A common problem in crawl spaces is the plastic vapor barrier being out of place or missing altogether or at least missing in some areas. The photo below is a crawl space that is very damp, as you can see. As a result of that the insulation fell down and that soggy old insulation is the pink you see in the photo. This home required quite a bit of work to get the crawl space into a condition that would allow the wood to endure. As it was, the area was one big state mandated "conducive condition." You can see a scrap of wood debris that is decaying. That is why scraps should be removed from the crawl space. Over years they might revert to earth but, in the process, they attract wood destroying insects and fungus. When a crawl space is this wet the remedy may involve any one of, or more, of the following: Changing the grade of the soil around the home, controlling all run off water including from gutters, finding plumbing leaks, underground sources of water. Sometimes it entails adding more gravel, adding larger or better footing drains or even grading the crawl space and adding a mechanical means to drain the water. The sump pump should not be the first route, as it is a device that will -- someday -- fail. It is a mechanical device after all. On the other hand, a well-designed pump system sure beats the dickens out of a crawl space like this one.
Steven L. Smith
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Randy,
No ice. It was a hot day. In a crawl space there can be so many different things that meld together when it is wet. Also, efflorescence, that looks like salt, is a possibility. This occurs when concrete has water passing through it.