What is Crawl Space Encapsulation?

Crawlspace encapsulation is a process used to control air and moisture at a crawlspace. During crawl space encapsulation, the crawl space is sealed off from the outside, allowing for better control of moisture and infestation prevention.

The crawlspace, or crawl space as it's also called, is that area under your home where pipes and ductwork run from the crawlspace vents. This area is often unfinished and can smell musty and mildew. That's why crawl space encapsulation is so important: if left unfiltered, crawlspaces can be breeding grounds for mold and rot.

When water enters your crawl space through cracks in the foundation it causes many problems such as crawl space mold. Water vapors also escape through these cracks which allow for crawl space mildew to grow. Air quality in your crawl space will eventually start to suffer when crawl space mold and crawl space mildew become an issue.

What will happen if your home is not encapsulated?

In crawl spaces throughout America, moisture damage is a serious problem that costs a ton of money.

With crawl space encapsulation, crawlspaces become usable space and can be dry, clean, and healthy. They can be used to store items or provide a play area for children. With good crawl space insulation, the air in the crawlspace is filtered and kept at a comfortable temperature. There's no musty crawl space odor because there's no moisture.

If crawl spaces are not encapsulated, crawlspaces will be damp and may result in structural damage to the home or can lead to mold growth and therefore health problems for anyone living in the home.

Why crawl space encapsulation?

Crawl spaces that are not properly treated can present problems. They can accumulate mold and mildew, dust mites, and musty odors. They also represent an opportunity for pest infestation to crawl into the home. Moisture can lead to the rotting of crawl space support beams and bearers or between interior spaces above the crawlspace.

Crawlspaces should be encapsulated using a crawlspace vapor barrier to help control these problems.

With crawl space encapsulation, you can prevent vapor from a crawl space from entering the crawlspace and condensing. This maintains soil humidity which can reduce mold and mildew growth as well as keep crawlspaces dry enough to prevent dust mites. It also reduces crawl space odors caused by mold or poor ventilation.

Moisture vapor will be drawn out through crawlspace vents so your crawlspace stays dry.

Crawlspaces encapsulated with crawl space vapor barriers also prevent crawl spaces from becoming a pathway for pests to enter the home. Exposed crawl spaces provide a place for pests to hide, feed, and breed. This makes crawlspaces an attractive habitat, especially if pest control hasn't been effective in the crawlspace.

Crawlspaces encapsulated with crawl space vapor barriers can help solve crawl space problems.

Benefits of Crawl Space Encapsulation

Get Rid of Mold

The crawl space is one of the worst areas to inhabit in your home. It's dark, damp, and has an air quality problem.

It contains all of the moisture that can't get out of your crawlspace. This leads to high humidity levels which create ideal conditions for mold growth. If you don't do anything about this crawl space molds will begin growing throughout your crawlspace, crawl space vents, crawl space doors, and crawl space flooring. This mold growth has many repercussions for the house above. It reduces the structural integrity of the wood, it can lead to severe allergies or even illness among family members living inside the home.

Save More Money From Utility Bills

Crawl spaces without crawl space encapsulation allow the crawl space to be a source of energy loss. The warm air that rises into the crawl space from the house below during the wintertime creates cold spots in your crawlspace. This results in increased heating costs because you have to turn up your furnace to compensate for this colder area, which actually ends up cooling the crawl space even more. During the summer months, crawl spaces with crawl space encapsulation keep crawl spaces ventilated which helps cool your home's air conditioning unit.

Maximize home comfort

It is hard to believe how much crawl space encapsulation can improve the comfort of your living area. If you live in a humid or hot area, crawl space encapsulation will help cool down the crawl space and decrease the humidity.

This will increase occupant comfort throughout the home as it decreases humidity, which allows for efficient breathing and easy perspiration for all crawl space inhabitants.

Lower Pest Incursions

Crawl space has many cracks and crevices which make it an ideal nesting ground for insects and pests like spiders, centipedes, and etc. These pests and insects will crawl into crawl spaces in order to find warm places to lay eggs or find protected areas during the day. When you seal off crawl space vents with crawl space encapsulation, crawl space pest control is no longer an issue.

Keep Structural Elements in Place

Crawl spaces need to be ventilated so that the crawl space does not become too humid and create mold growth or so that it is not too dry and damages the crawlspace wood. Crawlspaces however do not need to be ventilated for crawl space heating or crawl space cooling to work. Make sure that crawl space doors are sealed off with crawl space encapsulation because crawl spaces need to be isolated from the rest of the house. Crawlspaces are also home to rodents and other crawl space pests, which can easily find their way into living areas through crawlspace vents if they're not sealed with crawl space encapsulation.