This is an
email from a gentleman from Virginia. His questions are based on obstructions
and product selection.
Q.
John Kane
Sent: Sunday, April 20, 2008 10:08 PM
To: info@crawlspaceinfo.com
Subject: Attention Customer Service
I live
in Virginia and have a crawl space that is above ground level and ventilated
with foundation vents. The plastic vapor barrier is a mess. The crawl space is
1300 sq ft and contains approximately 20 footings creating quite a challenging
environment in which to install a vapor barrier.
Do you
recommend DrySpace in this case and if so does it make sense to cover the
foundation vents, or just cover the ground as best possible?
Thanks,
John
Kane
Chesapeake, VA
A.
John,
Thanks for the
email. That is a lot of supports (footings) and your right it will make it more
challenging but not all is lost. There is a process to wrapping these supports
so they are sealed. We can help you with how to do it. The best is to eliminate
the vents and condition the crawl space like it was your home, because it is.
What I mean is heat and cool it with your existing furnace and A/C, this will
give you the best results. If that is not possible then you should look at a
dehumidifier, but look at the good ones like an OscarAir. The only way you can
control the moisture is to seal out the dirt floor, wrap the supports and close
the vents. Even though you have some challenges it may not be as bad as you
think. If you like, in the near future we can make a video of how to wrap the
supports and let you know when it will be ready to view (approx 2 weeks). My
recommendation is to use the DrySpace on the floor and walls and close the
vents. To keep the cost down (depending on what you will use the crawl space
for) you can use our 8 Mil. It is very durable and will hold up to regular
maintenance type traffic.
I hope this answered
your question. Please feel free to keep in touch and let us know if you have any
other question.
Matt Leech
CrawlSpace
Concepts
248 426 8320
More questions from John
Q.
From:
John Kane
Sent: Monday, April 21, 2008 11:11 PM
To: matt@crawlspaceinfo.com
Subject: Attention Customer Service
Matt,
Thanks very much for the information. A few more questions.
If I understand your recommendation, I should cover the
crawlspace floor and walls up to the floor joists, to include the supports with
DrySpace. In doing so the foundation vents will be covered over and should be
closed. I should then add an A/C-Furnace vent into the crawlspace to help
regulate the humidity.
My crawlspace is 32’x32’ with a connecting 20’x13’4” room off to
one side. That is approximately 1300 sq ft. The walls are mostly 3’ with some
areas (sunken floor) at 2’. This means a 1300 sq ft roll will not suffice. Can I
purchase a smaller roll to cover the remaining space?
The crawlspace is only used for termite inspections and
occasional maintenance on cable TV, phone wiring, plumbing, etc. So it you think
the 8 Mil will do, then that is what I’ll go with. The working space is
extremely tight due to all the A/C ducting, gas pipes, plumbing, etc. Thus the 8
Mil should be easier to handling.
John Kane
Chesapeake, VA
A.
John,
When you add the
ducts (supply and return) to the crawl space do both of us a favor and consult
with a heating and cooling contractor to make sure you get enough air flow in
the crawl space. In other words if you only put one heat vent in or no return it
may not be enough to regulate the humidity properly. On the other side if you
put in to many heat vents you may rob your home of the proper volume to heat it
comfortably.
We actually
have several options to help you. The 8 Mil comes in several different widths we
only offer the selection we have on the site to simplify the purchase of the
material. We keep an eye on what is ordered and if we can make suggestions to
save our customers money we do just that. The 8 Mil comes in widths of 6.67’ up
to 32.5’ X 100’ long so you can pretty much get what you need without buying way
too much. On top of all of that the 8 Mil is the easiest to work with.
I hope this helps.
Matt Leech
CrawlSpace
Concepts
248 426 8320
Q.
From:
Papania, Dom
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2008 9:12 AM
To: info@crawlspaceinfo.com
Subject: Install Information
Looking
at your photos online it would appear as the side walls of the Crawl space are
typically covered 1st is that correct? My side walls are about 5 ft high with
gravel on the floor. No water issues in the Crawl space but I will pre-laying
ventilation pipe under the liner for future Radon Mitigation.
Is this
how I would go about installing in a small crawl space 15x18 ft with 5ft walls
on 3 sides
1. Remove the Fiberglass insulation from the side walls.
2. Rack out and level gravel
3. Clean along top of cinder blocks
4. Cut liner to fit side walls with enough to allow a 8-12 inch
overlap at the bottom.
5. Apply the double stick foundation tape along the top edge of the
block.
6. Put up the liner.
7.
8. cut and install the liner to the floor
"
9. seal the sides to the floor with the Seam Tape
"
Questions
1. would
I overlap the side piece on top of the floor piece or would I overlap the floor
on top of the extra that will be left at the bottom of the side piece or does it
really matter?
2. when
sealing the sides to the bottom, would I only use the Seam Tape or would I also
use the foundation tape along with the Seam Tape.
I will
be placing an order later today and will determine the amount of Tape required
based on your install recommendations
Thanks
for your help.
Dominic Papania
Senior Database Engineer, Enterprise Tech &
Business Solutions
A.
Dominic,
To
answer your questions, yes you are right the walls go up first and you listed
the steps correctly.
