How Can I Waterproof My Crawl Space?

The waterproofing process can seem confusing to anyone who hasn’t learned much about it. There are four main steps to take to waterproof your crawl space.

 Install Sump Pump and Remove Leaks

The first step is making sure you remove all standing water in the crawl space. Standing water will make it so that the crawl space never really gets dry; after all, that water needs to go somewhere, and most frequently, it attempts to evaporate into the air.

Removing leaks, especially plumbing leaks, will help you avoid this problem. You may also want to install a sump pump, which can pump standing water out of your crawl space. It’s best to pair a sump pump with an interior drainage system like the JES CrawlDrain™ system. CrawlDrain™ catches leaking water throughout your crawl space perimeter and then channels it to a sump pump system to be properly removed from the crawl space.

Add Vapor Barrier Liner

Next, it’s important that you add a high-quality vapor barrier liner. This is especially crucial if you have a dirt floor in your crawl space, and even if you already have a vapor barrier liner, you may need to add a new one if you don’t have one that’s of high enough quality.

JES uses the 20-mil CrawlSeal vapor barrier, which more effectively protects your crawl space from moisture rising up from the dirt. Remember that there’s no way to dry out a dirt crawl space completely. You have to install a vapor barrier; ideally, a 20-mil vapor barrier, if you want to make sure water moisture doesn’t come in from below.

Cover Crawl Space Vents and Doors

You also need to cover all your crawl space vents and doors. In the past, it was very common to build homes with crawl space vents; in fact, these were typically treated as the baseline, with encapsulated crawl spaces rarely mentioned, if at all. However, in more recent history, most people have started to realize that crawl space vents do more harm than good. 

Allowing your crawl space to “breathe” doesn’t really do anything, and crawl space vents can cost your home a lot of money, time, and effort. It’s important that you install crawl space vent covers and that you manage your crawl space doors so that no air or water can get inside.

Set Up Dehumidifier

Lastly, even if you’ve fully encapsulated your crawl space, you might want to set up a crawl space dehumidifier in the space. A crawl space dehumidifier can further help you in your journey toward making sure you don’t have water damage and similar water concerns in your crawl space. 

With a dehumidifier, you can make sure you know your crawl space’s humidity levels at all times. That’s extremely helpful because it means you’ll be able to monitor what’s going on and avoid having humidity concerns that you never noticed.