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Crawlspace Encapsulation Benefits

Posted Mar 17, 2021 in Waterproofing, Crawlspace Encapsulation

Crawl­spaces are typ­i­cal­ly vent­ed to remove mois­ture through evap­o­ra­tion — ground­wa­ter, rain­wa­ter, and con­den­sate enter the crawl­space and, under the right con­di­tions, even­tu­al­ly dry and waft out the vents. It’s a fair­ly effec­tive way to deal with a part of the house that is prone to dampness.

How­ev­er, vent­ed crawl­spaces are also a lia­bil­i­ty, as they allow access to pests, encour­age mold growth, and dimin­ish a home’s ener­gy effi­cien­cy. That’s why sealed, con­tin­u­ous­ly dry crawl spaces are now con­sid­ered more effec­tive and are gain­ing popularity.

Crawl­space encapsulation

One method of seal­ing a crawl­space is by encap­su­la­tion — lin­ing the floor as well as the foun­da­tion walls with over­lap­ping sheets of heavy poly­eth­yl­ene plastic.

Addi­tion­al strate­gies — includ­ing insu­lat­ing the foun­da­tion walls and using the exist­ing HVAC sys­tem to heat and cool the crawl­space to the same tem­per­a­ture as the rest of the house — will fur­ther increase the effec­tive­ness of crawl­space encapsulation.

Ulti­mate­ly, the result will be a dry crawl­space, along with the fol­low­ing benefits:

Improved struc­tur­al integrity

Of course, wet soil can under­mine your foun­da­tion, which is why gut­ter sys­tems are designed to chan­nel water as far away from the home as pos­si­ble. How­ev­er, gut­ter sys­tems are point­less if the crawl­space is per­pet­u­al­ly wet.

By keep­ing the soil sup­port­ing your foun­da­tion dry, crawl­space encap­su­la­tion can pre­vent exten­sive and expen­sive struc­tur­al prob­lems fur­ther down the road.

Increased com­fort lev­els and ener­gy saving

Encap­su­lat­ing along with insu­lat­ing and air con­di­tion­ing your crawl­space may pro­duce dra­mat­ic ener­gy sav­ings. Even crawl­space encap­su­la­tion alone should cre­ate a notice­able difference.

It’s hard­er to cool your home in the sum­mer, for exam­ple, if the space beneath your floor is full of hot, humid air; after out­side air is ban­ished from the crawl space, your HVAC sys­tem should be able to work more effi­cient­ly and pro­vide more uni­form tem­per­a­tures through­out the house in any season.

Few­er incur­sions by mold and pests

When it comes to organ­isms col­o­niz­ing and thriv­ing in a wet crawl­space, mold, and mildew are two of the chief con­cerns; once estab­lished in the crawl­space, they can spread through­out the house, encour­age wood rot, and be dif­fi­cult to eradicate.

Ter­mites, which love damp wood, aren’t far behind in terms of the whole-house dam­age they can wreak. Plen­ty of oth­er insects and rodents are attract­ed to dark, moist places that are free of preda­tors — a typ­i­cal wet crawl space.

A poly­eth­yl­ene bar­ri­er will keep out not only mois­ture but also the mold and pests that tend to accom­pa­ny it.

Vent­ing remains an ade­quate solu­tion to remov­ing mois­ture from under your house, but the grow­ing con­sen­sus is that crawl­space encap­su­la­tion is even better.

Look­ing to learn more about the ben­e­fits of crawl­space encap­su­la­tion for your home, or have a water­proof­ing relat­ed issue? Let Fam­i­ly Water­proof­ing Solu­tions take care of your crawl­space encap­su­la­tion and water­proof­ing needs. Call us today (708) 330‑4466 or sched­ule an appoint­ment.