Before & After Photos

After inheriting this Prudenville, MI property was from his father, the new owner decided it was time to say goodbye to the place and put the home up for sale. He was then blindsided during the sale process when he found out that the home was suffering from a terrible case of moldy crawl space syndrome (not a real diagnosis, but you get the point). The inspector informed the new owner that if he wanted to have any chance of selling the home, he would need to eradicate the mold and encapsulate the crawl space to prevent it from happening again.

Because the house was located next to a lake, moisture was very common and the crawl space would need a full system to make sure mold didn’t return. Beneath the CleanSpace vapor barrier seen in the after photo, is a drainage matting. The drainage matting is designed to keep water from puddling up and force the flow of water towards a newly installed Smart drain for discharge. Not pictured from the installation, but also designed to put a stop to mold were the SaniDry crawl space dehumidifier and vent covers. The CleanSpace barrier will prevent moisture from coming through walls and the floor, and the air tight vent covers will stop moisture and humidity from entering through the wide vent entrances. With all of these products working together, this home will be protected from mold growth for years to come.

The barrier in the before photo was installed 15 years ago, and so far, it had kept the crawl space in pretty good shape. The only problem was that the barrier had started to accumulate some mold and condensation issues. As the owners prepared to winterize their summer home once again, they called us to look for an encapsulation that would better stand up to those moisture issues. The new barrier in the after photo is the CleanSpace system. Because of its inorganic material, the barrier won’t be able to grow mold like the previous system. The liner is also an extremely strong vapor barrier that, as you can see in the after photo, covers the floor and walls of the crawl space. 

The grated, open vents seen at the bottom of the house in the before photo of this West Branch, MI summer home were allowing a lot of moisture to enter the crawl space. The home was built near a lake, and as a result, the soil around the house was very damp. Even the well surrounded well wasn’t much of a match for the damp soil. So much moisture had gotten into the crawl space that the existing vapor barrier was starting to fail. There is really no need for open vents in crawl space, so when the homeowners called us for a solution, our crew went out and installed 6 of the vent covers seen in the after photo. Our vent covers are installed with an airtight seal that won’t allow moisture or humidity to get inside of the crawl space. Not only will they help keep the vapor barrier in the crawl space in better condition, they will also help in the fight against mold, humidity, and even pests that may try to use crawl spaces as homes. 

The owners of this home knew they had to do something when the walls of their crawl space started leaking. The best solution for combating moisture in the crawl space and preventing mold growth is a CleanSpace liner.  This liner is 20mil thick, made of many layers of polyester cord reinforcement, making it durable and virtually resistant to tears. CleanSpace is also manufactured with an antimicrobial additive, so no matter how wet the back of the liner gets, no mold will grow. The liner is fixed to the walls, providing a permanent solution to keeping moisture out of crawl space, giving these homeowners peace of mind.

Christopher & Christine, homeowners and past clients of ours from West Branch, MI had been struggling with a constantly wet crawl space. They knew that living right near a marshland and having an old unreliable sump pump was not helping their crawlspace concerns. After having their cement Poly-Leveled by Ayers the couple was highly impressed and began planning for our return trip to address their crawl space.

Upon scheduling an appointment and assessing Christopher & Christine’s crawl space needs, we recommended our CleanSpace crawl space encapsulation system to help resolve the issues in their crawl space. The CleanSpace encapsulation product is a super thick durable plastic lining that fully seals off the crawl space from the harsh elements it faces below. To supplement the CleanSpace, we also installed the CleanSpace drainage mat to ensure maximum water drainage to the sump pump. With the couple having a broken sump pump, a Triple Safe sump pump was also highly necessary. TripleSafe is a safeguard feature that includes the use of three pumps to ensure this basement will stay dry, even in power outages and severe weather events. In the case of heavy water or primary pump failure, the second and more powerful pump will kick in, if there is a power outage the battery powered UltraSump will take over.

Additionally our friends elected for us to install SilverGlo wall paneling. SilverGlo panels are constructed very differently than other types of insulation. These panels contain tiny graphite particles that permeate its foam insulation; this is what gives the panel that silver shine. These tiny particles serve a functional purpose besides just looks; they reflect heat and lower the material's conductivity for superior R-value insulation. Thanks to this complete crawl space renovation, living near a marshland is no longer a sweat for Christopher & Christine.