Crawl Space Issues

Crawl space encapsulation is the process of cleaning and sanitizing your crawl space to protect your home from moisture, insects, and other contaminants. The benefits you’ll receive from encapsulation are well worth the cost.

The High Cost of NOT Encapsulating Your Crawl Space

To understand why crawl space encapsulation is such a great investment, let’s look at what can happen if you don’t take this important step:

• Your health can suffer – your HVAC system draws air from your crawl space to circulate throughout your residence. Air that is contaminated can trigger asthma, allergies, and other serious health conditions.
• Your belongings are put at risk – products made of wood, paper, or other porous materials are vulnerable to high moisture levels. Humid air from your crawl space can cause them to warp, stain, or develop a strong mildew odor.
• Your utility bills can skyrocket – caused by your heating and cooling unit clogging up and becoming less efficient. This can even cause premature failure of the entire system, saddling you with an enormous repair bill.
• Your floor joists can split or buckle – causing the floor to creak, shift out of level, or fail entirely.
• You may have trouble selling your home – potential buyers are wary of unusual odors and creaking floors. Plus, home inspectors always check out the crawl space. You can be sure that they’ll spot areas of concern right away.

Crawl Space Encapsulation to the Rescue

Crawl space encapsulation services prevent these problems by transforming the crawl space itself into a clean, sanitary environment. Here’s how the process works:

• The crawl space receives a thorough cleaning – to remove clutter, contaminated water, hazardous materials, and pests such as insects or rats. An underground drain line may be installed at this stage of the job.
• Necessary repairs are completed – these can include new wiring, new insulation, or new floor joists. Mold and mildew are eliminated, and the ground is tamped down and made level.
• Vents, holes, and gaps are sealed off – both to regulate the interior temperature and to prevent contaminants from entering the crawl space.
• A waterproof vapor barrier and membrane is installed – this is what keeps the crawl space clean and dry over the long term. The membrane covers the entire floor as well as the walls and the lower portions of the pillars.
• Water management solutions are installed – typically a commercial-grade dehumidifier and, quite often, a sump pump.
• A new access point is added – this is usually a hinged door seal tightly along its edges. This enables the homeowner to use the space for storage while keeping it clean and sanitary.

The end result is a completely transformed crawl space that will be a worthy addition to your home.

Get in Touch With Us Today

At Align Foundation Repair, we cover a wide range of Dallas crawl space encapsulation service locations. We offer fair rates, free estimates, and guaranteed results.

Contact us today to learn more about crawl space encapsulation and our other foundation repair services. We will be glad to help you put your crawl space problems in the past!

Encapsulating your crawl space is a fantastic way to add value to your home. Here’s why:

• Home crawl space encapsulation helps to prevent mold, rats, and insects from gaining a foothold in your house.
• Crawl space encapsulation makes your HVAC system more efficient, potentially saving you hundreds of dollars per year.
• Crawl space encapsulation promotes good air quality throughout your home, slashing your risk of allergies and respiratory infections.

Let’s look at how crawl space encapsulation provides these benefits.

Problems with Unprotected Crawl Spaces

As the name implies, a pier and beam foundation is supported by vertical piers buried in concrete and attached to the beams that underlie the floor itself.

When properly designed and maintained, a pier and beam foundation can provide decades of trouble-free service. But sometimes hasty construction, severe weather, or the effects of time can allow rain or other contaminants to enter the crawl space, causing problems like these:

• Pools of stagnant water – these can become breeding grounds for insects and germs.
• Rat infestation – in some cases, rats can take up residence in a crawl space, depositing their feces, and chewing on electric wires.
• Mold and fungi growth – over time, mold spores from a contaminated crawl space can find their way into your home’s ductwork and even into the air you breathe.
• Lost or damaged belongings – a crawl space is a great place to store seasonal or recreational items, unless it becomes wet and contaminated. When that happens, say goodbye to your valued possessions.

