Crawl Space Repair Before & After Photos

Crawlspaces can end up causing a lot of trouble for homeowners, especially when in such a humid climate. Water intrusion and high humidity affect a lot of crawlspaces and basements in our region, so we have gotten very good at fixing these kinds of problems in homes. This can be a very serious issue, which is why we treat it as such when assessing homes for customers. 

This homeowner had a pretty rough crawlspace when our Specialist went under the home. They had a much higher humidity level than they should have, and because of this mold and mildew was already making appearances in the crawlspace, which the homeowner was worried about. The bad thing about a high humidity level is that it is pretty much completely invisible, so unless you have to proper tools, you can't tell.

However, our CleanSpace Liner completely transforms the look and function of a crawlspace. Almost the entire crawlspace has been covered in CleanSpace, which helps to keep moisture from getting into the crawlspace. This particular homeowner wanted to get the liner all the way up the walls, to really protect them from any further water. One thing that is often missed is the debris that the crew removes, which if you look between the pictures is extremely obvious. The crew will take out most of the rocks/bricks/etc in order to make sure that the ground is level and no rocks will go through the CleanSpace.

Sealing a crawlspace up is extremely important, and while the majority of the crawlspace can be sealed up with CleanSpace liner, there is still one main area where a lot of outside air can easily get into the crawlspace: the door. You may not think that this applies to you because you have a nice door, similar to the one on this home, but even these nicer doors have a lot of room for improvement.

Many homeowners decide to not get a new door, which isn't always a problem, but because there is still an airflow into the crawlspace, it does have some effects on the system. This is especially prominent in the summer when the humid air gets sucked into the crawlspace, making the dehumidifier (assuming one is installed) run more because it has more moisture to pull out of the air.

However with the EverLast door installed, the homeowner no longer has to worry about any air getting into the crawlspace. The EverLast door creates an airtight seal around the entrance of the crawlspace, which keeps any air from getting in. Another benefit of these EverLast doors is that they are made of a durable plastic that won't break or rot like the wooden doors that most crawlspaces have!

There are a few main places that should be covered/blocked in a crawlspace when encapsulating the area. The biggest is the ground of the crawlspace, because this is usually where the majority of the water and moisture comes from. However, there are other places that have to be blocked or sealed up in order to provide the best and most efficient system for the home. 

The door that was originally used to access the crawlspace was a hinged door (as are most) that left a lot of room for air to seep into the crawlspace. This is something that we certainly don't want to happen, because with the outside air comes moisture which is what we're trying to prevent. Even though a door like this may seem like it is solid enough to prevent air flow, there are a lot of small cracks and openings for the air to get in.

The new EverLast door makes a huge difference with the air that was getting into the crawlspace. It creates an airtight seal around the opening that keeps all outside air out of the crawlspace. Keeping the air outside the crawlspace helps with the moisture level because it keeps new air from being introduced to the crawlspace. Here in South Carolina, this is especially important during times of high humidity, like during the summertime. 

This homeowner in Hendersonville, NC reached out to us at All-Dry of the Carolinas to get a free estimate to get her crawl space encapsulated. We sent our design specialist David Listovitch out to the home where he told her the options of different crawl space waterproofing methods. This homeowner decided to go with CleanSpace which is our encapsulation liner to help control the moisture that was getting under her home. This home owner knew that moisture under the home could lead to foundation issues, floor problems, mold, and pest, so she took the proactive measures to have her home protected before something happen.

            The crawl space was cleaned and any debris and old insulation was removed by our All-Dry crew before they began to place in the waterproofing products. CleanSpace was then placed on the floors, walls, and wrapped around any piers in the area. CleanSpace is a 20-mil-thick liner that is designed to keep ground water or moisture from getting into the air. This liner is white, which also makes the crawl space bright and clean, and also makes it easy to notice if any pest or mold begins to take up a home in the crawl space.

 A TripleSafe sump pump was added to the crawl space as well, to flush any water that comes in from the crawl space. The TripleSafe liner is one of the best sump pumps on the line. It consists of two pumps that work together to flush out any and all water. Typically only one of the pumps will run, although if the first pump fails or is unable to keep up with the intake of water the second pump will kick in to out help out. In the case of a power outage, the TripleSafe pump also has an UltraSump installed in it. The UltraSump is a battery backup pump that turns on when power is lost to the main pump.

An Aprilaire dehumidifier was placed into the crawl space to keep excess moisture that is produced under the home from lingering around. The moisture is removed from the air and then drained into the sump pump where the water is then flushed from the crawl space.

To finish off the encapsulation of this crawl space our crew installed interior seal vents and an Everlast door. These products are used to give the crawl space an airtight seal so that no outside air enters under the house. Keeping outside air from entering the crawl space will help keep moisture levels down and with the help of the encapsulation and dehumidifier, there will hardly be any moisture. The crawl space was completely waterproofed by our All-Dry crew within two days by our crew led by crew foreman Ray Petry.

This homeowner gave All-Dry of the Carolinas a call when he noticed that his crawl space seemed "wetter" than it should have been. Unfortunately, when our Service Design Specialist came out, the homeowner was exactly right. The relative humidity level in the crawlspace was much higher than it should have been. In order to fix this, our Specialist suggested CleanSpace liner, as well as a dehumidifier.

The "before" photo gives a look into what the crawl space looked like before our crew was able to come in and install our products. The crawlspace definitely was not in the best of shape, there was trash and spider webs all over the crawlspace. The fortunate thing for this homeowner was that there was no standing water in the crawlspace, just a high relative humidity.

The "after" picture shows the same area, but with the CleanSpace installed. This homeowner wanted to make sure they wouldn't have problems with their crawlspace, so they opted to have a full encapsulation, which basically means that everything but the very top of the walls and ceiling was covered with CleanSpace. Doing it like this prevents water or water vapor to get into the crawlspace through the floors and/or wall.