SaniDry XP commercial dehumidifier.

You may be thinking why not go with a residential dehumidifier? Can there really be that much of a difference between these commercial-grade dehumidifiers and the generic residential ones? The short answer is that there is no comparison. As many homeowners find out the hard way, the generic dehumidifiers sold in hardware stores simply aren’t up to the job. For example, the SaniDry XP that we installed for this homeowner is a powerful energy-efficient dehumidifier that outperforms standard household dehumidifiers by as much as 10 times -- while using the same amount of energy to run! The SaniDry XP can effectively cover indoor living spaces over 3000 square feet, making it well-suited for basements and crawl spaces over 40” high. 

The key difference between a residential dehumidifier and a SaniDry commercial dehumidifier is its ease of use and automatic operation. A residential dehumidifier requires human intervention to empty the pan of collected dehumidified water. If not timely emptied, the pan overflows, and usually, the machine shuts off once the flow bucket is full. Our commercial dehumidifiers direct the extracted water pulled out of the air into either a sump pump or, if a sump pump isn’t present, a condensation pump that pumps the water through a condensate hose to the outside of the basement. These machines work 24/7 year-round automatically. 

The homeowner was ecstatic to know that he would have clean, dry air circulating throughout his home and the reduced humidity levels in his basement would prevent mold growth. For him, this dehumidifier was an investment that protected both his home and his family’s health.