How to Mess Up a Crawlspace Encapsulation in Six Easy Steps

Do you or an unqualified contractor have what it takes to ruin your home? Look through these steps and decide!

How to Mess Up a Crawlspace Encapsulation in Six Easy Steps

So, you’ve decided to encapsulate your crawlspace. Congratulations! You’re on your way to a healthier, more energy-efficient home. But wait—before you (or a random guy you found on Facebook) dive in, let’s explore some foolproof ways to completely botch the job. After all, why do something right when you can do it wrong with style? Grab your tools and follow these six easy steps to ensure your crawlspace encapsulation is a spectacular disaster.

Step 1: Skip the Prep Work

Who needs to prep anyway? Just dive right in without bothering to clean the crawlspace. Leaving all that debris, mold, and moisture as they are not only defeats the purpose of doing all this, it’s also a great way to ensure your new vapor barrier gets punctured immediately.

Step 2: Choose the Cheapest Materials

Why go for high-quality materials when you can save a buck? Picking the thinnest, most fragile plastic sheeting you can find will most likely tear at the slightest touch, ensuring that moisture and pests can still find their way in. We are going for encapsulation here, which by definition means “no holes”!

Step 3: Ignore Ventilation

Sealing up a crawlspace? Forget about ventilation. Who needs airflow, anyway? Blocking every vent and sealing everything tightly will create a perfect environment for mold and mildew to thrive. The last thing you want after all this is a cozy little fungus farm beneath your home.

Step 4: Overlook the Insulation

Want your crawlspace be a temperature roller coaster? Definitely don’t bother with insulation, then. It’ll be like giving your home a built-in weather simulator. In winter, your floors can be as cold as ice, and in summer, they’ll be toasty warm. Certainly not what we are after on this project.

Step 5: Forget About Drainage

Who needs a proper drainage system? Just laying down your vapor barrier and calling it a day will result in water pooling underneath the plastic, like an underground swimming pool. Nothing helps along moisture damage like moisture.

Step 6: Do a Rushed, Half-Hearted Job

Why put in effort when you can rush through the job? Slapping everything together as quickly as possible, leaving gaps and loose edges everywhere results in uneven coverage. And uneven coverage ensures that some parts of your crawlspace remain damp and musty– not good!

So there you have it: six easy steps to turn your crawlspace encapsulation into a gloriously messy fiasco. Follow these tips, and you’ll have a crawlspace that’s the talk of the town—for all the wrong reasons.

But if you decide you want to do it right, we are available to make sure NONE of these things happen. Could you do this all yourself? Maybe….but you could also remove your own appendix. Not sure we’d recommend that either. With Atlantic Spray, from quality materials to proper cleanup and prep, you can rest easy knowing you will have a top notch crawlspace encapsulation install that will stand the test of time and not come with any surprises down the road. We’d love to do that for you. If you’d like a free, no-hassle consultation regarding your existing crawlspace insulation and condition, please reach out– we are here to help with better insulation for comfortable living.