Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Welcome to another episode of Peskies Pest Control podcast here in Birmingham Alabama with Michael and Travis. We do this podcast as a community service for Birmingham, Hoover, Vestavia Hills, Mountain Brook, Helena, Pelham and all other surrounding areas!
Michael Wienecke
Hey, so here at Peskies, we are a small business and we like to support other small businesses. So today I have got Aaron with crawlspace medics, Aaron, how you doing today?
Aaron
I’m doing all right, Michael, how are you doing? Well,
Michael Wienecke
man doing well, well, hey, I’m just, you know, wanted to bring you on the podcast and talk about, you know, how your business and my business kind of relate. Obviously, that’s how we met. And yeah, so let’s talk about, you know, how the things you do you know, how you improve people’s lives with helping them save their greatest asset?
Aaron
Absolutely, yeah, I’m really, really excited to be here. It’s pretty neat how we met originally, and yeah, really, really pumped to kind of talk through that. So. So, yeah, so we got started here in January of 21. And we pretty much service, I’d say, like the Birmingham Metro, plus, you know, all the way out to Jasper, we’ve gone as far out as center Alabama. And our goal really, is to transform, you know, the health of the home by moisture control, and repair in the crawlspace and basement.
Michael Wienecke
So just a quick question, would you say that termites are more damaging to a home? Or would you say that moisture is more damaging to home,
Aaron
I would say that moisture, typically is the environment that termites thrive in, I would, I would always say to customer, that termites and fungus love wet wood. And so I don’t know that water, or moisture alone is going to do the kind of damage that’s going to bring down the house except for like, you know, a flood or a tidal wave. But you know, that’s, that is the starting point for the the problems that people have in their homes, whether it’s settling, termites, fungus, it’s all all related to moisture, or, you know, how the house is built, maybe wood to ground contact, things like that. But typically, we were looking through the lens of moisture,
Michael Wienecke
I hear you. So um, with with your hot, like, you know, we talked about this the other day, when we’re when we’re playing golf, you know, that your type, the type of issues you see, you know, they’re not going to go away, it’s kind of like having like, in my business with having squirrels or a raccoon in your attic, or rats, they’re not going to go away, you see them, or you see evidence of them, you know, in the back of their mind, like we talked about with customers, they’re just like, oh, you know, maybe it’ll, maybe it’ll subside itself and won’t have to worry about it. But with with these issues that you take care of, I mean, I wanted to talk about that, like, it’s, it’s not going away, it’s just gonna keep being an issue.
Aaron
Absolutely. And, you know, depending on the, I guess the typically it’s the price tag associated with the solution with a fix. A lot of times, homeowners are used to whatever issues they have in their home. So if you have a mess in your house, the more you walk past it, the more you get used to it, the more you get used to the corks in your home, whether it’s a squeaky door, it’s the same in a crawlspace, or a basement, sometimes even more. So because you’re especially with a crawlspace, you don’t see it. And so typically, you’re seeing the downstream issues that that come from issues in your crawlspace. So a lot of people will say, Oh, my house just feels really humid, or smell this dank, musty smell after, after it rains, or in a basement, they’ll see some staining down where the block is sitting on the slab or next to the slab, they’ll see some staining there. And they kind of go about their day. And so the the key for us is exactly what you’re saying is these issues will get worse over time. And so you can choose to deal with it now, make the investment now. And we can tailor out a solution that’s going to fit your budget, or you can not deal with it and then you’ll be subject to whatever sales guy happens to show up to your home. And you know, whatever solution that they present you with it that now you have to go because you’re trying to sell your house. And you know the inspection report comes back with water or moisture issues and wood damage related to that moisture issue.
Michael Wienecke
Yeah, and you brought up a good point with that with the with the sales guy. Just like in my business. I mean, you show up at your customer’s house these these people’s house your you know, you’re there. Crawling the crawl spaces. I mean checking it yourself and you’re the owner. And you know, I respect that. I think that that goes a long way.
Aaron
Yes, yeah. I felt like that was one of the biggest, especially as a new business with the competitors that we have here. They want customers want to know that they can count on the solution and count on the company. And if I don’t have 35 years of, you know, business history in, in this area, you know, what, what, what else do I have, and I have me, you know, I have, I have my reputation and my, you know, I live here, I work here, my family depends on this business, my customer or my employees depend on, you know, me presenting something that is not just profitable, but useful to the, to the customer. Because if the customer feels like they’ve been sold a bag of goods, they’re going to get upset, and they’re going to tell their friends, and nobody’s gonna call me back. And so that’s, that’s really how we got started. And that’s really what we’re committed to is, is, you know, when I go under house, I’m going to hit the four corners of the house, I’m going to, you know, do everything I can to, to check on that I’m not going to spend 10 minutes in the crawlspace. And then, you know, an hour and a half and you’re home pushing, pushing to sell to the homeowner, I’m going to take my time in the crawlspace, I’m gonna give them a synopsis of what I think needs to happen. And I’m going to give them an itemized estimate with the photos and my recommendation. And then we can address you know, where they are versus where I think they need to be, and hopefully meet meet there in the middle.
