Photo Album: How the Pipe, Pump, Plastic System Works - Vancouver, WA

Water issues in the crawl space can spring up at anytime whether we are prepared or not. But, the important thing is to react quickly to water intrusion before it causes serious structural damage to the home. One of the systems at John's Waterproofing for keeping water out of the crawl space is the Pipe, Pump, Plastic method. This is a quick solution to a water issue if the homeowner isn't quite ready to commit to an encapsulation. This process begins by removing all the damaged fiberglass insulation and vapor barrier out of the space. This way we have a fresh start and can begin installing a drainage system. Drainage helps control the flow of water and acts as a guide so that it can exit safely. We do this by installing a 3 inch perforated pipe along the interior perimeter. It collects any rising groundwater or water that seeps in through the walls and offers it a place to go rather than puddling in the space. This perforated pipe connects to a SuperSump Plus sump pump that can take all that collected water and pushes it out and away from the homes foundation. The sump pump is installed at the lowest point in the crawl space and attaches to a discharge line outside of the home so that the passage of water is secure and constant. The last step of this system involves installing a new 6 mil vapor barrier. It is installed along the base, up the foundation walls, and between the footing and wooden posts to isolate and protect. We make sure to keep water out by overlapping each seam of the vapor barrier and anchoring it to the foundation walls. This helps prevent standing water in the crawl space and also works to guide any water that tries to seep through to the drainage system to be sent out. This system offers homeowners a cleaned out crawl space with proper drainage to stay dry until they are ready to fully encapsulate and seal the earth off from the home.