The proper install
method is to lap the floor on top of the wall. The reason is this, if you were
to have water ever leak through the foundation it would be directed to the floor
unobstructed. If you installed the wall on top of the floor water could run down
the wall and get trapped at the floor flap (overlap) and hold water potentially
causing water to leak onto the DrySpace. This actually happened to us on a job
that was very muddy. We laid the floor first to get out of the mud then the
walls. At the time we did not see what the difference would be if we just taped
the wall to the floor. Well the sump failed on a power out and there were
gallons and gallons of water trapped at the floor flap. Since that job we always
recommend that you tape the floor on top of the wall.
When sealing the
floor to the walls the typical procedure is to use just the Waterproof Seam
Tape. But if the crawl space has a history of going under water then using the
Foundation Seal Tape on the seams as well is another line of defense against the
pressure caused from water build up. You will gain no advantage against sealing
out moisture using the Foundation Seal Tape along with the Waterproof Seam Tape
the only advantage is where water may build up under the vapor barrier. The
Waterproof Seam Tape alone is a bit of an overkill for just moisture problems,
its greatest value is the longevity of the performance.
I look forward to
doing business with you Dominic.
Matt Leech
CrawlSpace
Concepts
248 426 8320
Q.
From:
Bettilou Galbraith
Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 1:58 PM
To: info@crawlspaceinfo.com
Subject: Old house with a small cellar and crawl space
My husband
and I live in New York State and bought an old house (1826, I think) three years
ago that has a 13 x 13 dirt floor stacked stone cellar. From that cellar in many
directions are crawl space areas anywhere from two feet to 3 feet high or so.
All dirt in the crawl spaces with nothing flat and even. Some of the stacked
stone wall has openings to the outdoors. There are places where concrete blocks
have been stacked as well as a few jack posts to support the house. This house
has been added onto in every direction imaginable. Some of the rooms even extend
over the foundation walls and just kind of hang over without any support.
We are
currently getting estimates on drainage away from the house as we live in low
area where water collects and runs into our crawl space and fills the cellar
area with water. We have installed a sump pump in the cellar area to carry away
the water.
We have
been trying to figure out what is the best way to insulate and clean up our
cellar and crawl space. We've talked to some contractors, but have not gotten
any real solutions.
We also
have a 275 gallon fuel tank in the 13 x 13 cellar which we intend to remove next
year and place a tank outside our home.
The floor
joists above the cellar area have become spongy and weak. We plan on placing
sister boards or it may be daughter boards in that area once we get rid of some
of the moisture. I can tell there has either been termites or some boring
beetle that was in that area years ago.
I would
appreciate any advice or suggestions you might have that could solve our need
for insulating and cleaning up our crawl space and cellar.
Thank you.
Bettilou
Galbraith
New York
A.
Bettilou,
Your situation is
not uncommon, and certainly not unsolvable. Please understand that the advice I
am giving is based on the information received in your email.
Homes built in the
1800’s were built without having building codes or regulation to guide the
construction. That usually meant that the home was built with insufficient
framing and support. Chances are very good that the home was built with hardwood
studs and floor joist and the spacing varies. The mortar used to hold the field
stones together are probably deteriorating and some of the stones have fallen
out. The bad news is your home is almost 200 years old and the good news is your
home is almost 200 years old. What I mean is the home has made it this far and
that alone says something for the craftsmen that built it but it needs some TLC
to keep going. The wood destroying insects that had their way with your home
have hopefully gone but to keep them from coming back you need to control the
moisture. To control the moisture you have to control the water, seal out the
dirt, close the vents and either use a dehumidifier (a good one not a Wal-Mart
dehumidifier) or run heat/AC ducts and a return to the crawl space or both
(depending on the moisture levels). When I say both I mean for a while until the
moisture is under control. To control the water, the perimeter of the home is
your frontline. It sounds as though the perimeter of the home is the crawl
spaces. Because they were additions built at different times they are going to
be individual craw spaces, which makes your job a bit more difficult. A drain
system is needed to keep the water out of your crawl spaces and out of your
cellar. The drain system is a 4” drain tile (tube) buried in the dirt (greater
detail can be explained by phone) along the inside of the perimeter foundation
wall. This tile is then taken to a sump that pumps the water out and away from
the home. Now if you have many different crawl spaces your choice is this,
connect the entire drain tile to one sump (which means cutting through the
foundation from one crawl space to the other- only a large enough hole for the
tile) as long as the length of the tile does not exceed 180 ft then you will
need two located in opposite ends of the home. Or you install separate sumps in
each crawl space. Once the water is under control then it is time to seal the
dirt. If you do not plan to use these crawl spaces for storage you can use our 8
Mil DrySpace to cover the walls and the floor. With the fieldstone foundation it
is near impossible to completely seal the vapor barrier to the walls but it
still makes a profound difference and it will give you the ability to control
the moisture and humidity. Some of our customers that have a fieldstone
foundation install the DrySpace about half way up the wall and then use a spray
foam insulation to seal the gaps caused by the uneven stones. If you have vents
you will want to seal them up as well. Now you decide on a dehumidifier and
plumb it into the sump. We recommend the OcarAir. We also carry a 45 Mil that
you can put down on the cellar floor to keep the moisture out there as well. The
benefits are clean dry crawl spaces, clean dry air, NO more bugs eating your
home, no more rot and no more water.
This may sound like
a lot and it is but any attempts at a shortcut will result in this problem
becoming your hobby. I hope I answered your question. If for some reason I did
not or you have others please send me another email or call our office (toll
free 877 379 7658) and schedule a time we can have a phone conference so that I
can better understand your problem. I want to get you the right advice.
Sincerely,
Matt Leech
CrawlSpace
Concepts
248 426 8320
More on the way!
