Rainy Day Basement Systems Case Studies: Coupeville Crawl Space Encapsulation

Challenge

Cheryl and John W. bought their Coupeville home back in 2013, and while neither visit their crawl space often, they knew that it leaked a considerable amount of water. In addition, many of the floor joists were filled with pencil-tip sized holes giving the wood a polka-dotted pattern. This type of damage suggests powder post beetles, a species of virulent wood-boring beetle that lays its eggs inside the wood, generally in dank wood that is often found in damp crawl spaces. Cheryl and John contacted Rainy Day Basement Systems to provide them with a permanent solution to their crawl space complications.

Solution

In order to prevent future water seepage, a drainage trench was installed along the inside of the exterior wall footing. The unique design has holes on the top and front under a filter fabric, this allows water to be absorbed from the soil of your crawl space. To capture water from the crawl space walls and the wall joint/footing, it includes a special flange with spacers on the back and large holes.

Additionally, their entire crawl space was encapsulated in CleanSpace. The 20 mil. seven-layer lining completely separates the crawl space from the damp earth below, greatly reducing the amount of moisture allowed into the space. A SaniDry CX dehumidifier was added to further control the moisture. Working together, this system can lower the humidity of a crawl space to the point at which mold and mildew can no longer grow, and won’t attract certain pests that prefer moist areas.

All of the captured water will then be pumped through their newly installed TripleSafe Sump Pump. Equipped with three pumps in one, the TripleSafe is the most effective pump we offer. Once the pump basin fills with four inches of water, the first pump with turn on. If pump number one cannot handle the volume of water coming in, the second pump will turn on once the water reached nine inches. The third pump is battery operated and will turn on if the water reaches 11 inches, which is great in the instance of a power outage. All three of these pumps are fully automatic and can give the homeowner complete piece of mind with little need for surveillance. The water is then carried out by their buried discharge line and LawnScape Outlet, this ensures that the water is deposited a safe distance away from the home.