Had a close friend that got pricing from a builder within the past month. They are going to build a 3,500 SF home in Northwest Arkansas. Their price was around $165/SF. In a “normal” year, builder told them he would be closer to $150 - 155 for that area and style home.

For what it’s worth, the builder seems to think there is a window that prices may drop but it may coincide with interest rates increasing - funny how that works.

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re: Crawl Space - Mold, now what?

Posted by BamaEng022 on 2/9/21 at 10:09 pm to wizard1183

Agreed, but this issue is specifically for the crawl space, not the basement. The major contributing factor to the moisture has been the lack of yard drainage coupled with three downspouts terminating nearby rather piped away. That is corrected so I feel the moisture issue is addressed. My major concern was what am I about to get into by opening this area up to replace the subfloor and is a $5,000 crawl space encapsulation system the right move going forward.

It’s amazing to me the conversations this topic leads to when talking with potential companies - absolutely blows my mind that there can be such big differences in strategy to address a crawl space.

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re: Crawl Space - Mold, now what?

Posted by BamaEng022 on 2/9/21 at 9:53 pm to wickowick

Unfortunately, several segments of the OSB between the joists seem shot as the floor above this is tile and has started cracking. These areas have long running cracks now at what has to be between the joists.

I’ve tried to convince me there had to be backer board, but I can’t see it cracking/sagging like it has.

That has what spurred the contractor otherwise I would treat in place. The contractor has serious concern opening that space up and exposing the inside of the house, even though it is a real small area. It seems way overkill but I also can understand isolating it.

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Crawl Space - Mold, now what?

Posted by BamaEng022 on 2/9/21 at 9:38 pm

Dealing with moisture issues in a small crawl space area (90% of the home is basement) that have lead to a mold/fungus issue... Much of the moisture will be corrected through downspout piping and general yard drainage improvements. Contractors for the crawl space area I’ve spoken with have recommended everything from simply installing a couple of fans and improving the vapor barrier and ventilating the crawl space to full scale encapsulation to seal off and installing dehumidifiers. They also believe all joists and subfloor in this small crawl space area should be replaced, but that also requires a full blown mold remediation effort.

Thoughts? Short of never having a home with crawl spaces again, albeit very small ones, I seem to change my mind after every “article” I find online. Seems that crawl space issues are the new slippery slope and anything short of an environment just as comfortable as the inside of your house is the worst idea ever. We are in North Alabama and I do see why pulling outside air in doesn’t make sense - but seems to have worked for quite a long time before.