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trouble-shooting water-soaked crawlspace insualtion ncstan 08-14-2005
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Posted by on August 14, 2005, 6:03 am


I noticed my carpet was moist in a spot in my house. So I knew
something was not right.
I went into my crawlspace and saw where the insulation was soaked
especially near the center of the house near where plumbing pipes are.
There were some small puddles of water. In the past I have had a leak
in my condensation line from my air conditioner that caused the same
problems.
I first went to check my water meter to see if there was a
property-side leak in my plumbing system...no indication of that.
There was no smell to indicate drainage leak from sewer discharge.
Plus, most of the water was in the insulation...just some water puddle.
I heard no dripping. I called the on-call plumber and he suggested it
was more likely the AC based on the conditions I described.
I had the AC repair come and they determined it was not the
condensation line or refrigeration line. He told me that he didn't
think it was plumbing or Id have a lot more water in the crawlspace and
would have noticed wet areas in areas of the house where plumbing is.

He told me it was probably moisture build-up from humidity. Since it
was in the center of the crawlspace and was dry near the crawlspace
entrance. Does this sound plausible?
The insulation is soaked, I have foundation vents and plastic on the
crawlspace soil floor.

Any ideas on what is going on? remedies??



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Posted by Harry K on August 14, 2005, 6:24 am



ncstan@yahoo.com wrote:
> I noticed my carpet was moist in a spot in my house. So I knew
> something was not right.
> I went into my crawlspace and saw where the insulation was soaked
> especially near the center of the house near where plumbing pipes are.
> There were some small puddles of water. In the past I have had a leak
> in my condensation line from my air conditioner that caused the same
> problems.
> I first went to check my water meter to see if there was a
> property-side leak in my plumbing system...no indication of that.
> There was no smell to indicate drainage leak from sewer discharge.
> Plus, most of the water was in the insulation...just some water puddle.
> I heard no dripping. I called the on-call plumber and he suggested it
> was more likely the AC based on the conditions I described.
> I had the AC repair come and they determined it was not the
> condensation line or refrigeration line. He told me that he didn't
> think it was plumbing or Id have a lot more water in the crawlspace and
> would have noticed wet areas in areas of the house where plumbing is.
>
> He told me it was probably moisture build-up from humidity. Since it
> was in the center of the crawlspace and was dry near the crawlspace
> entrance. Does this sound plausible?
> The insulation is soaked, I have foundation vents and plastic on the
> crawlspace soil floor.
>
> Any ideas on what is going on? remedies??

Yes, pull out the soaked insulation for starters. It is now useless,
actually will damage whatever it is in contact with. Get rid of it
then find out where the water is coming from. I find it highly unlikely
that it is from humidity. It would have to be almost a sauna in order
to 'soak' insulation.

Harry K



Posted by on August 14, 2005, 7:02 am


Would it be a good idea to have the plumber look...I dont know much at
all about home repair.



Posted by Pop on August 14, 2005, 11:05 am



: Would it be a good idea to have the plumber look...I dont know
much at
: all about home repair.
:
Might be better to get a "general" type of contractor or handyman
in IFF you can find one who neighbors or somenone likes and has
done business with. Be sure they're bonded and licensed to work
where you are.

Get the insulation pulled out, locate the source of the water,
and fix it. If the handyman can't handle it, then it's time for
the big bucks for a specialist. It's highly likely a general
contractor can handle that.

Assuming no one buried a dryer vent etc. in there somewhere:

My assumption is that you have a plumbing leak (supply or drain)
which is running along pipes/beams/joists to a low spot where it
finally falls thru into the insulation. To trace it might mean
removing more insulation to see just where it's coming from and
the source could be a long ways from where the water is being
found.

HTH,
Pop




Posted by Paul Franklin on August 14, 2005, 12:19 pm


On 14 Aug 2005 06:03:12 -0700, ncstan@yahoo.com wrote:

>I noticed my carpet was moist in a spot in my house. So I knew
>something was not right.
> I went into my crawlspace and saw where the insulation was soaked
>especially near the center of the house near where plumbing pipes are.
>There were some small puddles of water. In the past I have had a leak
>in my condensation line from my air conditioner that caused the same
>problems.
>I first went to check my water meter to see if there was a
>property-side leak in my plumbing system...no indication of that.
>There was no smell to indicate drainage leak from sewer discharge.
>Plus, most of the water was in the insulation...just some water puddle.
>I heard no dripping. I called the on-call plumber and he suggested it
>was more likely the AC based on the conditions I described.
>I had the AC repair come and they determined it was not the
>condensation line or refrigeration line. He told me that he didn't
>think it was plumbing or Id have a lot more water in the crawlspace and
>would have noticed wet areas in areas of the house where plumbing is.
>
>He told me it was probably moisture build-up from humidity. Since it
>was in the center of the crawlspace and was dry near the crawlspace
>entrance. Does this sound plausible?
>The insulation is soaked, I have foundation vents and plastic on the
>crawlspace soil floor.
>
>Any ideas on what is going on? remedies??

As others have said, pull out all the wet insulation and rule out
plumbing leaks and the A/C drain.

But it certainly is possilble for the condition you describe to be
caused by moisure in the air. Because you are running the A/C, the
floor is cool. Warm moist air rising in the crawlspace, if not sealed
out by a perfect vapor barrier, will condense on the underside of the
cool flooring. Note: this does not mean you should staple plastic to
the underside of the joists, this will just cause the problem to
switch seasons.

There was an excellent article in the Journal of Light Construction
sometime in the last year or two about ways to deal with this. Don't
know if it's available online or not. They had lots of pictures of
houses with rotted framing where the only source of moisture was the
crawlspace air.

A first step is to make sure the plastic covering the crawlspace floor
is sealed to the walls, all the seams are overlapped and taped, and
there are no tears or uncovered areas. If there is any moisture in
the ground, you want to keep it there. Likewise, if moisure is
wicking through the crawlspace walls, you need to fix that.

But even with those steps, if you live in an area where the humidity
is high, there can be enough water in the air to cause the problem you
are seeing.

HTH,

Paul



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