Project date: December 2024
Location: Vancouver, Washington
The Challenge
This homeowner was looking to sell their house in a hurry but the sale failed because the crawl space was in such disarray. There was a few inches of water throughout the entire space and insulation was falling down. The inspector informed them of how much damage this could cause the home if it was not fixed soon and backed out of the transaction.
The insulation had fallen down because the vent screens were damaged or missing. The rodents had gotten in and loved it in there because of the water and warm insulation.
Our Solution
This crawl space was a lot of work but was text book. It needed waterproofing and new insulation. In this case it needed to be pumped out and dried out first.
- Place sump pump in crawl space to pump water out.
- Keep pump going and remove all insulation and debris
- Dig full perimeter drainage system in crawl space, approx 160’
- Install permanent sump pump and drainage trenches
- Let sump pump run and air movers blow for over a week to allow soil to dry out
- Install drainage in trenches
- Repair all vent screens where rodents got in
- Install vapor barrier
- Install new crawl space subfloor insulation
The fans would be kept blowing the entire time to increase soil dry out. After the system is done the soil may still be saturated but it will firm up and be dry over time, sometimes as quickly as 6 months to a year! This pump pumped out well over 100k gallons of water during its first few weeks.
Before and After Photos
Water in trenches flowing towards pump before drainage is installed.