Crawl Space Encapsulation Services to the Rescue

The good news is that most crawl spaces can be cleaned up, repaired, and turned into safe, useful areas. The term for this process is crawl space encapsulation. Here’s how it works:

1. The first step is to thoroughly inspect the crawl space and correct problems like rodents, insects, damaged insulation, rotten wood, damaged wiring, etc.
2. Once the first step is complete, we may install French drains, a sump pump, or other drainage solutions to prevent water from building up in the future. We will repair or replace the access door and wall vents as needed.
3. The third step is to line the ground, walls, piers, and penetration points such as pipes with a heavy-duty commercial liner. Here at Align Foundation Repair, we use Stegocrawl® products for their durability and reliability.
4. The final step is to install a commercial-grade dehumidifier to maintain proper moisture levels going forward. You, of course, will have the opportunity to inspect our work and ask any questions you may have.

Align Foundation Repair: Your Contractor of Choice for Crawl Space Protection

Align Foundation Repair covers a wide range of crawl encapsulation service areas across North Texas. Our technicians are thorough and efficient, finishing the job in minimum time so you can get back to your daily routine. Plus, our work is guaranteed.

Get in touch with us today to learn more about crawl space encapsulation and our other home foundation repair services. You’ll soon be on the road to a safer, healthier, and more valuable home.

The primary purpose of Crawl space encapsulation in North Texas is to control vapor (humidity/moisture) in the crawlspace.   Vapor above safe limits can cause excess organic growth, like mold, and cause sever lumber damage, weakening the structural integrity of the foundation system – think of the lumber like a sponge for vapor, a food source for the organic growth.  Additional benefits of encapsulation are a healthier crawlspace leading to improved indoor air quality.

The installation is relatively quick, typically less than a week and will have minimal impact on your daily activities. The professionals at Align Foundation Repair can answer any questions you may have when you contact us for your free estimate. Read on below for what to expect from crawl space encapsulation

Crawl Space Encapsulation Step-By-Step

Most crawl space encapsulation projects follow these five steps:

1. Cleaning out the crawl space itself – We’ll remove clutter and debris.
2. Performing repairs – This step is only needed if we find damage to structural system. An estimate of damaged lumber is provided prior to install, generally along with the proposal for the vapor barrier.
3. Laying out the vapor barrier/retarder – This is the most essential step in the encapsulation process – the material is rolled across the ground and attached to the piers and foundation walls with a dual adhesion system. We lap each layer and join the seams together with a low perm acrylic tape. The pressure-sensitive tapes provide maximum adhesion for a long-lasting seal.

Align only uses vapor barriers that conform the American Concrete Institute (ACI 302.2R-06) not allowing a permanence value over 0.010 PERMS.  Which allows it to be called a vapor barrier.  All vapor barriers are vapor retarders, not all vapor retarders are vapor barriers.  This is very important to complete a quality install.

Steps 4 and 5 are optional – WHY?  A lot of times the excess vapor is primarily caused by soil moisture evaporation, if the vapor barrier alone resolves this without creating other issues, then the passive ventilation systems can be considered adequate.  Drainage correction is typically recommended at a minimum with encapsulation.  This reduces the need for additional mechanical systems, lowering cost and maintenance, while still providing high level of benefit.

4. Sealing vents – Sealing off passive vents is done when vapor levels are still high meaning the vapor barrier and passive ventilation are not sufficient enough.  This step has to be accompanied by mechanical dehumidification, ventilation, and drainage.
5. Installing a heavy-duty dehumidifier and/or sump pump –This allows for complete control of the vapor levels under the home.  This is the most ideal situation because we have full CONTROL of the crawlspace and is the most beneficial way of install.  However, this does require additional maintenance and may not be required or necessary depending on site conditions.

We gain entry to your crawl space either through the existing access door or by tunneling under the foundation. This means you won’t have to worry about dirt and debris being tracked through your house or disruption to your daily life. The work itself typically takes no more than 2-5 days.

What You Can Expect Once the Job Is Complete

Once we’ve finished our crawl space encapsulation services, you can look forward to the following benefits:

• Cleaner, fresher air inside your home – since most of the air circulated by your HVAC system comes from your crawl space.
• Protection from moisture-related problems throughout your house – including the crawl space itself, where your floor joists are vulnerable to warping, splitting, or buckling from overly humid air.

Crawl Space Encapsulation Dallas

We’d love to tell you more about the benefits of crawl space encapsulation in Dallas. Contact us today for your free quote. We can soon help you to have a cleaner, safer, healthier place to call home.