Category Archives: Moisture Protection

Jan 21
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More winter blues, the ceiling is falling!

By | Moisture Protection, Water Awareness, Weatherization | No Comments

I got called by a property management company to urgently evaluate a second story apartment that had a leaking ceiling, and likely falling in. The first time pregnant woman was worried about her health and rightfully so. Upon arrival I found a snow covered roof at a low slope. It was 6:00 PM,  36 degrees and raining slightly. I went upstairs and walked into a wall of humidity, I saw that the windows were sweating and they were baking and making spaghetti. The walls were dripping a bit especially up near the ceiling. There was some discoloration on the semigloss…

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Nov 17
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What is a Foundation Vent?

By | Moisture Protection, Understanding your home, Weatherization | 2 Comments

Foundation vents are a common device found in most forms of residential construction. They are a necessity but usually obscured by mature shrubbery and are never accentuated. In fact, you could have lived in your home for over 50 years and have never noticed them. What are they? Foundation vents are rectangular metal vents situated in the stem wall just above the dirt line on the exterior around the perimeter of home. They are often operable with a little lever that causes a hinged flap inside your crawlspace to operate. Just  (Pull to shut), and Vice versa. Foundation vents are…

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Mar 14
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Levco Does Moisture Inspections

By | Indoor Air Quality, Moisture Protection, Problem Solving, Understanding your home | No Comments

I was recently asked to investigate a serious situation involving “MOLD,” which I like to call “Fungal growth,” on the inside of an apartment. When I got there I was initially stunned to see how serious the situation was. I took all sorts of images and readings with my meters and was able to identify what was happening and why. I understood the biology and the physics of water almost intuitively, but the residents, 3 college aged folks, were clueless. It took this to frighten them enough to call for help. I once heard that if you can’t explain a…

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Feb 10
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I Just Found Mold in my Home

By | Moisture Protection, Problem Solving, Safe Practices, Understanding your home, Water Awareness | No Comments

Mold, also know as Fungus, has become a huge issue in homes as of late, with concerns coming from the medical as well as the insurance communities. Many misconceptions are floating around, which that have caused panic and hysteria. Usually a trained sense of smell is all that is required to locate a problem, and visible signs all that you need to confirm the diagnosis. The spores can cause a respiratory irritation, and if a preexisting sensitivity or respiratory illness exists, it can exacerbate that problem. But all mold  is not bad, although I often refer to it as the…

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Oct 11
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Fall checklist of To-Do’s

By | Moisture Protection, Understanding your home, Weatherization | No Comments

Although we remodel here in Boise Idaho and we do not really offer these services, I would like to get the word out to “Show that we care.” about you and your home. Planning for cold weather is a good thing to do. I especially like getting these things done during our brief Indian Summer. The list may seem long but taking care of the items isn’t so bad. I believe we all do some form of looking at these things subconsciously; the checklist form may help those that grow accustom to seeing things out of place. As an idea,…

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Oct 07
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Remodeling and Your Senses

By | Historic District Homes, Home Evaluations, Moisture Protection, Understanding your home | 4 Comments

Let’s first outline the subject matter. I recently published a similar blog on foundation moisture to review the senses and how they can be used to ferret out what is wrong. In this post I am exploring how I use my senses in a broader way. I work like a Crime Scene Investigator or CSI when it comes to remodeling. It gets easier with time but it requires concentration and some reflection when it is all done. The standard 5 senses work just fine for most things, however it is the 6th that often solidifies the course for my recommendations….

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Aug 05
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Foundation Moisture Protection

By | Home Evaluations, Moisture Protection, Understanding your home | No Comments

Much of what we do at Levco here in Boise Idaho, seems to be dealing with moisture in foundation walls. Weather we are dealing with a remodeling project and active problem, doing preventative measures, or just inspecting foundations that have telltale signs of moisture penetration, there are several signs and symptoms of water being a culprit.Essentially you need to use several of your senses. Smell, a musty odor often a clue to water behind a wall. Touch, a flaky powdery feeling mineral build up called effervescence. Moisture passes through the foundation slowly and deposits minerals on the inside of the…

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