Crawl Space Repair Photo Album: Encapsulating to Fix High Humidity in Crawl Spaces - West Linn, OR

After a recent siding replacement, this homeowner started noticing a lot of moisture seeping up into their house. They knew that because their crawl space wasn't in the best condition it could be the source of the issue. They called John's Waterproofing to discuss how to control the excess moisture and agreed that a full encapsulation would be ideal in order to offer a long-term solution. The first step was going into their crawl space and removing the previous vapor barrier. It was completely destroyed and exposing the dirt beneath the home, indicating that the moisture was due to high humidity levels. This occurs when warm air gets into the crawl space and becomes cool because crawl spaces are naturally cool. That adds water into the air and creates relative humidity. Encapsulations are designed to control the atmosphere in crawl spaces to regulate humidity levels and keep moisture out of the air. Once we identified what was causing the issue, we then needed to install drainage. We dug a trench around the interior perimeter and installed a perforated pipe that can collect any water and push it away. To add protection, we installed a 3/4 in. thick insulation foam called TerraBlock. This adds insulation and energy efficiency by regulating the temperature of the floor of the crawl space. For a vapor barrier, CleanSpace is installed on top of the TerraBlock as a liner to seal the earth off from the house. A SaniDry dehumidifier is also necessary because it can keep the humidity levels at a safe percentage to moderate moisture and particles in the air. We attach the dehumidifier to a SmartDrain that takes the condensation and pushes it back into the soil to completely protect the crawl space from humidity and moisture. Now, this homeowner won't have to worry about moisture in their home and can enjoy the benefits of an encapsulated crawl space.