Crawl Space Project in Versailles, Ohio

Challenge

This crawl space was having moisture issues and the home owner noticed it. After getting whiffs of musty smells every time it rained, the homeowner crawled down into the crawl space and thought it was time to have something done about it. They called us because they knew we gave free estimates, and we have good reviews online. We came out and gave a free quote to encapsulate their crawl space. Upon inspection, we also noticed they were in need of some piers because the footers of the foundation were sinking into unstable soil. We knew the foundation was sinking because of stair step cracking in the block foundation. 

Solution

We started by sending one of our piering crews out there to stop the foundation from sinking. This only required four piers around the corner of the home, and was relatively easy for us. We installed the piers by digging with an excavator on the outside of the home until we expose the footers. With the footers exposed, we then attach our pier brackets to the footers, and then attach the brackets to our piers. We drill the piers down with the excavator, and we are able to reach deep, stable soil thanks to the strength and helical shape of the piers. We have pressure gauges that are able to let us know when the excavator has reached the preferred depth for the piers. We then cover the piers back up with the backfilled soil. We then like to run the excavator over the soil, packing the backfill as much as we possibly can. Now, this part of the house will not sink any further.

We then started our encapsulation project. The first step was to step groundwater leaks from rising up into the crawl space. We do this by digging around the perimeter of the crawl space, and installing perforated pipes in the trenches for drainage. There was already an existing sump, so there was no need to dig a sump pit, as we just replaced the sump with our SmartSump sump pump. We then layed down our drainage matting, a plastic mat that contains air bubbles for pockets of space for water to drain through the floor of the crawl space. This drainage matting also makes our vapor barrier stronger and softer to crawl on, as the matting sits beneath the CleanSpace moisture barrier we installed later on.

We then installed SilverGlo insulation panels all along the walls of the crawl space so we could hang our vapor barrier over the insulation panels. After that, we then layed down our CleanSpace moisture barrier over the whole floor and walls of the crawl space. We are also able to wrap the CleanSpace around the concrete piers and other obstacles in the crawl space. CleanSpace is installed with buttons and vapor proof tape. The last thing we did was use spray foam insulation along the ceiling of the crawl space, and then sealing off all vents of the crawl space. We also topped the crawl space off with a SaniDry Sedona dehumidifier, which will ensure little to none humidity. 

The result is a crawl space that will be dry and clean with great insulation properties. It's so clean and soft, some may say you could even sleep down there!