O.k., don't shoot me, I realize this is a wood working area and if I don't
correct this, I'll probably be doing allot of woodworking. You all helped me
once before, so I know there's allot of knowledge here. We bought a house in
Virginia Beach about a year ago & have had issues with moisture under the
house in our crawl space; the clearance is about 30" under the house. As
near as I can tell, there's nothing leaking and it's a poor ventilation
issue. The crawl space has 7 vents to the outside, however due to poor
design and how the house is laid out, there's no real cross ventilation. We
do have plastic laid down (because Virginia Beach is built on a swamp and it
has the potential to be damp under there). Anyway, my question is what type
of fan should I get? Or, should I even get a fan? If so, it'll have to be
one that fits in one of the 7 the vents that's already there... Thanks in
advance for the advice or assistance (and not shooting me). Randy

Randy and Ann wrote:
O.k., don't shoot me, I realize this is a wood working area and if I do=
n't=20
correct this, I'll probably be doing allot of woodworking. You all help=
ed me=20
once before, so I know there's allot of knowledge here. We bought a hou=
se in=20
Virginia Beach about a year ago & have had issues with moisture under t=
he=20
house in our crawl space; the clearance is about 30" under the house. A=
s=20
near as I can tell, there's nothing leaking and it's a poor ventilation=
=20
issue. The crawl space has 7 vents to the outside, however due to poor =

design and how the house is laid out, there's no real cross ventilation=
=2E We=20
do have plastic laid down (because Virginia Beach is built on a swamp a=
nd it=20
has the potential to be damp under there). Anyway, my question is what =
type=20
of fan should I get? Or, should I even get a fan? If so, it'll have to =
be=20
one that fits in one of the 7 the vents that's already there... Thanks =
in=20
advance for the advice or assistance (and not shooting me). Randy
=20
=20
=20


Have a look a Jon Eakes web site -- I searched on Moisture -- West Coast =

BC has same problem...

http://www.joneakes.com/ca/hs/cgi-bi...3Dkeyword&key=
words=3DMoisture



--=20
Will R.
Jewel Boxes and Wood Art
http://woodwork.pmccl.com
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those=20
who have not got it.=94 George Bernard Shaw

Randy and Ann wrote:

O.k., don't shoot me, I realize this is a wood working area and if I don't
correct this, I'll probably be doing allot of woodworking. You all helped me
once before, so I know there's allot of knowledge here. We bought a house in
Virginia Beach about a year ago & have had issues with moisture under the
house in our crawl space; the clearance is about 30" under the house. As
near as I can tell, there's nothing leaking and it's a poor ventilation
issue. The crawl space has 7 vents to the outside, however due to poor
design and how the house is laid out, there's no real cross ventilation. We
do have plastic laid down (because Virginia Beach is built on a swamp and it
has the potential to be damp under there). Anyway, my question is what type
of fan should I get? Or, should I even get a fan? If so, it'll have to be
one that fits in one of the 7 the vents that's already there... Thanks in
advance for the advice or assistance (and not shooting me). Randy



I'm gonna reply again because my PC's date was set to 3 years ago.

If you have WATER in the soil under your house (not just MOISTURE),
consider getting a sump pump installed as well as ventilation to help
remove the moist air.

Dave

Is ALL of Canada 3 years behind? Sorry, just kidding, David! I saw no
indication of your date problem. But seriously, if it's a high water
table causing this, a sump pump would probably just run and run and...
Tom

"Randy and Ann" wrote in message
news:ff7Ne.52224$Ji.2774@lakeread02...
O.k., don't shoot me, I realize this is a wood working area and if I don't
correct this, I'll probably be doing allot of woodworking. You all helped
me once before, so I know there's allot of knowledge here. We bought a
house in Virginia Beach about a year ago & have had issues with moisture
under the house in our crawl space; the clearance is about 30" under the
house. As near as I can tell, there's nothing leaking and it's a poor
ventilation issue. The crawl space has 7 vents to the outside, however due
to poor design and how the house is laid out, there's no real cross
ventilation. We do have plastic laid down (because Virginia Beach is built
on a swamp and it has the potential to be damp under there). Anyway, my
question is what type of fan should I get? Or, should I even get a fan? If
so, it'll have to be one that fits in one of the 7 the vents that's
already there... Thanks in advance for the advice or assistance (and not
shooting me). Randy



Google using Foundation vents. It will show vents with and without fans.
here is one example http://www.ddchem.com/Foundationfan.html .

