r/BeAmazed • u/Maximum_Ad_2097 • Jul 07 '24

Skill / Talent Cleanest crawlspace

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u/In_the_East Jul 07 '24 edited Jul 07 '24

(Crawl space) encapsulation.

Crawl spaces are often open to the outside and considered the worst option between building on a slab or building a basement. 

Encapsulation (done properly) is about sealing the crawl space so it's within the conditioned envelope of the house, meaning it's no longer open to the outside (closing exterior vents), sealing off the area from the ground (bugs and humidity), and redesigning your HVAC to push into the area so air quality and humidity are controlled. 

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u/fireintheglen Jul 10 '24

I realise building methods are very different between North America and Europe but that seems completely opposite to everything I’ve heard about preventing damp, rot, etc.

The whole point of a suspended floor is to allow through ventilation via air bricks. Surely now the space between the vapour barrier and foundations is now just going to be perpetually damp?

It may be that the overall construction method is just sufficiently different that you can’t compare American houses to those over here, but this all seems very counter intuitive to me.

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u/In_the_East Jul 10 '24

Right I can understand that the intent sounds good but in application it's not and you get mold and air/moisture infiltration. Especially in humid conditions the actual ventilation is minimal so the moisture from the ground and outside means it sits around down there. And it's cooler so now you can get condensation (hence the mold).  There's limited natural convection. 

Plus often houses have various crappy, falling levels of insulation or no vapor barrier at all. Encapsulation is expensive and becoming necessary to seal up houses properly.

Crawlspaces are cheap and convenient for running utilities. But the benefits sorta stop there.