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Issues fixed by crawlspace encapsulation

Posted Mar 31, 2021 in Waterproofing, Crawlspace Encapsulation

Whether you know it or not, crawl­spaces are found under many dif­fer­ent types of homes. Crawl­spaces are espe­cial­ly com­mon in ram­bler and split-lev­el style homes, in his­tor­i­cal prop­er­ties, and under addi­tions for sun­rooms, kitchen expan­sions, and oth­er home expan­sions. It is impor­tant to address issues in the crawl space as it can adverse­ly affect the qual­i­ty of the liv­ing space above and when severe enough, can even cause health concerns.

“Crawl­space Encap­su­la­tion” refers to a process by which water­proof­ing mate­ri­als, sump pumps, insu­la­tion tech­niques, and vapor bar­ri­ers are used to address mois­ture and con­di­tion­ing issues. Crawl­space ven­ti­la­tion is then put in place to con­trol humid­i­ty and cre­ate a healthy, con­di­tioned crawl space envi­ron­ment. This work is espe­cial­ly help­ful in deal­ing with issues dur­ing hot, humid sum­mer weather.

Do you sus­pect you have issues in your crawl­space? Not sure if crawl space encap­su­la­tion is right for you?

We’ve list­ed some of the most com­mon home­own­er prob­lems that crawl space encap­su­la­tion is designed to address.

Com­mon crawl­space prob­lems fixed by encapsulation

1. Crawl­space Leaks and Flooding

Encap­su­lat­ing your crawl­space involves fix­ing foun­da­tion water­proof­ing prob­lems to make sure it is safe, healthy and does not prop­a­gate excess humid­i­ty or oth­er prob­lems list­ed below.

2. Musty or Unpleas­ant Smells

The air qual­i­ty in many crawl­spaces are typ­i­cal­ly less than ide­al for many rea­sons: inad­e­quate con­di­tion­ing and poten­tial expo­sure to rat waste, mold spores, wet soil, and oth­er haz­ards. This air ris­es into your home and can lead to musty odors or oth­er unpleas­ant smells. Prop­er con­di­tion­ing and ven­ti­la­tion in the crawl­space will mean greater com­fort and air qual­i­ty for you and your loved ones upstairs.

3. Dam­age to Wood Sup­ports and Floors

Keep­ing mois­ture lev­els at bay leads to greater struc­tur­al integri­ty in your floor­ing sup­port. Encap­su­la­tion pro­tects your home by dis­cour­ag­ing dam­age to floor joists and supports.

4. Burst Pipes

Burst water pipes are a major con­cern in win­ter. With a prop­er­ly insu­lat­ed crawl space, your chances of expe­ri­enc­ing a burst pipe dur­ing freez­ing tem­per­a­tures decrease significantly.

5. Dam­age to Stored Items

With­out prop­er treat­ment, items stored in the crawl­space are vul­ner­a­ble to water dam­age and mold. With a pro­fes­sion­al crawl­space encap­su­la­tion, you can final­ly uti­lize that area for clean, dry stor­age space.

6. Cold Floors in Winter

With crawl­space insu­la­tion, your home will be more com­fort­able in the win­ter. Cold floors are a symp­tom of a crawl­space that is not prop­er­ly conditioned.

7. High Air Con­di­tion­ing and Heat­ing Bills

Many home­own­ers are sur­prised at the increased ener­gy effi­cien­cy of their homes after crawl­space encap­su­la­tion. In cold months, cold out­side air is blocked from enter­ing the crawl­space, reduc­ing your heat loss and your heat­ing bills. Dur­ing the sum­mer, hot air is blocked from enter­ing the crawl­space, allow­ing your air con­di­tion­ing to run more effi­cient­ly and low­er cool­ing costs. This also reduces the cost of HVAC appli­ances since it decreas­es the stress put on the system.

8. Pest Control

When you seal your crawl­space pro­fes­sion­al­ly, you are dis­cour­ag­ing the for­ma­tion of entry and exit paths for rodents and insects. You can wor­ry less about spi­ders, ter­mites, mice, and oth­er pests gain­ing access to your space and cre­at­ing an unhy­gien­ic environment.

9. Headaches When Sell­ing Your Home

Crawl­space encap­su­la­tion can help avoid a huge headache you are sell­ing your home. Make sure that your home pass­es a home inspec­tion and turn what is typ­i­cal­ly a sore spot for the sell­er into a fan­tas­tic sell­ing point.

Whether you are seek­ing to get rid of musty smells, low­er util­i­ty bills, have more usable space, or all of the above, crawl­space encap­su­la­tion is the way to go. Ensure the job gets done right by call­ing the crawl­space and base­ment experts at Fam­i­ly Water­proof­ing Solu­tions. We’ll cus­tom-design your job for your home and stand by all of our work with our war­ranties. Call our team at (708) 330‑4466 for more infor­ma­tion on crawl­space encap­su­la­tion and all the extra ben­e­fits of it today, or sched­ule an online FREE esti­mate.