New Dedicated Listening Room

[Kingrex]

Before I could even begin working on the interior of my house, I had to deal with floods of water coming into the crawl space in two sections. I had to take down two large trees to access the piprs on the front of the house. They were sitting right on top of the pipes. Both required about thirty to forty feet of trenching four plus feet down. We had a pretty massive rain in the last 2 days, and I'm happy to say. The crawl space is now staying dry .

Tomorrow I continue with the crawl space encapsulation, I began a month ago. That was when I discovered how much water was really getting under there.

It turns out the original contractor building the house decided to go. Cheap and join the downspouts. To the footing, drain has one pipe to exit. Of course, he screwed it all up so the downspouts were really dumping all their water into the footing drain, which then became a lake under the house. I had to separate the system on two ends of the house.

 

[John T]

Before I could even begin working on the interior of my house, I had to deal with floods of water coming into the crawl space in two sections. I had to take down two large trees to access the piprs on the front of the house. They were sitting right on top of the pipes. Both required about thirty to forty feet of trenching four plus feet down. We had a pretty massive rain in the last 2 days, and I'm happy to say. The crawl space is now staying dry .

Tomorrow I continue with the crawl space encapsulation, I began a month ago. That was when I discovered how much water was really getting under there.

It turns out the original contractor building the house decided to go. Cheap and join the downspouts. To the footing, drain has one pipe to exit. Of course, he screwed it all up so the downspouts were really dumping all their water into the footing drain, which then became a lake under the house. I had to separate the system on two ends of the house.

Does the home have a French Drain?

 

[Kingrex]

It had a footing drain as well as downspout drain. The jerrkhole builder tied the 2 together so he only had to exit one pipe. Of course e screwed it all up. The downspouts were dumping their water into the footing drain system and flooding the gravel bed and footer around the whole house. There was also a separated downspout pipe on the opposite end of the house that was dumping its water into the footer.

 

[John T]

Yep, too much volume. When I built my house I was able to divert the downspouts. The ease of new construction vs fixing others mistakes. I put the French Drain in, I bet I did at least 2' deep of gravel over the black pipe after coating all the blocks with black tar sealant. I didn't have a tractor with a bucket at the time so it was all shovel/wheel barrel work...Are you doing total encapsulation? Dehumidifier and everything? Done right that's a great application. I thought about having all the insulation pulled out and shoot foam between the joists. I looked into that after I had to fill the cavity from a former root cellar. We pumped 10 yards! I thew everything you could imaging in that hole, blocks, old steel wine barrel racks to stretch the concrete. The guy with the pump said you don't need to do all that. As it turned out I did. If I didn't I would have come up short....

 

[Kingrex]

Yes. Total encapsulation. I would not shoot the joist, but I am using Green foam on the rimboard. I already removed all the insulation. I found a very very little bit of mold. Looks more like mold that started during construction when the structure got wet. Seams between floor sheeting. It was dry enough to not expand over the years. . So far I have the dimpled pad down. Next will be the insulated blanket on the walls. Caulked and nailed at the top. Then the 12 mm vapor barrier over all floor and concrete. Then 2 x 80 cfm exhaust fans and a dehumidifier. I have 47 inches to work with. Nice.

I will probably gut the HVAC and replace it with some liquid radiant under the living room and hallways. Then liquid to european style radiators on the walls under windows in the dining and library. Probably 1 or 2 pic a watt in the kitchen.

European wall heat in bed rooms too.

Maybe a mini split outside with a single dump in the living kitchen for AC. But with my new covered deck, I can keep the sun off the south windows. This is the PNW. We have 1 to 2 weeks of 90 degree. At night it drops to the 70s.

 

[Kingrex]

A landscape architect was here this weekend. He said get rid of a lot of fence and celebrate the size and scale of the land. Then make a semi perimeter trail through the land. I agree. That fence down the middle has to go.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

A landscape architect was here this weekend. He said get rid of a lot of fence and celebrate the size and scale of the land. Then make a semi perimeter trail through the land. I agree. That fence down the middle has to go.

i love spring time in the Northwest.

 

[John T]

Yes. Total encapsulation. I would not shoot the joist, but I am using Green foam on the rimboard. I already removed all the insulation. I found a very very little bit of mold. Looks more like mold that started during construction when the structure got wet. Seams between floor sheeting. It was dry enough to not expand over the years. . So far I have the dimpled pad down. Next will be the insulated blanket on the walls. Caulked and nailed at the top. Then the 12 mm vapor barrier over all floor and concrete. Then 2 x 80 cfm exhaust fans and a dehumidifier. I have 47 inches to work with. Nice.

I will probably gut the HVAC and replace it with some liquid radiant under the living room and hallways. Then liquid to european style radiators on the walls under windows in the dining and library. Probably 1 or 2 pic a watt in the kitchen.

European wall heat in bed rooms too.

Maybe a mini split outside with a single dump in the living kitchen for AC. But with my new covered deck, I can keep the sun off the south windows. This is the PNW. We have 1 to 2 weeks of 90 degree. At night it drops to the 70s.

Very cool! sounds like you got it under control. I have had others tell me not to use the spray foam between the joists. Your doing it by the book, everyone I know who has implemented this in the way you are going about it have been extremely happy with the results. I hate fiberglass insulation between the joists! In time it droops. Might be a good next winter project replacing with foam board...