Crawl Space Mold Removal in Dallas, GA

Conditions around Dallas

Dallas is the Paulding County seat, a city of about 14,000 people roughly 28 miles from Atlanta, with a historic courthouse square on Main Street and the Silver Comet Trail nearby. Pumpkinvine Creek, a tributary of the Etowah River, runs through the area. Hilly lots and red clay soil mean water often flows toward one side of a house and soaks into the ground beside the foundation.

The rest is northwest Georgia weather: long, humid summers, mild wet winters and strong thunderstorms. Vented crawl spaces pull in summer air that condenses on joists and ducts cooled by the air conditioning, and fiberglass insulation soaks up that moisture. Once the batts are heavy and wet they hold water against the subfloor and often fall to the ground, leaving the floor above colder and the wood damper still. EPA's rule of thumb is that the key to mold control is moisture control.

Clean the wood or replace it?

A probe or screwdriver test tells the difference between a stain and rot. Ask the company to show you. Cleaning is the mold work; replacing wood is construction, and Georgia law defines a residential contractor by work over $2,500, so check any company doing repairs on the Secretary of State's GOALS Verify Now lookup. Georgia has no separate mold license.

Signs worth noticing

• A musty smell that comes and goes with the weather
• Cupping hardwood or loose floor tiles
• Water stains on the subfloor seen from the crawl space
• Sweating ductwork or dripping insulation
• Puddles on one side of the space after storms

Timing

Midsummer through early fall is when condensation peaks, and the weeks after heavy rain are when drainage problems show. If structural wood needs replacing, building permits inside city limits come from the City of Dallas Community Development Department on East Foster Avenue. The city also enforces minimum building, housing and safety codes. Northwest Georgia Public Health serves Paulding County.