Photo Album: Moisture Ruined this Home's Insulation - Fairview, OR

There are several indicators that your crawl space is experiencing water intrusion. One of the biggest is through moisture damage. Moisture occurs when waters enters the crawl space and evaporates into the air. This creates higher relative humidity in the crawl space and the excess moisture can be absorbed into the wooden posts and the fiberglass insulation. For this homeowner, they noticed that most of their fiberglass insulation was sagging from the sub-floor, negating its purpose of properly insulating the home. This is because it absorbed the moisture in the air which made it loose and fall. They called John's Waterproofing about how to solve this issue and save their crawl space from further moisture damage. We suggested that the quickest solution would be doing a Pipe, Pump, Plastic system. To begin, we had to remove the original damaged vapor barrier and all the falling insulation because they were creating an atmosphere for mold and mildew to grow. Then we installed a 3 inch perforated pipe along the interior perimeter of the crawl space. This is a drainage pipe that can collect any water that tries to enter and offer a safe passageway to the SuperSump Plus sump pump. This sump pump then takes all that collected water and pushes it out of the crawl space and away from the homes foundation. These two systems work together to keep the crawl space dry and free of standing water. Then, to isolate and protect, we installed a new 6 mil vapor barrier. This is installed along the base, up the foundation walls, and between the footing and wooden posts. It is anchored up the foundation walls to help guide any moisture from the walls down below to the drainage pipe to be sent out. Now, this homeowner has an immediate solution to the moisture problem their crawl space was experiencing until they are ready for a full encapsulation.