Carroll Valley mold remediation for homes that sit empty
Carroll Valley started as a vacation development and still lives like one. A lot of these houses are closed up for weeks at a time between ski weekends and summer visits. That's exactly when mold gets its head start.
Why empty houses grow mold
A house that’s lived in gets air moved through it every day. Showers run with fans, the AC pulls humidity out, doors open and close. A house that’s closed up from Sunday night to Friday afternoon, or from March to Thanksgiving, does none of that. If the AC is off or set high to save money, the indoor humidity follows the outdoor humidity up past 60% and stays there. Give it a few humid weeks in July and the basement or crawl space is growing.
Carroll Valley has more of these homes than anywhere else we serve. The borough was formed in 1974 out of the old Charnita vacation development, and the population went from about 800 in 1980 to nearly 4,000 in 2020, a lot of it second homes and rentals around Liberty Mountain and the three lakes. Wooded half-acre lots, wells, septic, and crawl spaces under a good share of the houses.
The Carroll Valley combination
Crawl spaces on sloped lots. Many of the homes here sit on a block crawl space instead of a full basement, often with a dirt floor and no vapor barrier. The ground under the house puts moisture into the air all day, and the floor joists above it are wood. White or gray fuzz on the joists and a musty smell through the floor registers is the classic result.
Tree cover. Wooded lots mean shade, slow-drying siding and roofs, gutters full of leaves, and downspouts that dump against the foundation. Water stays close to the house.
Elevation and cold. At 800 feet, winters run colder than Gettysburg’s. Pipes on exterior walls in a house with the heat set to 50 while nobody’s home are the source of some of our worst calls. A pipe lets go on a Tuesday, nobody finds it until Friday, and the water damage and structural drying window is long gone.
Well systems. A pressure tank, a well line, and no municipal drainage. One more place for a slow leak, and no storm drain out front helping the yard shed water.
What we do here
Most Carroll Valley work is basement and crawl space mold: getting into the crawl, cleaning and treating every joist, and then dealing with the ground moisture with a vapor barrier or a full encapsulation and a dehumidifier so it stays dry while the house sits empty. Tight access is what drives the cost. A crawl space you can crouch in is a different job from one you belly-crawl.
The full remediation process, from containment through the light repairs that put the room back, is on the mold remediation page. Attic staining on these homes usually traces to a bath fan ducted into the attic, covered on the attic mold page.
Before and after the season
The smartest calls we get from Carroll Valley are the ones before there’s a problem: a mold inspection and air quality test in the spring before the house gets closed up for summer, or in the fall before ski season. We read the humidity, check the crawl, and tell you what to set the dehumidifier and thermostat at. It’s a lot cheaper than a remediation.
We’re the locally owned mold remediation company in Gettysburg, about 20 minutes down the mountain on PA 116.
Questions we hear a lot
We're only here on weekends. Can you work while we're away?
Yes, and most of our Carroll Valley jobs run that way. We set up, run the drying and containment during the week, take readings daily, and have it put back before you're up on Friday. You get photos and the moisture log.
Our house is on a well. Does that change anything?
It means there's a pressure tank and usually a pump line in the basement or crawl space, which is one more place for a slow leak. It also means the house has no municipal drainage helping it. We check the tank, the line, and the sump if there is one.
The crawl space smells and the floors feel spongy. Is that mold or rot?
Often both, in that order. Mold on the joists comes first. Years of damp ground under a dirt-floor crawl space with no vapor barrier eventually softens the wood. We'll meter the joists and tell you what's cleanable and what's structural.
- Started in Gettysburg in 2012
- IICRC AMRT and WRT certified
- 1-year warranty on every job
- Chuck is on the job, not just the phone