There are 3 Sources of Moisture in Crawl spaces in VA & NC:
- Dampness from the ground, constantly releasing moisture
- Humidity from outside air and sweating ducts
- Groundwater and Flooding.
With a crawlspace encapsulation, a heavy vapor barrier liner, covering 100% of the earth is installed and taped. This blocks all of the moisture from the earth, from damaging the wooden floor structure. The walls are insulated and sealed with a special vapor barrier foam board. The support piers are wrapped and taped to stop moisture seepage.
Next, by sealing out the outside air with vent covers and sealed crawl space doors, the inside air will be minimally affected by outside weather, including humidity.
Finally, a crawl space dehumidifier will clean and dry the air in the crawl space. Crawl space dehumidifiers run automatically, as needed to keep the air within the optimum humidity range of 40-60% RH. We recommend and install Aprilaire dehumidifiers.
And remember, there is a 3rd source of moisture, crawl space flooding and groundwater. If the water problem isn’t resolved, it can flood an encapsulation, so it is important to properly address crawl space flooding too.