They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Well, the same can be said for the road to moldy Colorado homes and businesses.
If you think that our high-desert climate here in Colorado leaves your home immune to mold, think again. Mold is a growing problem and it’s not the moisture in the air. The problem for most Colorado homes and businesses is in the soil.
What’s outside your window is important when buying a home. Making sure the ground underneath your home isn’t causing damage is even more important.
So, here’s what happened:
Colorado is an incredible place to live, unfortunately expansive soil is everywhere, and building on this soil comes with a few challenges. Before you can enjoy mountain views from your second story balcony, you have to deal with the uneven movements of the soil in order to lay a solid foundation.
This native Colorado soil will – as the name aptly implies – expand and contract depending on the moisture levels. Building a good, solid foundation on this type of soil is tricky. Contractors and architects were constantly battling the uneven movements of the expansive soil, until finally they came up with a solution. A wooden subfloor would make up the base of the home, allowing the foundation to move with the soil and protecting the structure of the home. So far so good.
(If you’re sensing a “but” coming, you’re correct.)
BUT, under most wooden subfloors is a crawl space. Many of these crawl spaces were never ventilated properly allowing moisture to build up. A dark, damp, and humid crawl space is the perfect living space for mold to grow, and grow, and grow, and grow.
If there are foundational problems and moisture issues, the Swift inspection specialists will find it and tell you how to fix it.
So, as you can see, in an effort to combat the expansive soil problem here in Colorado, old buildings in the Front Range and Mountain communities could have inadvertently been set up for mold problems from the get go.
What can you do to fight mold problems?
If your home or commercial space isn’t working optimally, do yourself a favor and get an inspection so that you can get to the root of the problem.
- Get a complete exterior inspection for your home or business.
- Find out if your foundation has been damaged by expansive soil problems.
- Make sure the company you hire has experience inspecting residential and commercial building for moisture issues, structural damage, stucco and EIFS damage, improper window installation, etc.
If you need more info on this topic, you can call (303) 875-5843 for immediate assistance anywhere in Colorado, including mountain communities.