You are deciding whether to encapsulate crawl space, leave it open, throw down loose vapor barrier, if you on the fence, we got you covered.
Clean air is important and encapsulation helps with indoor air quality. When done properly, when you get rid of soil gas and mold, you will get cleaner air without germs and stuff. We recommend to keep humidity in range of 45 to 55 percent to improve air quality. You gonna have less mold, get rid of odor, lower soil gasses.
When the crawl space is encapsulated your heating system does not move dust around and your filter will benefit from it.
Mold and fungus destroy subfloors and joists. Encapsulation helps you preserve wood better especially nowadays when wood believe it or not is more softer wood like pine or spruce.
You will save a bit more on energy bills eventually. Most of the money we spend is heating and cooling our homes expenses and encapsulation helps your HVAC system to do so. HVAC system will be working less on removing humidity and will be working more efficient.
Your home will become warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer cause of lower humidity. Your heater will also hit the number you set faster, which is convinient. You gonna have less drafts and warmer floors then before.
Encapsulation hardens access for rodents and leaves less nesting material for mice and other intruders. Some bugs, crickets and rodents enjoy wet insulation. By drying crawl space you make it less attractive.
If you are in colder areas, you can mitigate freezing pipes.
It will be easier to move under your home, especially in more narrow crawl spaces. You will almost slide on plastic. Plastic is white and will reflect more light, so easier to inspect flooring. It is also easier to see leaks and infestations. And you will not be so dirty coming out of crawl space.
While encapsulation offers many advantages, it’s important to understand the potential drawbacks before making your decision. Crawl space encapsulation negatives include high upfront costs, contractor quality issues, and ongoing maintenance requirements that many homeowners don’t anticipate.
Before moving forward with encapsulation, you’ll want to budget appropriately for this significant home improvement. Crawl space encapsulation cost averages around $15,000 for most homes, with factors like square footage, height, and drainage issues affecting the final price.