Crawl Space Repair & Encapsulation

If you have recently moved into a home with an exposed crawl space, or you are ready to consider encapsulating the crawl space of your current family home, we urge you to contact a crawl space specialist.

The Dangers of DIY

DIY repairs are something that many homeowners dabble in, and while we agree that it is good to have basic DIY skills, we also believe that DIY should end where structural issues begin. Because there is a high likelihood of structural problems in a damp, wet, or unhealthy crawl space, we urge our clients to avoid DIY encapsulation.

If you simply waterproof and seal a crawl space that is being affected by things like foundation damage, all you will be doing is covering up the signs of deterioration. This will lead to the issues being far more advanced when they are discovered. Worse still, you could end up creating an incubator of sorts, trapping water and pests into your crawl space. This could actually cause more damage than was previously at work.

The Benefits of Professional Services

A professional service offers many benefits, but the most obvious is its ability to safely and effectively tackle structural issues. Foundation damage, in particular, is quite dangerous when it comes to DIY repairs. This is because of the way in which it destabilizes many other parts of a structure. If you try to go it alone, you run the risk of causing damage or injury.

Furthermore, these tools are specialist in nature. Most homeowners will not have them to hand. By the time you rent all the necessary equipment and buy the required products, you could well end up paying more for a lower quality result if you try DIY. An expert will have all these tools already and can guarantee a certain standard of results. Finally, professional services offer permanent solutions. This is something you cannot guarantee if you try to undertake repair and encapsulation alone.  

Dealing with an exposed crawl space can take a number of forms.Preventing damage is ideal, but when it has already taken root, there are repair methods available.

Structural Repairs

Structural repairs will always take precedence when there is a professional involved. In fact, they should always take precedence over waterproofing measures and cosmetic repairs. That’s because if they are not completed before these processes, the issue could recur or grow in severity and scope. This will make the situation more dangerous and could increase repair costs overall.

Structural repairs cover a broad number of processes including foundation repair, concrete lifting, joist repair and replacement, and wall reinforcement. The nature of structural repairs required in each home will vary depending on a number of factors. This is why we recommend that you call in a professional as soon as possible.

Waterproofing and Encapsulation

If there are no structural repairs needed or the structural concerns have all been resolved, a professional will most likely suggest crawl space waterproofing or encapsulation. This will include covering exposed vents and crawl space access doors but goes much further and has many tangible benefits for your whole home.

Like structural repairs, encapsulation varies from home to home and is tailored to the confines of a specific situation. Generally speaking, however, structural repairs include drainage assessment and improvement, insulation, and the installation of a vapor barrier, as well as the covering of vents and doors. This will improve energy efficiency, reduce humidity, and even allow you to use your crawl space for storage. 

If a recent foray into your crawl space has uncovered dampness or flooding, it is natural to be worried. There are a number of issues that can lead to standing water in your crawl space, but the most common (other than open vents) are:

Internal Leaks

One way in which a lot of moisture can make its way into a crawl space is via internal leaks in the plumbing system that runs through a property and its attached appliances. For example, small leaks caused by weak joints between pipes or pipes and appliances can produce a surprising amount of water in any crawl space. A more dramatic example, however, is a bursting pipe.

Plumbing leaks can be caused by a number of factors, but they are fairly easy to spot. Plumbing floods and burst pipes are the most serious issues, and the easiest to spot. You can recognize smaller leaks, however, by sudden changes in water pressure, small fluctuations in temperature, stains around impacted pipes and appliances, and a visible leak.

Structural Damage

Structural damage is a slightly more insidious and worrying cause of dampness and water in a crawl space. The most likely cause of large amounts of water in a crawl space (when open vents and internal leaks have been ruled out) is foundation damage. Any kind of cracking or damage in a foundation will allow a surprising amount of groundwater to seep up into a property.

The most likely foundation issue at work in these cases is settlement. Generally caused by expansive soils, settlement sees sections of a foundation breaking away and sinking into the ground. When rainfall saturates the soil, this will let water seep into the crawl space quite quickly. Another possible cause is subsidence.
 

The average height of a crawl space can measure anywhere between one to three feet high. As its name implies, this is just large enough to crawl around.

The main purpose of the crawl space is to store your home’s vital systems inside it. This includes your HVAC system, insulation, electrical wiring, plumbing, and floor support beams. These systems should not be wet whatsoever, which can be a problem when moisture inevitably does enter this space. The crawl space needs to be completely dry or you risk these systems breaking down and causing even more problems all around your house. 

Our team at Ohio Basement Systems can help you protect your crawl space and home with various solutions including a vapor barrier, dehumidifier, and much more.

To put it simply, flood vents are like old-fashioned crawl space vents, but they serve a different purpose and are often designed to be closed until they are needed these days. With that said, there are times when crawl space vents can be converted into flood vents. 

Ventilation 

In the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, it was very common for properties that had crawl spaces to have vents installed as a matter of practice. These vents were open to the air at all times and were designed to increase internal airflow. This was thought to prevent issues with dampness and humidity in the property. These vents would allow water to pass through them in the event of flooding, which is why they are partially effective in the event of a storm surge. 

Flood vents, by contrast, are not designed to ventilate a crawl space. Their only purpose is to give way to water when there is a serious flood. We now know that exterior crawl space ventilation is more likely to cause damage to a property, and can be the root cause of issues with dampness, humidity, and condensation in a home. 

Pressure Relief and Equalization 

Flood vents are also precisely designed and placed to give the best possible effect. This may seem like a very small difference, but it is important. When a storm surge roars through any area, the margin between endurance and catastrophe can be incredibly slim. This is why FEMA has very specific requirements for the size and placement of flood vents; they know what works best. 

In the end, the purpose of a flood vent is to equalize the pressure inside and outside of your property to prevent the flooding and storm surge from causing your property to shift, crack, or even experience localized collapse. This is why flood vents come in many different forms. They need to be functional for whichever home they are being installed in.