Just recently I fired my long time termite inspector for never giving a report only a bill. The new inspector said I had no termites but my crawl space was one of the most damaged he had seen from moisture. The company he worked for did multitude of home repair/remediation issues. His meter showed levels in floor joints 5 times what they should be. Plus the wood was rotten to the touch. No meter needed. He did not get the job as his company did not have DryPro's reputation . I knew my crawl space was unattractive but was not aware of the extent moisture could harm wood. I am an engineer and knew nothing about moisture damage. I have been taught to first define the problem. First problem, was I told the truth? I never even heard of dampness in crawlspace being a structural concern and I am in my 60s.
I started by having many people look at this crawl space to see if it was really that bad. All firms said I had a really damaged one. You could ask if they all were looking for work, and just said it was bad. No for two reasons. You could tear the wood apart with your hands in many spots and I had a estimator from firm that repairs extremely expensive homes in Charlotte tell me the damage was not only extensive but he was not comfortable repairing that extent of damage.
One outfit wanted to repair but said they could not work around my heat pump and said it would have to be moved out of crawl space and replaced. Allot money there to destroy unnecessarily a heat pump! Another wanted to do wood but had no one with certification in mold remediation in their firm. One wanted to set up dehumidifier system based on recirculation of crawl space air to house air. I understand that some amount of crawl space air comes up top into house but this was not what I wanted. I wanted a system to fix crawl space humidity not depending on house humidity. This was based on Internet study, discussion with people and my personal preference.
Dry Pro is highly rated on Angies List and has it all. Moisture Control, wood repair, mold testing, installation of drainage system. I expressed concern as to whether they got all the damage and they knew with the extent of damage I wanted proof it was fixed. They already knew a professional engineer they used and set up an inspection. to certify that damage was corrected fully (ie: PE stamp, real engineer).
The PE stamp and report is well beyond the building inspector requirements. I felt the damage in my case was bad enough that I wanted it as proof. The building inspector (per law) still looked at house as required but that was not as critical in my opinion.
I finally got around to looking at crawl space the other day. I was offered a look earlier but was that confident it was OK that I waited. That is a high level of trust. My look today showed it is perfect in my opinion. I got to know Dry Pro people pretty well. They are great people. I told Ron the owner of business to use me as a reference. I really appreciate what DryPro did for me. If you are lucky enough to not have the amount of damage I had and have a very damp crawl space perhaps you crawl humidity can be fixed with alot less hassle.
Footnote: It is good that I did not need to sell my house anytime in the last 10 years as the house would never have passed the required county inspections. You do not sell a home with major floor joist/wood issues.
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