Crawl spaces were created to elevate the lowest floors of your home away from flood hazards.
In an attempt to keep your home safe from the damage of a potential flood, crawl spaces have become a notorious place for dangerous mold growth. Plus, chances are you may have run into some undesirable pests that have made themselves a home in a crawl space.
Are you interested in learning how crawlspace encapsulation can help to keep your family safe from mold growth and unwanted pets? We’ve created a complete guide to help you better understand. Keep reading to learn more!
What Is Crawlspace Encapsulation?
A vented crawl space can degrade the performance of your home, resulting in an increased energy bill and potential health problems for your family. You can easily cut down on how much you’re spending on your energy bill and keep your family protected by encapsulating your crawl space.
Crawl space encapsulation is a popular solution for people that are looking to improve the indoor conditions of your home, but helps homeowners to avoid moisture issues caused by a vented crawl space. A polyethylene barrier is used to completely cover the entirety of the crawl space, creating a water vapor barrier.
The process of crawl space encapsulation prevents the passage of air in your crawl space from moving into the interior of your living space. An encapsulated crawl space will completely cover the ground with a vapor barrier to keep moisture out of your crawl space. Any crawl space vents will also be sealed, with band joist and foundation walls insulated.
Once the crawl space has been completely encapsulated, the installation company what condition the air to ensure there’s a healthy level of humidity in a crawlspace. In most situations, a dehumidifier will be used to regulate the moisture levels inside of your crawl space.
By combining a dehumidifier with a combination of the encapsulation, the crawl space area of your home will be protected from excessive moisture levels.
Who Should Consider a Crawl Space Encapsulation?
Excessive levels of moisture in your crawl space can cause a large variety problem for the interior of your home. Water vapor can move through porous materials, such as cement. This means an extra level of water vapor in the air in the crawl space can move into the interior of your home.
Some of the most common reasons why people consider encapsulating a crawl space are:
- Mold growth in a crawl space
- A contractor has told the homeowner that they have wet insulation
- They’ve noticed their windows are sweating
- homeowners have noticed a spike in their energy bills during the summer months
- Floors are beginning to soften or separate completely
- A musty smell in the basement
- An increase in insect problems
Even if you aren’t noticing any of the above-listed problems in your crawl space, get in your crawl space encapsulation it before these problems develop is a great way to keep your home protected from moisture and mold damage.
What’s the Difference Between Sealing Your Crawl Space and Encapsulating It?
If you’ve looked online to learn how to remediate your crawl space has a mold problem, chances are you’ve run into people talking about sealing your crawl space and encapsulating a crawl space.
While both of these terms may have been used interchangeably, there’s actually a large difference between sealing and encapsulating your crawl space.
Sealing your crawl space refers to creating a vapor barrier across the floor of your crawl space and up to eight inches of the walls in crawl space. Crawl space encapsulation refers to creating a vapor barrier around the walls, the floor, and the ceiling of your crawl space.
What Are the Benefits of an Encapsulated Crawl Space?
If you’re not sure better investing in a crawl space encapsulation is a wise investment, we created a list of some of the benefits that you can read from an encapsulated crawl space. Let’s take a look and why you should consider encapsulating your crawl space:
Helps to Cut Moisture Problems
During nearly every season, one of the most significant concerns they have to worry about is humidity levels inside of your home. If the humidity levels inside of your home or too high, it encourages mold and fungal growth. Plus, unmanaged humidity levels also promote pest infestation.
By encapsulating a crawl space and creating proper ventilation for high humidity levels, you can dissipate the water vapor in the air and reduce the chances of toxic mold growth from growing inside of your crawl space.
Control Pest Infestations
Not only does a crawl space encapsulation keep your home safe from high humidity and toxic mold growth, but it also helps to act as a protective barrier from a pest infestation. When a crawl space encapsulation is properly installed, it acts as a barrier against termite, rodent, spider, and other wildlife infestations.
Helps You Save on Your Energy Bill
While it will take some money to invest in encapsulating a crawl space, it will help you to reduce the amount you spend on your cooling and heating costs for the rest of the time that you’re living in your home. This is because the vapor barrier that’s installed in your crawl space will prevent air from being lost from your heated and cooled home it’s your crawl space.
Understanding How Crawlspace Encapsulation Can Benefit Your Family and Your Home
By understanding how the entire process of crawlspace encapsulation works, you’ll be able to understand better how your home and your family can benefit from it. If you’re looking to save on energy costs, keep your family protected from mold growth, and discourage unwanted pests for making a home in your crawl space, crawl space encapsulation may be the best solution for you.
Are you looking for a team of professionals to help you remove mold growth from your crawl space? Click here to contact us today.
