Photo Album: Keep the Humidity Down by Encapsulating - La Conner, WA

High humidity in the crawl space can cause numerous negative effects in your home. It is the number one cause for mold and mildew growth, wood rotting, and poor indoor air quality. This homeowner reached out to John's Waterproofing about controlling the high humidity levels in their crawl space. Luckily, full encapsulations are designed to be able to control the environment and keep humidity levels down. Here are a few of the specific things John's does during encapsulations that work to regulate humidity levels. We begin by removing the damaged vapor barrier that is no longer serving its purpose of keeping moisture out. Once the vapor barrier is removed, then we need to install a drainage system so that ground water will have a safe passageway to go through and be sent out. We do this by digging a trench along the interior perimeter and laying a perforated pipe. The pipe collects any water and sends it to the TripleSafe sump pump. This three-pump system takes all that collected water and securely pushes it away from the homes foundation. Then, we install a thick insulation foam, TerraBlock. This insulation is designed to create separation from the earth and the home. This helps improve energy efficiency because the separation makes it so your heating/cooling systems don't have to work as hard to keep up with the outside changing climate. Afterwards, we install a SaniDry dehumidifier. This works to pull moisture out of the air and help to filter out particles. A healthy crawl space should only have a humidity level of 55% and anything over increases the chances of structural damage to your home through mold or rot. Overall, at John's Waterproofing we want to offer every homeowner a healthy and dry crawl space so that they don't have to experience the negative effects of high humidity.