Crawl Space Repair Before & After Photos

6-mil vapor barriers are most commonly installed when a home is built, they are lightweight, similar to a standard trash bag, they tear easily, and are simply laid out on the ground. As soon as someone or something moves through the crawl space, the liner is displaced, torn, and bunched up, offering very little protection to the home from the earth's moisture. 

Our homeowner opted to replace this 6mil with a CleanSpace 20-mil vapor barrier. This liner is similar to a pool liner, it's durable enough for service persons to crawl and work under the home, is overlapped and sealed at all seams, wrapped and sealed around all piers, and attached and sealed to the foundation walls about 6 inches above outside grade. It completely seals the crawl space from the earth's moisture, achieving the job vapor barriers are intended to do. 

This Irvington, VA crawl space had microbial growth on floor joists, was missing insulation in many areas, and the vapor barrier was unsealed, allowing moisture from the earth to impact the crawl space. After cleaning all of the old materials and debris out, we treated the floor joists with Shockwave Antimicrobial and sealed the crawl space from the earth’s moisture with the CleanSpace Vapor Barrier. We sealed all outside penetrations to the foundation, including air gaps such as vents, the sill plate, and rim and band. Closed Cell Spray Foam is ready to be applied to the walls and a SaniDry Sedona Dehumidifier will be installed to control the relative humidity. The system will help protect the home from microbial growth and make the home more comfortable, improve indoor air quality, and reduce energy bills.  

The old vapor barrier in this crawl space was not effective. It was loose and unfastened to the walls or wrapped around piers and did not protect the crawl space from the earth's moisture. The vapor barrier was replaced with the CleanSpace Encapsulation System. CleanSpace is a 20mil vapor barrier with UltraFresh antimicrobial built-in. It is durable for service persons to crawl on without worry of tearing. CleanSpace is wrapped around and sealed to all piers and sealed to the crawl space walls 6-8 inches above outside grade. 

This home had water seeping into its crawl space. The high humidity and warm temperatures in our area result in microbial growth on joists, falling insulation, cold floors, and poor indoor air quality in many crawl spaces and homes. To repair this crawl space, we cleaned it out, treated the joists with an antimicrobial, installed a drainage system and sump pump, laid down and sealed a 20mil vapor barrier to the walls, piers, and floor, and insulated the walls with spray foam. 

Efflorescence on the walls and moisture stains on the block indicates that moisture has been working its way into this crawl space through the cinderblock foundation. 

As part of the encapsulation, Foamax foam board insulation has been installed on the walls of this crawl space creating a continuous R-10 of insulation on the foundation walls. A 2-inch viewing strip has been left at the top of the foundation wall per VA building code for termite inspections. The foam board is mechanically fastened to the wall and sealed at seams with foam.