Beginning a Multi-Stage Crawl Space Project in Buckley, MI

Challenge

Sometimes we get a call from a customer who knows they have a huge problem under their home, but they’re overwhelmed by the potential time and financial commitments a project could require. But they know they need to do something.

This was the case with Beth, who had water in her crawl space and, while she and her husband had the eventual goal of fully insulating it and installing a dehumidifier, they wanted to do it in stages, starting with getting it clean and dry.

At Ayers, we aren’t going to tell you you have to do everything at once. We aren’t going to catastrophize and threaten that your house will fall down. (If we tell you your house will fall down, that’s because there’s a very real threat, so you should listen to us.) Our system design specialists are experts in designing the project that will fit your needs as well as your home’s.

Solution

Since the immediate goal was “clean and dry,” we cleared the debris - including tons of fallen fiberglass insulation, which had failed after becoming waterlogged - from the crawl space. This is an important step that many customers don’t realize is necessary; we make the ground in the crawl space as clean and level as possible before proceeding not only to clean it out, but to create a safe surface to walk/crawl on for us and anyone who might be down there in the future.

Once the space was cleaned out and level, we installed the CleanSpace vapor barrier system throughout the crawl space. CleanSpace attaches right to the walls and protects your crawl space from water, mold, and debris that can be common in a crawl space. By encapsulating the crawl space from the elements, it also protects the house above from cold floors and mold spores.

In addition to installing the CleanSpace on the walls and floor of the crawl space, we wrapped the support piers in the vapor barrier as well; this ensures full protection.

Once the CleanSpace was installed, we used FrothPak spray insulation to seal the rim joists and further protect the crawl space and the home. FrothPak is great for joints and corners where traditional insulations just might not fit. It’s also waterproof and inorganic, which means it’s unfriendly to mold - necessary for crawl spaces.

In the future, we’ll add insulation and a dehumidifier, but for now, Beth has a clean, dry crawl space.