Michael Wienecke
Yeah, I mean, I think our customer service is key, I mean, just being there for your customer and taking care of them. What kind of guarantee do you give on on? You know, what you all do?
Aaron
Yes, so it really depends on the solution. So, you know, when people say things like encapsulation, you know, that’s really kind of generic term people have been, they hear that, and they think it just means one thing. And really, that consists of a lot of different elements that go into, you know, protecting a crawlspace, specifically with crawl spaces. But what that means for us is we’re going to put 10 to 20 mil plastic on the walls, we’re going to lay a ground barrier down, that’s going to cover 100% of the soil. If there’s any water intrusion, we’re going to recommend putting in a drain, and this drain would be inside the crawlspace, ideally, the interior perimeter of the crawlspace, that will all be pitched to a sump pump. And then typically will have a dehumidifier installed in there as well. And so all of those things typically mean encapsulation. You know, a lot of people don’t think of the drain as part of it. And sometimes it’s not if they don’t have water coming into the crawlspace. So all of that being said, each one of those elements has its own guarantee that goes with it. So with water intrusion, what we want to make sure is that the sump pump is in a good place that it’s relatively well protected, that it’s not just sucking up mud. Those typically have the shortest lifespan out of anything that we install. The dehumidifiers have a five to six year warranty, depending on the brand that we install. And we manage that for the homeowner. So if they have any issues, we just handle it with a manufacturer. And if they needed a unit, we’ll go out there, swap it out, and and replace it, the barrier. Typically, you know, it has a lifetime of the structure guarantee depending on the type of barrier that we install. But our minimum standard is 10 mil. And for reference, that’s just the the thickness of the barrier. And typically under a home, you’ll see like a black six mil barrier, that’s usually what new construction has is black or clear six mil barrier. And that will break down over time. And so that 10 mil is going to have like a 25 to lifetime guarantee on it. And the same with our our 20 mil that we install.
Michael Wienecke
Good deal. So I see a lot of my customers when I’m crawling a crawlspace or they’re talking to me about their crawlspace because they have a termite issue or a rodent issue or really anything. They always say that they’ve got moisture down on their floor of their you know, their dirt floor, it’s wet, whatever. So they’re just gonna roll Polly out and put poly down. Is that actually solving a problem? Or is that making the problem worse?
Aaron
If you’re you’re saying roll in poly out on the on the soil?
Michael Wienecke
Yeah, just just taking, you know, three mil poly from big box store and just cutting it and rolling it out themselves.
Aaron
No, no, that would never make the problem worse. I think it may give them a false sense of confidence that they’ve addressed the issue and so they may forget about it and whatever is going on may make things worse. But the idea is that any exposed soil is wet. Even if it doesn’t look wet. You know, you go into a crawlspace you see certain areas where the dirt looks, looks dry, and then you see in the corners, it’s darker color, it looks damp. But if you were to cut out a one by one square of any kind of poly and just lay it in that dry section, pull it up, you know, a couple hours later the next day, there’s gonna be condensation under that plastic. And so what happens is all of that moisture that’s coming from that soil is going to, you know, soak into the wood framing of your home. And so if your crawlspace is the wood framing of your crawlspace is only, you know, some places maybe 18 inches away from the soil, those joists and that sub floor are going to soak up that that, you know, the increased water vapor from, you know, that exposed soil. So, there’s nothing wrong with with doing that, I think there’s something wrong with assuming that you’ve addressed all of your humidity or moisture issues by doing that, and, and just knowing that that barrier is going to break down. Usually, when we go to a home, you know, nine times out of 10, if we’re there, the only barrier that’s under there is the one that came with the house. So if they put it down before closing or the builder put it in, and it over time will just disintegrate. And so, you know, five years, maybe maybe there’s no issue, I’ve seen some that have broken down really fast that faster than that, and kind of depends on what the conditions are, how much water’s coming in. If the barriers got dirt and stuff all over it, it can break down a little bit faster.
