Initial inspection with puddles of water and high humidity
You can see the large puddles of water in this crawlspace picture. Puddles like this one were spread throughout the entire home. They raised the relative humidity so much the mold was able to grow.
Falling crawlspace insulation
When the humidity gets high in a crawlspace, the moisture soaks up into the fiberglass insulation. Its basically a big sponge. When the sections get too heavy, they fall down. How much insulation value are you getting out that piece now? None. DryZone came in and pulled all that nasty stuff out of there. Its an awful job, really dirty work. The old insulation also holds a huge amount of the smells that you might be familiar with.
First day on installation, same big puddles
Several weeks after the initial inspection, we start our installation. You can see that there are still huge puddles of water, so the homeowner made a great choice in hiring DryZone to fix the nasty crawlspace.
Large and sturdy perimeter drainage pipe
DryZone uses a great drainage system for a wet crawlspace. Our HydroLink is 4" in diameter for strength and capacity. We have never run into a water problem that we couldn't find a solution for. DryZone specializes in drying out basements and crawlspaces, and keeping them dry.
Connecting to a proper crawlspace sump pump
You can see that the homeowner made a good decision to get a crawlspace sump pump. All that mud on the pipe shows just how wet the ground is under the house. DryZone installs high quality sump pumps with a sealed container to keep the water from adding to a humidity problem.
Covering the pipe system with a bed of stone
The stone adds a layer of filtration and is great for drainage. It helps to keep large dirt deposits from building up inside the pipe. DryZone uses a round stone instead of a jagged edged stone, simply because water flows better over smooth edges. Its simple things like this that prove we pay attention to details.
Old insulation pulled and a nice clean vapor barrier installed
This is a huge difference to the before pictures. All seams are overlapped and double taped for strength. This CleanSpace System is designed to keep all the water and water vapor in the dirt where it belongs. Once the liner is installed, the humidity under the home will start to lower thanks to our SaniDry CX dehumidifier (see next photo).
SaniDry CX air machine (dehumidifier)
The SaniDry CX dehumidifier is perfect for most homes. It is designed to be the most energy efficient and best producing air machine available. It can pull up to 109 pints of moisture out of the air per day, that's over 13 gallons!!! It does all this while using less electricity than most of its so-called competitors.
Sump pump and SaniDry CX
One of the nice things about our SanuDry CX and SmartSump "combo" is that there is a small port in the sump pump lid that is perfect for the discharge from the dehumidifier. This means no reason to empty a bucket or worry about the line getting clogged or kinked.
Blocking the foundation vents
When you open the foundation vents, you are actually letting in a lot of nasty humid air. That air can lead to mold growth and foul odors in the crawlspace. DryZone recommends sealing the vents off and getting the existing air dry. We also seal the walls of the crawlspace to avoid water vapor coming through the concrete. We always leave a small gap at the top to allow you to have a termite inspection without harming our work.
The IceGuard
See the small piece of pipe next the satellite dish? That is called an IceGuard. It is a special fitting that keeps your sump pump discharge from freezing. When the outside pipe freezes, it will form an ice cap. Your sump pump will discharge anyway. Now, if you had a solid pipe without the IceGuard, that pipe would back up and flood the crawlspace. It might even crack and cause a need for serious repairs. The IceGuard lets the water flow onto the ground, this saves the pipes. When the ice melts its back to business as usual.