Saving a Crumbling Crawl Space in Coopersville, MI
Challenge
Even the prospect of having water in your crawl space can be overwhelming, and the solutions for that are relatively simple What happens when you go in your basement and realize that not only do you have water problems, but the whole thing looks ready to cave in? Images of dollar signs and your new garden level, open-air living room might flash through your mind.
But ignoring it isn’t an option, so you call us.
This was the case with Tracy, who called us and said she had daylight in her crawl space. Not words you want to hear, or have to speak, to be sure. The crawl space was damp, the walls were literally falling apart, and the floors upstairs were sagging - the trifecta nightmares are made of.
But what may seem overwhelming and insurmountable to you is something we’ve been dealing with for 35 years, so we went to work.
Solution
Our System Design Specialist Greg performed the inspection, and discovered the depth of the problems. The ambient moisture had caused a mold problem that was literally eating away at the support beams, which was causing the floors upstairs to sag in light of their failing supports. While the addition to the crawl space was fine, the original combination cobblestone and block foundation was indeed crumbling and in need of repair, and the fiberglass insulation was waterlogged and falling. Greg put together a solution that would cover each aspect of the problem, and we scheduled our Project Manager Terry and his crew to go out.
The first order of business was stabilizing and securing the support beams in the crawl space. Sometimes the existing beams just need a boost, but in this case the problem was much worse. We added 44 galvanized steel beams to reinforce and sometimes replace the existing beams, as they were no longer structurally sound, and added SmartJack crawl space support posts to support the new beams. By using steel instead of wood, we can guarantee a structurally sound crawl space, as the steel isn’t affected by the ambient moisture or mold that existed in the space.
Once the crawl space was secure, we installed a new sump pump to remove any water from the crawl space and help keep the ambient moisture from reoccurring.
The walls were a two step process. The first was actually making them back into walls rather than stone colanders. For this we used a combination of wall replacement and bonding, and returned both the block wall and the cobblestone to their former wall glory.
As a final touch, we replaced the inefficient fiberglass insulation. Here’s a fun fact: fiberglass insulation isn’t a useful solution in areas with moisture problems. It absorbs the moisture and, weighed down, just falls. It’s like trying to stop a dripping ceiling by taping up a beach towel. Also, the paper backing on the insulation is one of mold’s favorite snacks, so by putting it in your wet crawl space, you’ve basically just created an all-inclusive vacation resort for mold. But Froth-Pak is a water-resistant, inorganic material that we can spray exactly where it’s needed, which means both more effective insulating properties, and less chance of problems later on.
This wasn’t an easy project; there were a lot of different problems and each one was as vital as the next for the comfort and safety of the home. But with our thorough inspection and experienced installation crew, we were able to solve every aspect of the problem and ensure the safety of the crawl space and the home above it.
