crawl space fixes (Madison: house, contractors, costs)

[HondaFitLady]

Anybody have experience with the local companies who do crawl space "repairs"? They seem very expensive....

[LCTMadison]

What do you need repaired?

If you are looking for structural work, I would recommend Burt Cox. He is reasonably priced....in the same ballpark as others in the area whose work is substandard compared to Burt.

If you have water/drainage issues, Ben Hovey with Crawlspace Doctor is the best.

Usually nothing to do with either type of work is cheap, but if you skimp out and put a bandaid on it instead of correctly addressing the issue it will end up costing you more in the end. You would not believe how many crappy jobs I have seen done by other contractors in the area (one who runs a bunch of commercials and calls themselves "the best) that end up costing the owner a lot more than if they had just hired a quality contractor and had the work done right the first time.

[HondaFitLady]

Thanks, LCTMadison! I have to replace the "vapor barrier" and am trying not to have sticker shock at the cost of the new way to treat crawl spaces, as little basements with conditioned air spaces. Crawlspace Doctor has been out and I like their material, just need to ask some customers of theirs to see the final results. How do I find Burt Cox?

[LCTMadison]

Oh, if all you need is a vapor barrier, you really don't need Burt Cox and you could probably find a general handy man do that for less than Crawlspace Doctor, although they are the best in town. Just a vapor barrier is very simple.

What he is probably quoting you is an "encapsulated" crawl space. Do you need that, or is that what they just recommend? Encapsulation usually is recommended when there are high moisture levels that cannot be controlled by other methods....or water intrusion into the crawl in which case they also put in drains and sump pumps.

Burt doesn't even do that type of work anymore, he refers everyone to Ben.

I have had Crawlspace Doctor encapsulate many crawlspaces for clients and I will tell you their work is top notch and they know what they are doing. Worth the money and they stand behind their work. That is the only person I would have do an encapsulation with issues such as water intrusion, etc.

Kirkland's Pest Control also does the encapsulations and they do a good job as well so you might check with them.

I will also tell you when they do radon mitigations in crawlspaces that is essentially an encapsulation and usually costs less although they do not do drains, etc that would resolve any water issues....AABLE Environmental is who I have used to do mitigations. The last one he did for me for a crawlspace that was about 1300 sft was $1700 (and he lowered radon levels from 55 to 2!).

If its just a simple encapsulation I would have Larry Pittenger with AABLE do a mitigation system if it was my house....if you have issues beyond that such as water intrusion, etc you need to go with Crawlspace Doctor.

[Keeper]

Well I agree with LCT madison I had to have my crawl spaced cleaned out and repaired after the piping backed up and it was strapped properly. They had to do a lot of work but IIRC that part was less than 1K and they put in a new vapor barrier. The biggest cost was fixing the pipes and clearing them out.

My plumber called the guy who did the work.

[KPB]

Most of the time .6 mil plastic (visqueen) just layed on the ground under the house is enough of a barrier to keep moisture from coming out of ground into the crawlspace, along with proper ventilation (vents no less than 1 sq ft opening per 150 sq ft of crawl space).
Its a fairly easy to do (handyman) and the plastic/visqueen would probably cost less than $100.
Overlap edges of plastic at least 12" and you can place bricks every few feet on top of plastic to help keep it in place.

Like mentioned above "encapsulating" a crawlspace is usually not needed IMO.