Rainy Day Basement Systems Case Studies: Crawl Space Moisture Control in Freeland, WA

Challenge

Bonnie’s three-story home was built into a hill. This design posed a problem. While her charming home has a lovely daylight basement and below-grade garage, a great deal of water seepage was penetrating through the porous concrete walls from the moist crawl space on the other side. Bonnie was bothered by the malodourous smells that were coming from her basement, but she was much more concerned about the potential damage the moisture vapors could cause and continued costs of repairs.

Solution

To ease this Bonnie’s mind, informed her that most of our products come with 25-year warranties and were constructed to be permanent solutions to the common moisture problems her crawl space was experiencing. We first installed drainage trenching in the crawl space along the interior perimeter of the foundation walls to absorb ground water seepage prior to penetrating her basement walls. The seepage was directed towards the lowest point of the space where we put the SmartSump Pump. The SmartSump is equipped with a 1/3 hp Zoeller pump and airtight lid to prevent moisture vapors and odors from escaping the sump basin.

Once the ground water was controlled, we needed to prevent moisture vapors from causing damage to the wooden floor joists and other organic materials in the space like the fiberglass insulation. We encapsulated her crawl space with CleanSpace, a highly effective vapor barrier. The lining is 20 mils. thick and has an antimicrobial agent built in to provide the best protection possible from moisture-related damages. It is secured directly to the foundation walls preventing it from being moved around. Finally, a SaniDry XP Dehumidifier was installed to offer further moisture control to the homeowner. The SaniDry is completely automatic and requires little attention. Once the allowed humidity level is set, it will activate when necessary and drain on its own. Bonnie is thrilled to now have a clean healthy crawl space that isn’t negatively effecting the other rooms of her beautiful Freeland home.