Crawl Space Repair Photo Album: Unhealthy Crawl Space Turned Healthy in Evansville, IN

Homeowner Tom S. knew that there had been problems in his crawl space for years. He dreaded thinking about fixing it, but with his foundation and health of the crawl space rapidly decreasing, he knew he had to do something about it. There was standing water in his crawl space which was causing mold spores to grow. Through the stack effect, these spores in the crawl space were also being inhaled on the first floor of the home causing allergy-like symptoms that wouldn't go away. The health of his family was worth the change. Tom gave Healthy Spaces a call and Design Specialist, Chris Russell, came out to meet with him. During the thorough inspection, he found mold as well as foundation issues. Tom decided to fix everything at once so a new sump pump, drainage system, crawl space door, and encapsulation with SilverGlo and CleanSpace were installed. He is so happy with the transformation of his crawl space. He was able to transform a moldy hole beneath his home into a clean, functional, bright, dry space that increased the resale value and enhanced the health of everyone in his family.

Wet, Muddy Floor

The first thought about a wet crawl space is sump pump failure which is exactly what happened in this crawl space. the Groundwater leakage in this crawl space is slowing evaporating into the house, while the exposed earth adds a continuous stream of water into the home.

Ducts in a Crawl Space

When warm, humid air enters crawl space vents it does directly to the coolest surface. Most of the time, this will be your air duct. Ducts that are wet from condensation cause you higher energy bills. In this photo, you can also see that the vapor barrier on the floor isn't doing its job. It's crinkled and wadded up allowing water to roam free.

Relative Humidity

You want the humidity in your home to be under 60% because mold can't grow in those conditions. In this crawl space, the relative humidity was 75.2% allowing mold to grow. At 100% the air cannot hold any more water and must give up its moisture, which is why we often see condensation.

No Drainage System

Crawl spaces often have poor or nonexistent exterior footing drains and no damp-proof or waterproof exterior wall coatings.

Sealing the Outside Air

With this new EverLast door on the crawl space, it will stop air and moisture from entering. This door won't rot, warp, or need paint, and bugs also can't eat it.

Not Just Any Dehumidifer

The SaniDry Sedona is a high capacity and efficiency dehumidification system with air filtration. It takes up to 100 pints of water per day out of your crawl space air, without using any more energy than a 40-pint system. It also filters particles out of the air, such as mold spores.

Additional Discharge Lines

Additional discharge lines like IceGuard and a LawnScape outlet were installed to ensure water collected in the sump pump can efficiently exit the home.

Waterproof with CleanSpace Liner

CleanSpace is a durable, plastic liner that encapsulates your crawl space to keep the outside environment from getting in. The liner is waterproof and vapor proof so you will never have to worry about a wet or damp space.

Eliminate Water with a SmartSump

If water is an issue in your crawl space, investing in a SmartSump sump pump will ensure your space stays dry by collecting water and pumping it outside of your home. This sump pump includes an airtight lid and pump alarm that will go off if the pump fails so you can deal with the problem before the crawl space floods.

Insulation Issues

Here, you can see mold spores growing on the paper insulation. Since air flows into the upper levels of your home from the crawl space, it bring the humidity from the crawl space with it affecting your home. First off, paper-faced insulation is like candy to mold because it loves paper even more than wood. Mold grows on fiberglass insulation because it has some organic material in the resin used to set the fibers. This vent on the wall is allowing the outside air to enter the crawlspace, not helping the humidity issue.