Crawl Space Foundation Repair in Cincinnati, OH

Wednesday, January 21st, 2026 by Jack Purdon

Challenge

This home in Cincinnati was experiencing several foundation issues, including a wet crawl space, sagging kitchen floors, and a sinking garage foundation.

The crawl space had a dirt floor, which was allowing ground moisture to seep into the space. The moisture had soaked into the fiberglass in the ceiling, causing the insulation to gain weight and fall to the floor. The wet space was also a breeding ground for pests, insects, and microbial growth.

Above the crawl space, the homeowners didn't just notice musty smells and drafts, they also felt their floor boards sag when they walked across them in their kitchen. The floor joists in the crawl space weren't receiving proper lateral support.

Lastly, a wall in their garage revealed stair step cracking. This was because the foundation was sinking vertically into problematic soil under their garage.

Solution

To fix the wet crawl space, we started by waterproofing the space with perimeter drainage pipes, which were installed in the ground. When installing the pipes, we made sure to surround the drains with a gravel backfill. We then hooked the drains up to a SmartSump sump pump, which was installed in the lowest graded part of the crawl space floor. After waterproofing the space, we then wrapped the walls with our SilverGlo insulation panels. These panels are made of graphite, making them completely anti-microbial. These panels help reflect heat back into the space thanks to their radiant barrier surface. These panels also allowed us to remove the wet fiberglass insulation in the floor joists. Next, we installed our dimpled drainage matting across the floor to protect the vapor barrier, which we later installed over the top of the drainage matting. The dimpled drainage matting allows moisture to work its way to the sump pump underneath the vapor barrier. The matting also makes the vapor barrier more durable, which is especially helpful since the homeowners planned to store items in their newly transformed space.

Next, we installed two SmartJack posts underneath the main beam in the crawl space to help stabilize the kitchen floors above. These posts replaced the failing wooden posts, which weren't strong enough to hold up the floors above.

Lastly, we completely sealed the space by wrapping the entire space with our CleanSpace vapor barrier. Our 20 mil thick vapor barrier is made of antimicrobial material, which will help keep the space smelling fresh. We taped the vapor barrier up over the SilverGlo panels on the walls, across the floors, and around the SmartJack posts. We fitted the vapor barrier into the airtight sump lid, creating an airtight seal everywhere. To finish the encapsulation, we covered the vents from the outside with our EverLast crawl space vent covers.

To fix the garage foundation, we underpinned the sinking part of the foundation with our helical pier system. We started by digging underneath the footing of the foundation to make room for our piers. We then started drilling our piers down vertically underneath the foundation until the piers reach load-bearing soil, (found 20-30 feet below the surface). After drilling, we then transferred the weight of the garage to the piers by latching our "L" shaped brackets up underneath the footing of the garage. After stabilizing, we then backfilled the trench with soil, completely concealing the pier system.

This was the photo our Inspector took upon the initial visit. You may notice the fiberglass spread across the floor, as well as the failing wooden support posts underneath the main beam.

This photo shows our SilverGlo insulation panels across the wall. These panels reflect heat back into the room. You can also see the steel SmartJack we installed to replace the wooden post seen in the previous photo.

You can see the other SmartJack post we installed from this picture, found in the back of the photo.These posts were jacked up to level out the kitchen floors above.

This was what the crawl space looked like after we encapsulated it. Our CleanSpace vapor barrier will keep moisture out of the space. We also took out the moisture soaked fiberglass from the ceiling.

This photo shows the rest of the newly transformed space. Concealed underneath the white vapor barrier on the floor is our drainage matting, which acts as a barrier between the white CleanSpace and the dirt ground.

This photo shows our SmartSump sump pump. It has an airtight lid, and was designed to be fitted with our vapor barrier to create a seal. The sump pump also has an airtight floor drain and an alarm system to account for potential plumbing leaks in the space. All of our patented products serve a purpose, and they work in cohesion with one another.

Here are the vent covers we installed from the outside to completely seal the space. These vent covers help keep out unwanted air and unwanted critters.

This photo shows the cracked garage wall. Cracks that form in a stair-like fashion like this are often a result of foundation settlement. This window was the structurally weakest point in the wall, which was the crack ran to the corner of it.

We dug underneath the garage foundation to install our piers. Here is a zoomed-out view of the piers we installed.

Here is a close up of the piers. The tops of the piers have our "L" shaped brackets attached to them, which allows us to latch them up underneath the footing of the garage, making for a secure system.