Crawl Space Encapsulation Keeps Moisture Away from Walterboro, SC Foundation

Tuesday, May 29th, 2018 by Michael Connolly

Challenge

Nate B. of Walterboro, SC was a previous customer of Lowcountry Foundation Repair. Two years prior, he had SmartJacks installed (crawl space support pillars), to provide stabilization to his crawl space foundation. In late January of 2018, he called Lowcountry Foundation Repair complaining of mold and moisture in the home. Lowcountry Foundation Repair sent Brian Hunter to Nate’s house.

Brian measured the relative humidity of the crawl space, and the wood moisture content of the joists, beams, and subfloor. Brian also photographed failing insulation and an unsecured plastic liner. The inspection took two hours.

Solution

Brian recommended that Nate remove his failed plastic liner and install a Complete CleanSpace Encapsulation System. The system would prevent the moisture in vapor, and liquid form from reaching the crawl space, preventing microbial growth, odors and would protect the structural integrity of Nate’s foundation.

Nate decided to move forward.

The first step was debris removal. After that 2,244 square feet of CleanSpace liner was used to cover the earth and wrap the concrete piers. CleanSpace liner is a vapor barrier, 20 millimeter plastic sheet material designed to permanently prevent moisture, outside air and pests from getting into crawl spaces. The foundation walls were covered with a rigid foam insulation to upgrade the thermal boundary to the foundation walls. The product used is called SilverGlo. Twenty-26 linear ft. were used.

All 13 crawl space vents were sealed. A SmartSump was installed in the front right corner of the crawl space. The SmartDrain collected water from a SaniDry dehumidifier via a condensate pump and allowed the collected water to be released beneath the CleanSpace liner.

The crawl space project took three days to complete and Nate was very happy with the results.