They Tried To Be 'A Good Homeowner For Once' And, After Six Years, Decided To Check On Their Home's Crawl Space. Now They Wish They Hadn't
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After six years of living in their Tacoma, Washington home, a homeowner finally decided to do what many homeowners avoid: check the crawl space.
What started as an attempt to feel responsible quickly turned into a horror story. “I thought I’d feel responsible and adult about it. Maybe even smug,” they wrote in a recent Reddit post. Instead, they were met with standing water, bunched-up plastic sheeting, and a disturbing layer of fuzzy white growth on the floor joists. “Tried to be a good homeowner for once and now I wish I hadn’t,” they said.
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What They Found Underneath
“It looks alive. I swear it looked at me,” the original poster said, describing the white mold growing on the wood under their home. They admitted they hadn't touched the crawl space since buying the house in 2019, calling it “blissful ignorance.”
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The home, built in 1978, sits in the Pacific Northwest, a region notorious for moisture problems. Commenters were quick to sympathize, sharing similar experiences and offering detailed do-it-yourself steps.
Homeownership Shock, But Fixable
While the sight was shocking, many homeowners reminded the poster it was better to discover the problem now. “Catching mold and water damage early probably saved you thousands compared to if the floor started sagging,” one commenter wrote. Others echoed the sentiment: get ahead of the issue now before it snowballs into something more expensive.
Several homeowners offered detailed steps to address the problem: start by removing the standing water with a pump or shop vac, then dry out the space using fans and a crawl space-rated dehumidifier. Next, clean the area with mold sprays like Concrobium and RMR-86, but only after drying it completely.
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“People on Reddit will freak the f*** out about mold, but you can handle a lot of remediation yourself as long as there’s no rot and you use good [personal protective equipment],” one top commenter advised. Others recommended poking at the joists with a screwdriver to check for rot before deciding on professional help.
Who To Call, And Who To Avoid
The poster asked if they should call a mold guy, a waterproofing guy, or a priest. The overwhelming response: start with a crawl space or waterproofing specialist, not mold remediation.