A crawl space is generally that area under the floor framing of a house or business that extends a short way to the bottom. The distance is generally 24 inches in depth. This distance can vary however from 8 inches to 36 inches. The floor is usually made of dirt. There usually is barely enough room in one of these spaces to crawl, so the term Crawl Space was invented. They usually have a ton of spider webs and are dark and smell of mold. Not a pleasant place. That’s where we come in.

A crawl space that is deeper, to about 48 to 60 inches is generally called a “Michigan Basement”. These can be paved with concrete or left as dirt. Michigan Basements are used as storage of stuff. Unfortunately they are usually below ground and are susceptible to water damage. Furnaces down here can also be damaged by water. This is where we come in….

A space below the floor boards that is 7 feet deep or more is called a basement. Basements 100 years ago were not paved but were paved with concrete back in the 50’s. This was usually a thin layer just to keep the dust down and feet clean. Finishing basements has come to popularity with the invention and use of the “Sump Pump”. This is a device that can pump out any ground water that would otherwise get on the basement floor. Other wise basements are a good place to store stuff. We do a lot of work in basements and have a web site just for basement waterproofing. Click here to see Basement Waterproofing Michigan.

Oakbridge Construction Waterproofing Division knows a lot about basements and Crawl Spaces. This web site is dedicated to the Crawl Space. Read on to find out more information. If you don’t have time to read call now at 248 522 1516 and get a free estimate.

I believe that it has something to do with the recent economy. People are a bit troubled to splurge any money to get things fixed up while they can’t perceive where their next dollar is coming from. Even people that are on a fixed income like SSI or SSD or Social Security plus company retirement fund. Those people’s income should not differ month to month too much but yet they are nervous. Ordinary working people are as well scared stiff. So these tasks also sit and languish and the MOLD takes over.

We just completed a pretty big job in a basement that there was a waterproofing concern and it went unfixed for the last few years. All the bottom molding was black, the wallboard was black up 2 feet off the floor and the carpet had a thousand mushrooms rising on it. I believe that this severe of damage is dangerous to the people living upstairs. I recognize it was bad for our workers and we dressed them correspondingly.

The finished basement had to be disposed of. Along with the carpet and molding and doors and drywall and the whole thing else. Then we completed the waterproofing. That consisted of a perimeter drain and a sump pump. That was a lot of work. It cost a lot also and created an bad living condition for the home owner. If it was fixed just after it begun we could have saved the finished basement part except for the carpet. That should have saved a quite a bit of dough.

This can be caused by a slow to react sump pump if you have one.
Maybe yours needs to be changed. On the other hand if yours
is pumping water out before it gets half way up there is a good
chance that your drain tiles around the outside of the basement
have filled up with silt and sand and can no longer handle all
the water trying to get in.

We can fix both things but it is your duty to call right away
and get the ball rolling. The longer you wait the more mold
builds up. Mold starts within 24 hours of the carppet getting wet.
The padding is the first place. Then the carpet itself. After a
couple weeks the house could smell so bad that you would have
to get out for your own good.

This advice is from my waterproofing page but it applies to the crawl space moisture as well.

Give me a call at 586 703 0112

This video shows off our sprayer machine and it is actually spraying the floor joists above for mold. Once mold gets into the wood above, the basement will permanently have that “Musty” smell. Our process eliminates that.