Good Luck

MikeG

tom wrote:

Is ALL of Canada 3 years behind? Sorry, just kidding, David! I saw no
indication of your date problem. But seriously, if it's a high water
table causing this, a sump pump would probably just run and run and...
Tom

but if it's seasonal, such as under my folks home (they live on a
slightly terraced lot) the pump will run once in a while to reduce
near-surface water. their pump probably doesn't run even 1/10 of 1
percent of the time, but when it needs to, it runs automatically,
periodically, for days at a time.

Dave

I appreciate all the assistance and have done some more research via the
internet, hard ware stores, etc. A couple facts: It's always wet in Virginia
Beach with the water table being at only a few feet below surface level.
It's not wet enough for a sump pump. The plastic vapor barrier needs fixed a
little & some of the insulation is wet which will need replaced. I've also
talked to a number of folks about the fan in one of the vents to the outside
& have determined it's a bad idea. With the high humidity factor in Va
Beach, it'll do more harm than good. I ran into another person at HD with
the exact same problem. An under house fan of some type to circulate the air
under there seems to be a good idea. It's only wet in places and half the
crawl space is completely dry. No pipes are broken. I've also run into a
couple of neighbors who have the same problem. It's starting to create a
little mold and will wash it with a bleach solution. Any further suggestions
are welcome and I greatly appreciate the info to date. Thanks a million.
Randy


"MikeG" wrote in message
nk.net...

"Randy and Ann" wrote in message
news:ff7Ne.52224$Ji.2774@lakeread02...
O.k., don't shoot me, I realize this is a wood working area and if I
don't correct this, I'll probably be doing allot of woodworking. You all
helped me once before, so I know there's allot of knowledge here. We
bought a house in Virginia Beach about a year ago & have had issues with
moisture under the house in our crawl space; the clearance is about 30"
under the house. As near as I can tell, there's nothing leaking and it's
a poor ventilation issue. The crawl space has 7 vents to the outside,
however due to poor design and how the house is laid out, there's no real
cross ventilation. We do have plastic laid down (because Virginia Beach
is built on a swamp and it has the potential to be damp under there).
Anyway, my question is what type of fan should I get? Or, should I even
get a fan? If so, it'll have to be one that fits in one of the 7 the
vents that's already there... Thanks in advance for the advice or
assistance (and not shooting me). Randy



Google using Foundation vents. It will show vents with and without fans.
here is one example http://www.ddchem.com/Foundationfan.html .

Good Luck

MikeG

I had this problem on a conventional raised foundation. Having lived
mostly on slab foundations, I began researching the problem and after
interviewing 2 contractors with different solutions, I decided to have
a crawlspace encapsulation system called CleanSpace installed in my
crawlspace. Before doing so, in January, my humidity would stay around
98% all the time, with standing water. I know this because I placed a
digital hygrometer down there for a while before having any repairs
done. After having the system installed, it now stays about 70%
humidity most the time, but I am hoping that will drop even more after
having a few places sealed up that have pulled away from the block
wall. I do not open/close vents anymore, and it stays pretty constant.
I have a sump pump that was also installed by the company under the
liner and it runs when it rains, but that's about it. It was not a
cheap solution, but the right on in my opinion. It is warranted for 25
years I believe. Here is a link with more information on the
CleanSpace system. I have no affiliation with them whatsoever, other
than having their system installed early this year.

http://www.basementsystems.com/crawlspace.html

Lance, Thanks for the info. We want to do it right, however we're a military
family and move fairly often. Unfortuanetly we don't know when we'll move
again and don't really want to dump allot of money into it. On the other
hand, when we sell the house we don't want a solution that the next
homeowners will have issues either. Kind-of looking for a middle of the road
solution. As I said before, allot of the houses here have this exact same
issue. If it wouldn't be such a pain in the butt under there it would be a
good buisness to be in. Thanks, Randy