Michael Wienecke
Now he so I would say out of the out of the crop 1000 I’d say I’m up to 1000 crawlspaces. Now, you know, let’s just say I would say 75% of them have moisture issues, or water damage or rot or something, something like that. So I mean, it’s a bigger problem than I think, then a lot of people realize,
Aaron
yes, it’s a big problem. And it’s a problem, I would say almost exclusive or not exclusive, but it’s a much bigger deal in the South. Because, you know, conventional wisdom and building code pushes people towards the idea that if I have a vented crawlspace if my crawlspace has a foundation vents, as long as I keep it vented, it’s it’s fine, you know, it’s going to regulate its own, you know, humidity, and everything. So the problem with that is it’s it’s just way behind. So, you know, when when the code was initially written, you know, people didn’t have great HVAC systems, and they weren’t taking into account like how human it gets in the south, especially, you know, where we are, and, and then the massive amounts of rainfall that we’ll get over a weekend. You know, we had several calls just in over Easter, you know, I think that was one of the heavier rains we’ve gotten in the last couple months and and so they’re they’re basically just not not equipped homes that are built here just not equipped to handle, you know, the elements that we live in. And so yeah, I would say the same you know, obviously if I’m going out there, there’s a moisture issue but often there’s a moisture issue that the homeowner doesn’t realize maybe they’ll call me out for bouncy floors or something like that, and then we go out there and the reason their floors are bouncy is because they’re you know, the wood fungus has completely or the termite damage has completely destroyed the the joists and so there’s really nothing holding the floor up, but they’re hardwoods, you know, so that’s, that’s definitely the case here.
Michael Wienecke
Yeah, that’s always terrifying when I walk into someone’s house, and the floor just sinks down. You know, I had a situation I gotta get it on my YouTube channel. But where I went in my a friend of mines house and the whole front of his house just sat down and I mean, he, he was missing eight, nine joists from from termite dams and moisture he had a lot. It was it was like a swimming pool down there. So that’s another thing I’ll talk about. I don’t think people understand how, how difficult it can be to crawl crawl space sometimes. Yes. Women sometimes I mean, I went one the other day that the joist was literally to my chest.
Aaron
Yep, it gets tight down there. And, you know, I mean, you know, this, you get used to your job, right, like, so, if it’s your job, it’s a lot easier to handle that than if you’re Joe Blow homeowner, and you’ve got to crawl into your house to fix something. You know, I remember the first couple of houses and I crawled under thinking like, what am I doing? And then you know, a little while later now, it’s just, you know, another day at the office and you don’t, you don’t think about it and you don’t even think about it being something that’s like hard, you know, you just think about it. Like, my job is hard. Not not so much like this is a this specific thing that I’m doing is difficult related to you know, if I was a I don’t know, a car salesman or an accountant, but um So,
Michael Wienecke
everybody’s gotta call a man. Everybody’s got Yeah.
Aaron
And that’s, that’s what we’re, what we’re trying to do here is we, we want to really invest and serve our community. And that’s, that’s the way we can do it. You know, I think the median age for homes in Jefferson County is like, I think it’s like the average home was built in the 70s. I think, in downtown Birmingham, it’s even older. So there’s a lot of old homes here. And, and that’s, you know, a lot of history that we can we can save. And, you know, you and I are both doing our jobs and, you know, doing what we need to do, we can really protect, protect and restore a lot of these homes.
Michael Wienecke
No, I agree with you. 100%. I mean, that’s, you know, those Birmingham houses are staples in the community, and they’re, they’re beautiful homes, and I’d certainly not, you know, I don’t want to see a 1920s house get torn down, like a lot of marketing tore tore down because of termite issues, water issues, you know, structural issues in general. So I think that’s very important. Why, Aaron, I really appreciate you coming on the podcast. And once you tell everybody how they can find you.
Aaron
Absolutely, yep. So you can call my number. It’s 205-510-6360. You can go onto our website, or our Facebook page is crawlspace medics Birmingham. Our website is I should have had all that ready. I didn’t have it ready. Hang on, let’s say crawlspacemedic.com. Forward slash Birmingham, Alabama. And, and then I believe our office line. See? Is 2878 Real quick?
I’ve done I don’t know how many Facebook posts and I still and it’s on all my trucks. You got a lot. Not 872858
Michael Wienecke
Awesome, man. Why? I know I said, I know you’re passionate about this. We’ve talked a lot about me learning about crawl spaces, and you learn about termites. I know we call each other a lot and ask questions because you know, we obviously we don’t know everything about every, every part of a crawlspace. So it’s always good to have people that you can reach out to and you’re passionate about your your business. Thanks, man.
Aaron
Thank you for having me on. Michael. let’s uh, let’s go hit some golf balls. Let’s do it. All right. Take care.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
