Dirt-Floor Crawl Space Gives Home the Chills in Toronto, Ontario

The right temperature plays a vital role in keeping your home comfortable. We do our best to control our home’s climate with heating and air conditioning, but these tools aren’t always enough to compete against the elements.

A customer in Toronto, Ontario, noticed that the floors above her crawl space seemed colder than the rest of her home. There was also a foul odour leeching into the living area, which she assumed was coming from the crawl space. Unsure about how to remedy the problem, she decided to reach out to Clarke Basement Systems. 

System Design Specialist Dean Merendino travelled to the customer’s home and completed a thorough inspection of the house and crawl space. Dean explained how our Crawl Space Encapsulation System would not only eliminate the odour and keep her floors warm, but it would also give her a useable storage space. The homeowner was delighted to hear about this solution, and booked a date for the installation. 

Foreman Lucio Flores and Installation Specialist Dymytro Bohatyrov started the repair by laying down drainage matting on top of the dirt floor. This unique matting forces water to drain back into the ground rather than pool on the surface. The walls were encapsulated with ThermalDry® Wall Membrane, protecting them from moisture while adding an R20 layer of insulation. Lastly, Lucio and Dymytro encapsulated the floor and lower portion of the wall with CleanSpace® Vapour Barrier. This patented vapour barrier stops moisture from seeping into the space and gives the room a clean, finished appearance.

The customer is thrilled that her home is warm, and she has a new useable storage area. She couldn’t believe her eyes or her nose when she first walked into her house. “We are really happy with the way our crawl space turned out. The guys were great, efficient, and communication was excellent. Now we can use it as a storage space! The smell was much better right away... just wonderful.”