Foundation Repair Case Studies: Crawl Space Sagging in Alvaton KY

Challenge

A homeowner met us at a home show with questions about his foundation. He had noticed cracking on his interior walls.

It was priority to him to have it looked at because he understood if he let it go it would be more challenging and expensive later.

Having the problem fixed right the first time was important to this home owner.

The dinning room had cracks in the drywall, windows were sticking, the floor wasn't level.

The inspection revealed sagging of the crawlspace because of wood rot on the floor joist. Moisture, high humidity, and temperatures had created the perfect atmosphere for mildew to grow. The mildew was living and feeding on the wood in the crawl space. The humidity, temperature, mildew, AND the consistent pressure of the home above had weighed heavily on the crawl space supports.

This crawl space need support.

Solution

Clean Up:

First step was to remove all of the old and soiled plastic liner as well as any other debris living in the crawl space. 

Support:

Our crew was able to go in and shim existing columns and then added addition support with SmartJacks. A SmartJack is a steel tube with a galvanized coating. The allowable capacity of the assembled SmartJack is over 30,000 pounds. The load capacity is limited by how much our soil can bear on residential homes. 

Control the Environment:

Controlling the environment was key to making this a permanent solution for the family. Because of the high temperatures and high humidity of the area a dehumidifier was a perfect solution. It doesn't make sense to run a dehumidifier outside or sitting on the dirt, by encapsulating the crawl space we protect the entire home form high humidity levels.

SmartPipe drainage system was installed along the foundation to collect any excess water and drain it in to a sump pump liner.

A TippleSafe Sump Pump collect any water from the drainage pipe or dehumidifier and pump it out of the crawl space with a cast iron Zholler M53 sump pump.

Drainage matting was laid down with CleanSpace vapor barrier on top. The CleanSpace is 20mil think, 7 layer, interwoven plastic that will encapsulate and insulate this crawl space.

All cracks, holes, or other air leaks were sealed with a ZypFoam to prevent any unconditioned air from getting back in to this space.

An EverLast door securely seals and closes the space. This crawl space door is non organic so it will not mold, mildew, rust, or rot.

Solution:

Permanent, healthy, comfortable home for the family above.