Crawl Space Vapour Barrier in Chatham, ON
Challenge
A Chatham homeowner purchased this home that had high moisture and flooding in the crawl space. There were two main beams that were undersized and incorrectly installed. The floors above were sagging, there were odours and the space was unhealthy as well as unusable. The floors were cold during the winter months.
Solution
The homeowner contacted the experts at Advanced Basement Systems and an Inspector (Ben) who specializes in crawl space repair came out to fix the problem for good. Ben recommended we install a series of new support columns (Smart Jacks), which are installed by creating footings underneath the beam where every new Smart Jack is going, letting them cure and then installing the hardware. All of the old columns can then be removed. Ben also designed a perimeter drainage system and due to the high volume of water, he ran a drainage line up the middle of the crawl space also. This drainage is buried and ties into a sump system. Ben chose the Super Sump System with the Ultra Sump Battery Back Up. This ensures that all the water from the drainage can be pumped out, even during a power outage or mechanical pump failure.
To handle the moisture in the area, Ben showed the homeowner how CleanSpace (specialized vapour barrier) would be the real solution. It's a durable, bright white liner that lies on the floor and is mechanically fastened to the foundation walls. From there, the walls were sealed and insulated with spray foam and the space was dehumidified. The crew also installed a custom access door, along with an access well as the door into the crawl space was slightly below gound level.
To summarize, the home was fixed in 4 steps: 1. Isolate the home from the earth (CleanSpace) 2. Seal out all outside air (Spray Foam & New Access Door) 3. Handle groundwater seepage (Drainage & Sump System) 4. Dehumidify the space (High Performance Energy Star Rated Dehumidifier).
The homeowner now has a dry, clean, more comfortable crawl space that can be used to store items safely, year round.
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