Before & After Photos

This apartment complex had water intrusion in one of its buildings. However, the intrusion was not anything too serious, although definitely something that needed to be taken care of. The help of just a few products was able to really transform and to solve this management's water intrusion problem.

The "before" picture shows the area where the water was coming in when our specialist first went out to the apartments. Many times, there is not a very obvious area where the water is coming, however, in this area, this is not the case. There is a large area where the ground is soaked with water, assumed to be soaking through the concrete on the wall.

The "after" picture shows the same area, but with the WaterGuard drain and CleanSpace liner installed. The CleanSpace liner helps to direct water down to the WaterGuard drain system, which then drains to the sump pump. The CleanSpace is definitely an important part of this system, but the "meat and potatoes" is the WaterGuard drain. The drain runs down the perimeter of the wall and collects all of the water that comes through the wall. The final step of this is for the water to drain off to the sump pump where it is then pumped out to the outside of the home, or apartment in this case.

Our team installed CleanSpace to encapsulate this crawl space, located in Edgemoor, SC.

This homeowner had a large amount of moisture in its crawlspace when they called us, but this was not the first time they dealt with water intrusion issues. Previous to water issues in the crawlspace, they had water intrusion in their basement, that was solved with a different company and products, however, they did not want that company to do more waterproofing work, so they called us. This was a relatively simple and quick fix, but a very important one, because of just how much moisture was getting into the crawlspace.

The "before" picture shows off the how the ground in the crawlspace is almost like mud, that's a lot of water! You can even see where mud has pushed, rubbed on the hot water heater. This crawlspace was in some pretty rough shape, but with a little bit of work and a great product, our crew made this crawlspace look like new!

The "after" picture shows the huge transformation that happened in this crawlspace. Our crew had a lot of different objects to go around in this area but did it with expertise. Sealing this crawlspace is one of the biggest parts of the job because of its importance. If it is not sealed correctly, then the moisture is still going to make its way into the "encapsulated" crawlspace.

Water intrusion is often an issue that people will put off before other home improvement projects. Since the crawlspace is under the home, people aren't always thinking about it and would rather stain the deck or get a new roof and fix their crawlspace. Or sometimes people aren't in the best financial situation and can't afford to have the problems taken care of. However water intrusion issues are not something that should be put off because the crawlspace affects the entire home because the air cycles from crawlspace to attic, which can be explained by the "stack effect". 

This homeowner had actually called us to take a look at their home a few years back in 2014. For one reason or another the homeowner decided not to get the work done, but knew the dangers of not taking care of the issue. The bad thing about water intrusion issues is that hardly ever do they get better, they tend to just get worse and worse. This was unfortunately the case for this homeowner and close to four years later they called us back to their home to take a look and figure out what we could do to fix the problems that they had been having.

Our System Design Specialist was able to go out and revisit the home to see if anything had changed and what exactly they were going to need to finally get this problem under control. The second quote was very close to the initial quote, with a few minor changes. The main part of the quote was the CleanSpace liner that was going to be installed in the crawlspace. The CleanSpace helps to seal off and separate the crawlspace from the ground, and along with the SaniDry Sedona dehumidifier that was installed in this crawlspace, the homeowner had a much cleaner and healthier area. 

This homeowner called All-Dry of the Carolinas because they were getting a strange odor throughout their home, which they believed was caused by something in their crawlspace. This is something that we see quite often. When crawlspaces (and basements) have water intrusion, and stagnant water in them, a musty smell usually tags along with it. Since the air in a home cycles from the bottom-up, this smell can make its way throughout a home.

Fortunately, this issue is pretty easily solved with a full encapsulation system. The dampness and water in crawlspaces usually come from the ground, so when getting CleanSpace installed, it essentially seals off the crawlspace from the outside world. We have had several homeowners say that even within a week or two after our system was installed that the smell had completely tapered off. 

CleanSpace works so well because it is very different than a "traditional" crawlspace liner (like the black one in the before picture). CleanSpace is a 20 mil-thick liner, similar to a pool liner that doesn't allow water or water vapor to get through. Not only does the liner itself prevent anything from getting through, but the crew completely seals the liner to the walls with tape and caulk, to make sure no water vapor gets around the sides.