Should i encapsulate my crawl space

But is this home renovation the right call for you? North Carolina homeowners have to fight their fair share of pests. Depending on the season, the plague at hand may be ants, termites, spiders, or even rodents. Fortunately, the airtight barrier of a sealed crawlspace means that unwanted insects and critters can no longer enter. Household humidity is a genuine issue in any home, but it can be a bigger issue in homes with crawlspaces. These areas tend to trap moisture, making it a breeding ground for mold, mildew, and fungal growth.

This can be a major health issue , especially if anyone in your home has allergies or asthma. If you opt to have your crawlspace sealed, however, part of the process will involve cleaning and prepping your space. This can ensure the resulting encapsulated crawlspace is free of potential health hazards, and the airtight barrier will keep future moisture outside of your home where it belongs.

That is why it is important to keep the crawlspace in good health. If excess moisture is allowed to collect in the crawlspace, it can cause mold growth and may also lead to wood rot or rust formation, weakening the supporting structures in your crawlspace. That is why it is important to protect your crawlspace with crawlspace encapsulation with a vapor barrier.

Both having your crawlspace encapsulated with a vapor barrier and sealing off crawlspace vents will work in different ways to keep moisture out. While it may be more expensive, crawlspace encapsulation is the more effective of the two options. The most common method used to seal a crawlspace without the installation of a vapor barrier is simply to close the vents and have them sealed shut. One might also physically remove the vents and patch and seal the area where they were.

Other options to seal the crawlspace without vapor barriers include vapor retardant paint. However, vapor retardant paint is not nearly as effective as an actual crawlspace liner.

People tend to get around 50 to 60 percent of the air they inhale from their crawl space. An unclean and dirty crawl space can result in the generation of polluted air, contributing to different health disorders. On the other hand, a tidy, encapsulated, or sealed crawl space not only prevents excess moisture in your interior space above, but the addition of a dehumidifier usually installed in a crawl space improves the overall indoor air quality too.

While encapsulation and vapor barrier seem to be slightly similar processes, one of the significant differences between them is the area they cover. In the vapor barrier process, the floors and walls up to 8 inches are sealed with a heavy-duty polyethylene barrier connected with sturdy tape.

However, encapsulation is a broader concept involving the sealing of the walls, floor, foundation, ceilings, and other crawl space areas. A 6mm polyethylene barrier is laid on the entire crawl space floor in a vapor barrier installation process.

The vapor barrier is limited to the sealing of your crawl space with black plastic. Neither it requires a dehumidifier, nor does it call for a sump pump installation. Hence, the encapsulated crawl space is an ideal storage option. Read on to know some more benefits of crawl space encapsulation:. The purpose of encapsulation is to reduce the moisture in your crawl space, reducing your risk of mold.

It also makes for cleaner air in your crawl space, which you share air with. Having an encapsulated crawl space comes with many benefits, the greatest one in our opinion being, better air quality.

So you want a clean crawl space. With encapsulating your crawl space you save money on your energy bill! Having an encapsulated crawl space will reduce the humidity in your crawl space as well, decreasing your potential for mold problems exponentially.

A vapor barrier installation is the process of laying down 6mm black plastic throughout your entire crawl space floor.