DIY Crawl Space Encapsulation

In our new construction house we chose to seal our crawl space. We did this for a number of reasons. We didn't want our crawlspace to have the same moisture and mold issues that a lot of traditionally vented crawlspaces have. We also wanted to keep the floor of the house a little warmer. One of the big reasons we chose a sealed or Conditioned crawl space is because there are Radon issues in our area. Radon is an odorless, colorless gas that can cause a lot of health issues. Sealing the crawlspace will keep Radon Gasses from entering our home.

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[PootsPastures]

I realize I forgot to mention, our sliplate to foundation is completely sealed with spray foam, and we have two vents from the inside of the house to the crawlspace. These vents are on the opposite side of the crawlspace from the fan so the air is pulled through the entire crawlspace! If y'all have any questions let me know!

[seanroberts]

Crawlspace ninja is a great source of info for diy

[dspears]

I was yelling “vent upside down”! Glad you heard me.

[howtodoitdude]

Finally a video that includes the importance of ventilation. Nice! FYI The foil side should face the condition area!

[brucemurray]

Good job with the liner. I would make sure, since you are creating a negative pressure in the crawl space, that you focus on air sealing the Rim / Sill Plate / Foundation interface. I would put a layer of closed cell foam around the perimeter. Or paint the joints with a fluid applied barrier. Or use canned spray foam or acoustic sealant on those seams. I think that is what Matt would do. :-) You want to make sure YOU control where the air comes from that the vent fan removes from your house. Good Work. Also.. Make sure you are directing exterior water away from your home with grading.

[HebaruSan]

75% to 40%? Wow, congratulations! I think we will be trying to emulate what you've done in our crawlspaces shortly. There's a liner (from radon mitigation) but I think the tape, paint, and insulation are missing. About to go crawling around in there to find out for sure (ours are half as tall, so literal "crawl" spaces!).

[maintenancewithmike]

Just stumbled onto your channel when doing some crawl space research. Your doing a fine job for sure and I can tell you've done some decent amount of research. I just put in an Alorair HD55 commercial dehumidifier in our crawl space and it is working well. I need to encapsulate it and insulate the concrete walls as well...hence how I stubbled onto your channel. Thanks for sharing and I look forward to more of your videos.

[keufg]

I'm new to this and researching it for my own DIY project. You're taking 120 cubic feet of conditioned air every minute out of your house through your crawl space and dumping it outside. This means your house is pulling in 120 cubic feet of unconditioned air from the outside every minute that it will have to condition. Are there professionals recommending this? I thought the standard procedure with a closed crawl space was to add a dehumidifier and or circulate the crawl space air through the house (not outside) as it is now part of the conditioned space. Thanks

[joequixotic]

I don't recall what kind of unions you used but typically they rely on a tapered seat to seal, they are not supposed to need any thread sealant because the threads should be dry.

Occasionally when a union has a damaged taper seat, some people will use pipe dope or Teflon to try and fix it but that rarely works.

[Ben-islate]

Where are y’all located? Thank you for the video. It was great watching you to work together and it looks like you did a nice quality job. One question, what do you mean by “ran out of water” when you had the leak in the crawlspace? I’m not sure I’m following you on that. Thanks again.

[justingreen]

Thanks for the videos guys. Nice to see how everyone does things a little different. For me I think I'd just put an 8ft basement in for minimal extra cost. Then in the future say 5 years when funds are available, I'd finish the floor with concrete. And then on weekends as funds are available finish the basement with framing, drywall, etc. That's a lot of extra livable space. Also I'd especially like a walk out basement to make it easy to bring firewood in a pallet at a time.
To each their own though. But Great job guys!! Considering the glim financial future for our generation and future generations you're doing well to be prepared and debt free!!

[ld]

Just a heads up concrete countertops get stained very easily and everyone I know that has put them in has had issues with staining.

[roblamont]

You’ve been watching crawl space ninja 😁

[lasandra]

I was told not encapsulate because of Radon. Any thoughts? I have thick insulation on my walls, vents are closed and there is a dehumidifier in the crawl space.

[ninesixz]

Do you know what the approximate materials cost was for this? Trying to decide if I'm going to do mine myself or have it done professionally.

[jesseascriven]

What is the name of the moisture barrier you used?

[SylwerDragon]

I think it looks good..but i would put foil below and put some sand on top of it so you can walk on it ..also it would works better..btw i would add also timer for your pump..
It happen to me that after some changeover i didn't tighten one join very well and pump showed..low pressure..so it was on all the time ..i did notice it ..but only after about 30 minutes..anyway.. i put timer that is chacking time and it allow pump to stay on max 2 minutes after that it will switch off pump and wouldn't allow to run any more. and as i said in previous video pressure valve..that would help you a lot to have constant pressure over all your appliances..

[CybekCusal]

Very interesting stuff! What functions does the liner provide?

[ld]

Could you have done a slab on grade? Or a Post Tension Slab?

And yeah Radon can kill pretty quick. I came from Prescott AZ and with how much granite is there it is a big issue in building there.

[joniboulware]

Why didn't you remove the excess soil before putting up the stem walls so you had a more useful flat dirt base in the crawl space?