Crawl Space Mold Removal in Lake Charles, LA

Plenty of homes in Southwest Louisiana sit up off the ground, and that space under the floor does a lot of quiet work. When it stays wet, mold moves into the joists and subfloor, and the smell finds its way into your living room. One call to (337) 477-3723 connects you with a local pro who can crawl under, find the water and give you a free, no-pressure quote.

How to tell something's wrong under the floor

• The house smells damp, especially in closets, near floor vents or after a rain.
• Floors feel soft or look wavy. Boards cup when the wood below them stays wet.
• You can see growth on joists, sill plates or the underside of the subfloor.
• Insulation is falling down or feels heavy and wet.
• There's standing water or mud under the house days after a storm.
• Pipes or ducts under the house are dripping, or a vapor barrier is torn or missing.

Why Lake Charles crawl spaces stay wet

Southwest Louisiana gets about 60 inches of rain in a normal year (NOAA's 1991–2020 normal at Lake Charles Regional Airport is 59.75 inches), and Gulf air keeps humidity high most months. That moisture rises from the soil and condenses on the cooler wood under an air-conditioned house.

Raised homes are part of the local story. In the older Charpentier neighborhood near downtown, many houses date from the late 1880s to the early 1930s and were built from local cypress and pine. The raised Louisiana cottage design common along the lake was meant to lift living space above the damp. It still works, as long as the space underneath dries out.

Then there's the weather this area has lived through:

• Hurricane Laura (Aug. 27, 2020) made landfall at Cameron with 150 mph winds, and its eyewall crossed Lake Charles, Sulphur, Westlake, Moss Bluff and DeQuincy. Storm surge pushed up the Calcasieu River and flooded low ground near the river and its tributaries in Lake Charles.
• Hurricane Delta (Oct. 9, 2020) came ashore near Creole six weeks later and dropped 9.53 inches on Lake Charles in one day.
• The winter storm of February 2021 knocked power out to the city's water plants and brought a boil advisory. Freezing weather is hard on pipes that run through an open crawl space.
• May 17, 2021 brought 12.49 inches of rain to Lake Charles in a single day, the city's third-wettest day on record.

A crawl space that took on water in any of those events, or had its vapor barrier torn up during repairs, can stay damp for years.

What the work looks like

1. Call and describe what you're seeing. Your local pro sets up a visit.
2. Walkthrough and written quote. Your local pro looks at the growth, the vapor barrier, insulation, plumbing and ducts, and tracks down where the water is coming from. You get a clear written quote first.
3. Contain and remove. The work area is closed off from the house, wet insulation and debris are removed, and the wood is cleaned.
4. Dry it out and stop the moisture. Depending on the cause, that can mean fixing a plumbing leak, replacing the vapor barrier, correcting drainage, running a dehumidifier or sealing the crawl space if your pro offers that service.

The EPA's guidance is that moisture control is the key to mold control, and that dead mold still needs to be removed, not just sprayed.

What goes into the price

It depends on the job, and that's the honest answer. The main factors:

• The square footage of affected wood and subfloor
• How much clearance there is and how hard the space is to reach
• Whether insulation, vapor barrier or storm debris has to be hauled out
• Any rotted framing that needs repair
• What it takes to fix the moisture source

Quotes are free, so you'll know the cost before anything starts.

Serving Lake Charles and Calcasieu Parish

Your local pro covers Lake Charles, Sulphur, Moss Bluff, Westlake, Prien, Carlyss, Iowa, Vinton and DeQuincy. Elsewhere in Calcasieu Parish? Call and ask.

Need testing? Louisiana licenses mold assessment separately from remediation, and the same company can't do both on one property. An independent licensed assessor can test if you need it, and your local pro handles the removal.

Crawl space mold questions

Lake Charles Mold Pros connects homeowners with independent local mold remediation professionals.