As Western Pennsylvania’s foundation repair experts, we’re big believers in crawl space encapsulation benefits and their ability to protect your foundation from problems before they become catastrophes. Crawl space humidity can provide an inviting environment for pests, allow mold to form and proliferate in your home, damage property, and harm the structural integrity of your foundation. Crawl space encapsulation is a preventative measure that helps keep moisture locked out of the space under your floorboards, protecting your home while also saving you money. It’s the perfect choice for any crawl space foundation, whether it’s your home for life or you’re wanting to maximize your return on investment when it’s time to sell.
Crawls Space Foundations Vs. Basements
Crawl spaces and basements are both common foundation types where the house is not on a solid slab of concrete but on a space underneath your floorboards between the ground and the primary living areas of your home. Like some basements, most crawl spaces are unfinished, opening up onto bare dirt when a contractor needs access to work on plumbing or wires under your home. The big difference, however, is that’s the only time most crawl spaces are opened. There’s no easy or comfortable route down to them and not much space when you get there, leading to them being largely out of sight and out of mind until something goes wrong.
Why You Should Consider Crawl Space Encapsulation
Crawl Space encapsulation benefits the home by combating one of the top hazards facing your crawl space: humidity. By encapsulating this otherwise unprotected area, you’re creating a closed environment that is drier and warmer. This not only helps prevent problems with your foundation but also helps keep your family healthy and may lower your utility bills, making it a home improvement that starts to pay for itself.
The Benefits of Encapsulation
Lower Crawl Space Humidity
This is the foundational benefit to your home that all the other crawl space encapsulation benefits come back around to. Encapsulation keeps your crawl space humidity lower, which means less risk of moisture damage to your foundation and no puddles sitting under your home causing escalating damage as they eat at cement, concrete, wood, and other homebuilding materials.
Fewer Pests
Bugs and rodents love dark, sheltered places where people and pets don’t often go, there’s plenty of moisture, and they have easy access to food sources. Since no one is making plans to hang out in their crawlspace, encapsulation does the next best thing, helping to seal it off, removing some entry points for vermin while robbing them of the moisture they’re looking for to set up shop.
Improved Insulation Against Outside Temperatures
Crawl space encapsulation gives you an extra layer of insulation between temperatures brought in from outside your home via your crawlspace vents or through the ground. This means your HVAC system has less work to do to maintain temperatures. If you have under-floor ductwork, this insulating effect gives you a double dose of crawl space encapsulation benefits by helping them transfer conditioned air more efficiently.
Helps Prevent Mold
Mold needs moisture. Keeping your crawl space humidity low helps keep mold from developing, growing, and spreading. Left unchecked, mold can cause thousands of dollars of property damage as it eats into porous materials, and its spores can cause a range of health complications. Worse, once you have it, remediation is often a costly and disruptive process for the household as professionals clean what they can and cut away the rest to get the mold out of your home. Preventing mold in the first place is far cheaper and more effective.
Protects Your Floors
Uneven, bowing floors can be a sign of unchecked crawl space humidity. As pooled water evaporates, it rises, meeting the underside of your floorboards, permeating them and aging them prematurely. Crawl space encapsulation benefits this highly visible part of your living area by preventing moisture entry that can lead to unsightly, damaged, or warped flooring.
Increases Home Value
In today’s competitive home market, you need every possible advantage to make your home stand out from the crowd and make a sale. Buyers are increasingly selective, prioritizing properties in good repair with preventative crawl space maintenance opportunities already professionally installed. The crawl space encapsulation benefits that limit humidity and protect your home can help you get a higher asking price from potential buyers.
The Crawl Space Encapsulation Process
Just like our basement waterproofing services, crawl space encapsulation can take many forms depending on your property’s unique needs and layout, but it starts with a free inspection from one of our foundation specialists. They’ll take a look at your crawl space, evaluate existing damage, and determine what risks your home faces. Then they’ll lay out a protection plan that gives you the full benefits of crawl space encapsulation while maximizing your home’s protection. This can include not only encapsulation but also foundation repair needs, improvements to drainage under and around your home, and other services your home may need so you have actionable information to make the best decision about your property.
Encapsulation itself involves sealing the walls and floor of the crawl space with vapor-resistant sheeting to create a dry, warm, encapsulated environment. This not only prevents vapor in the air from working its way through vents or the walls of your crawl space but also prevents ground moisture from evaporating and creating crawl space humidity that damages your foundation or enters your home, costing you money in air conditioning. We’re licensed, insured, and our work comes with a lifetime warranty.
There’s no obligation to take the first step toward enjoying your crawl space encapsulation benefits. Schedule your no-cost foundation inspection with A.M. Wall Anchor & Waterproofing today.
