A comprehensive crawl space repair & renovation underneath our home

Though I’ve enjoyed sharing our progress as we build and move towards being more self-sustainable. But this unexpected cost did not fit into our budget or the criteria of that goal plan, and it set us back in other areas. Nonetheless, it was an important project.

When we purchased our home, the inspector for escrow purposes did find some anomalies underneath our home. And so, we knew then that once we took possession, some work needed to be done. But we did not know that some preexisting problems were far worse and more damaging than we had thought.

Nonetheless, we tackled the problem head-on and hired a crawlspace solutions company. They just completed a comprehensive renovation throughout the underbelly of our home. Including but not limited to, they,

• Dugout and installed an interior-exterior French drain system.
• Installed an automatic sump pump and discharge line.
• Installed a computerized dehumidifier.
• Did a thorough encapsulation of the walls and floor.
• Sealed up the vents.
• Upgraded and insulated the crawlspace doorways.
• Installed moisture barriers on the walls and ground.

Though it’s too early to give a recommendation of the company or a review of their work. But I can share this thus far. 

Our tornado/weather system went off today giving a “warning” for a serious flash flood. During that heavy downpour, I noticed our rain gutters were clogged at the downspouts. So, while on a ladder clearing one out, I heard this loud gushing sound behind me, I turned around and saw a water geyser gushing out of the drainage system that comes from under the home. These auditory and visual effects remind me of a whale that breaches the ocean surface as it exhales.  

So, it was a great experience to see how the system works. And it was a learning curve of how quickly the water was emerging underneath our house. Especially for a guy coming from a drought-ridden state, who didn’t even need rain gutters.

If it all works as promised, this new system will,

• Automatically monitor and control the crawlspace environment and humidity level (for many years to come).
• Automatically drain and pump out any water from moisture, leakage, and/or flooding (as I witnessed today). 

And of course, the whole house generator will keep it all going during power outages.   

This home improvement should also save energy costs for the heating and air conditioning inside our home. Plus, a happy wife makes a happy life. Perhaps after six months, I will write up a review of their work.