Is Crawl Space Encapsulation Worth It?

In my opinion, absolutely. Isolating that environment and then controlling it improves the air quality in your home, and that carries through to your quality of life.

But there is one group of people I tell not to do it right now, and I would rather say that here than on your kitchen table.

Who should look into it

Anybody who is concerned about what is happening under their home. Humidity. Standing water. Bio growth like mold or mildew. Any of those, and this is a conversation worth having.

Studies have found that a significant share of the air inside your home originates in the crawl space. That is the whole argument. You are not fixing a space you never go into. You are fixing the air in the rooms you live in.

Who should not, at least not yet

If your budget cannot handle it at this time, do not do it.

I mean that plainly. Doing an incomplete job or an insufficient job can be worse than doing nothing at all. A half sealed crawl space with no dehumidifier can trap moisture that was venting before. Cheap materials break down and off gas and give you a new smell two years later. You end up paying twice, and the second time somebody has to undo the first job before they can start.

I would rather you wait six months and do it properly than stretch for something that will not work.

If the timing is the only problem

There are a few honest ways through it.

• We offer financing.

• Some homeowners use a home equity line of credit, especially if they were planning other improvements anyway.

• If your house has more than one issue, we can split it into separate complete jobs over time. Standing water is a French drain. Bio growth is a remediation and insulation replacement. Controlling the environment is the encapsulation. Do them in that order as the budget allows. Each one is finished on its own and none of them is wasted work.

  
  

What you are actually buying

Not plastic. Not a dehumidifier. You are buying control over an environment that is currently controlling itself, and feeding whatever it makes into the rooms above it.

Whether that is worth ten to fifteen thousand dollars is your call, not mine. What I can do is show you exactly what is under your house, with photographs, and give you a real number. Then you decide.

Want to see what is actually down there before you decide anything? Call me at 910 580 1836.