Insulate a crawl space in Ham-Nord, Qc

Friday, January 15th, 2021 by Pamela Sabella

Challenge

Mr. Dallaire has lived in his house since 2008. Over time, he noticed that the humidity level in his house was very high, a foul odor was present in the rooms of the house and there were traces of mold in the house.

Mr. Dallaire had never been in his crawl space since buying the house and yet it was the cause of all his problems. It had an uninsulated earthen crawl space that had several air leaks and some wooden beams. The humid air from outside and the one coming from the earthen floor made the crawl space very humid and that produced mold on the wooden beams. As the air rises so does the air in the crawl space and the mold particles too and this caused mold elsewhere in the house, foul odors and high humidity in the house.

Did you know that about half of the air people breathe on the first floor of the house comes from the crawl space? So it is better that the air will be dry and clean! Mr. Dallaire contacted Systèmes Sous-sol Québec in order to remedy the situation quickly. He wanted to regain the comfort of his home and remove the foul odors.

Solution

He chose to do business with Systèmes Sous-sol Québec as we offer permanent solutions.

Our experts went to the site to isolate the crawl space. They first installed two inch thick SilverGlo insulation boards on the crawl space walls. Our SilverGlo panels are made from graphite infused expanded polystyrene. These particles reflect heat to keep it in the crawl space and keep the cold air outside.

Then they installed 3/4 inch TerraBlock insulation sheets on the floor. These sheets are placed on the ground and adjust according to the ground and make it possible to insulate the crawl space. They are covered on both sides with a vapor barrier which makes the insulation resistant to punctures and abrasion damage. SilverGlo Panels and Terrablock Sheets combined together are the ideal option for achieving the best possible energy efficiency. You will keep the cold outside and the heat inside your crawl space!

To top it off, they coated the TerraBlock with our 20 mil thick CleanSpace coating. It is made of a high density polyethylene blend for flexibility and strong strength. The white finish brightens the crawl space and makes it clean.

With this solution, the customer was able to notice very quickly that the humidity in his house had decreased considerably and the unpleasant smell was gone. There will be no more proliferation of mold due to the crawl space. And not to mention that it now has a dry and clean crawl space!