"lance" wrote in message
ups.com...
I had this problem on a conventional raised foundation. Having lived
mostly on slab foundations, I began researching the problem and after
interviewing 2 contractors with different solutions, I decided to have
a crawlspace encapsulation system called CleanSpace installed in my
crawlspace. Before doing so, in January, my humidity would stay around
98% all the time, with standing water. I know this because I placed a
digital hygrometer down there for a while before having any repairs
done. After having the system installed, it now stays about 70%
humidity most the time, but I am hoping that will drop even more after
having a few places sealed up that have pulled away from the block
wall. I do not open/close vents anymore, and it stays pretty constant.
I have a sump pump that was also installed by the company under the
liner and it runs when it rains, but that's about it. It was not a
cheap solution, but the right on in my opinion. It is warranted for 25
years I believe. Here is a link with more information on the
CleanSpace system. I have no affiliation with them whatsoever, other
than having their system installed early this year.

http://www.basementsystems.com/crawlspace.html

Lance:

Curious as to several things:

1) What part of the country are you from?

2) What was (if you like to share) the cost
of doing the wrap?

Reason, considering this for my house. There is
exactly ONE person in my county who is doing this
and they are running the same pictures on their website
that your link is. Got to think they are all part of
a general distribution system.

We live near the Calif. coast (about 10 miles away)
and get a fair amount of fog every day for about
7 mos a year. I just put in a dehumidfier in the
finished storage space under the house, but I have
to empty the thing every day and it runs pretty
much full time. It made a difference in the smell
(musty) and it's much drier in the room as well.But
I think I need to tackle the problem - the crawlspace
is located on the same level and it's just like
all spaces are - dirt.

I was going to do the 6mil plastic over the
crawlspace as most people do, but curious to
the system that you've installed.

Thanks much.

MJ Wallace

MJ,

I'm in Tennessee. I am no expert on the system, so all I can share is
my experience. We bought the home about 1 year ago and before buying
it we had it professionally inspected. The inspector told us there was
some standing water under there and some mold starting to grow and that
we should look into doing something about it. As I said, I began
researching solutions and interviewed 2 contractors, one being the one
that eventually installed the CleanSpace system. From my research, I
believe it to be the best solution, although not the cheapest solution.
In all, they put in the CleanSpace system, a SuperSump system under
the liner, and also a couple of other things like sistering a couple of
joists that had been cut too much for running pipe when the house was
built. All of it came to around sixty-five hundred. As I said, it was
not a cheap solution, but most of the other houses around here have
this problem as well, and I feel we have gone above and beyond others
by the fix now in place. Just having the CleanSpace installed would
likely be less than the price we paid...maybe 4-5 grand...just a guess.
Anyway, so far, it seems to have been a good solution, and with the 25
year transferrable warranty, it should be a good solution. If anyone
would like some pictures, I think I could go snap a few in the next
couple of days and email them. I think I might have a few taken before
the installation too.

Oh, and yes, all the companies installing this are selling the same
product. I believe it is made and put out by BasementSystems
(www.basementsystems.com). They probably do share pictures, so that is
why you aren't seeing different ones. When they were installing it (it
took about 4 days) I was talking with the guys and asked them if they
were doing many of these installs in the area, and he said not really
where I live because we are somewhat rural, but that people in
Nashville were having it put in, but mostly in higher end houses
because of the cost. Hope my information helps you, and I understand
you not wanting to sink a ton of money into a house you'll likely sell
relatively soon. Good luck.

Lance:

Thanks much for the info. Yeah, $6500 is a bit high. But
we just built this house last year and I'm thinking it just
one thing we need to add. Will contact the local guys
and see what they charge.

Hope you stay dry in Tennesse! I've been once, seems
like a nice place. But being a "blue-state" guy I might
not be as welcomed to stay much more then a visit!

Michael