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What is the more common thing to do with crawlspaces in NC? What I've mostly seen is just open vents, with a vapor barrier on houses and that's about it. Only the high-end houses have an encapsulated crawlspace. And homeowners who have a little interest in how things work and maintaining things - I've seen them seal all the vents and put a commercial dehumidifier down there and that works well.
But the above 2 scenarios are very few that I've seen. And especially with the new construction houses popping up, they all have open vented crawlspaces with no dehumidifier down there.
What is the more common thing to do with crawlspaces in NC? What I've mostly seen is just open vents, with a vapor barrier on houses and that's about it. Only the high-end houses have an encapsulated crawlspace. And homeowners who have a little interest in how things work and maintaining things - I've seen them seal all the vents and put a commercial dehumidifier down there and that works well.
But the above 2 scenarios are very few that I've seen. And especially with the new construction houses popping up, they all have open vented crawlspaces with no dehumidifier down there.
In the end, doesn't really cause much issues?
IF I was building new on a crawlspace, I would prefer no vents and full encapsulation with conditioned air in the crawlspace.
It is fairly common and seems to work quite well.
The problem with houses like mine built in the 1980s with crawlspaces is that over time, the fiberglass insulation between the joists under the first floor absorbs humidity, becomes heavier, and pulls away from the subfloor. In theory you can (attempt to) manage crawl space humidity by opening and closing the vents. In practice, this is difficult because the mechanisms to open and close the vents don't hold up over decades of use and in some cases are difficult to access. The plywood door into the crawl space also tends to warp or degrade over time.
A side benefit of encapsulation in this area of NC is that frozen pipes in the crawl space become extremely unlikely.
Please post back with your final results. The guy who started Crawlspace Ninja has posted many YouTube videos over the years and is now franchising the business branching it out into other areas.
IF I was building new on a crawlspace, I would prefer no vents and full encapsulation with conditioned air in the crawlspace. It is fairly common and seems to work quite well.
Mike, you must live in a nice neighborhood and also sell houses in luxury communities LOL! In all of the neighborhoods my friends and family live in west Cary, east Cary, Apex and near Durham (Brightleaf at the park), it's all just regular crawlspaces with open vents and a basic vapor barrier on the ground. And all these new construction communities popping up in Wake Co still have the basic open crawlspace, open vent and thin vapor barrier.
I cringe at the amount of "biological growth" that probably is present on the wood beams/joists in the crawlspace considering how much humidity we have from June to September.
I've only convinced a few friends/family to at least make sure the vapor barrier is everywhere, seal the vents with temperature board pieces from Home Depot and put a commercial dehumidifier with active drain to outside. Those who listened now have their crawlspace humidity levels below 50% in the summer.
Please post back with your final results. The guy who started Crawlspace Ninja has posted many YouTube videos over the years and is now franchising the business branching it out into other areas.
Quite satisfied. They weren't the lowest bidder but I felt more comfortable with them. There are two franchises in Wake County that divide the territory. I used the West franchise. Can't say what the East franchise is like.
Quite satisfied. They weren't the lowest bidder but I felt more comfortable with them. There are two franchises in Wake County that divide the territory. I used the West franchise. Can't say what the East franchise is like.
Good to hear....I'm glad everything went well for you.
Please post back with your final results. The guy who started Crawlspace Ninja has posted many YouTube videos over the years and is now franchising the business branching it out into other areas.
We did not use Crawlspace Ninja, so I can't speak to their workmanship. We had them come out and they quoted us a price I was not willing to pay. I want to say it was in the $10k-$15k range but I don't have the quote anymore.
We had 2 other quotes in the $2k range to seal the vents and install a dehumidifier. Both companies said our crawlspace was in good shape and didn't need to be encapsulated. We went with Shamrock and are happy with the results.
I'm sure there are benefits to encapsulation, but the difference in cost was too much for me to swallow on a house that I know I was not planning on living in for a majority of its lifetime.
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