Improve Energy Efficiency With Crawl Space Encapsulation in Springfield Missouri
If you’ve had water intrusion in your crawl space, or have recently dealt with a mold or termite issue, the decision to fully encapsulate your crawl space can solve a lot of these types of issues.
In addition to being a line of defense against mold and pests, crawlspace encapsulation can also improve your home’s energy efficiency.
With homeowners increasingly looking for ways to improve their homes’ health and energy efficiency, crawlspace encapsulation checks off a lot of boxes. Your crawlspace plays a more important role in an energy efficient home than you might think.
Fully encapsulating a crawl space involves installing a heavy-duty polyethylene barrier to cover your crawlspace’s floors and foundation walls, insulating the rim joist and and implementing other moisture control measures.
Beyond its primary purpose of keeping your crawlspace dry, it also significantly aids in preventing the growth of mold, and improving your home’s energy efficiency.
Mold thrives in humid and damp environments, and an untreated crawlspace is a haven for it. Moisture in crawlspaces can come from many sources such as the soil, exposed earth, leaking pipes, or even condensation from the air.
If left unattended, this moisture provides an ideal breeding ground for mold, which, apart from the structural damage it causes, can also lead to health issues for the home’s occupants. These range from allergies to more serious respiratory conditions.
Crawlspace encapsulation directly addresses this problem by creating a moisture barrier. By enveloping the entire crawlspace with a robust polyethylene cover, moisture is effectively kept at bay. This reduces the chances of mold growth dramatically and helps ensure that the structural integrity of your home is preserved.
Not only does this protect the health of your home, but it also protects you and your family’s health. So how do you decide whether to encapsulate your crawl space or not?
In a perfect world, every crawl space in the Ozarks would be fully encapsulated. There would be a lot less issues for homeowners to deal with stemming from moisture and mold and the quality of air everyone was breathing would be a lot healthier.
Encapsulating your crawl space can significantly improve the energy efficiency of your home in several ways:
Reduction of Air Leaks
Unencapsulated crawlspaces are often subject to the external weather conditions, which means that they can get extremely cold in the winter and very hot in the summer. This can affect the temperature of your home’s flooring and subsequently, the overall internal temperature.
Crawl spaces are also notorious for allowing air infiltration into the home. Unsealed crawl spaces can have gaps, cracks, and openings that allow outside air to enter and conditioned air to escape.
As a result, your heating or cooling system has to work extra hard to maintain the desired temperature, leading to higher energy consumption.
By encapsulating the crawl space and sealing off these air leaks, you create a thermal boundary that prevents the exchange of air between the crawl space and the living areas above. This helps to maintain a more stable indoor temperature and reduces the workload on your heating and cooling systems, resulting in lower energy consumption and reduced utility bills.
Enhanced Insulation
Crawl space encapsulation involves adding insulation or a vapor barrier to the walls and/or insulating the rim joist above the crawl space. This acts as a barrier that resists the transfer of heat, keeping the conditioned air inside your home.
By insulating the rim joist and putting a vapor barrier up the walls of the crawl space, you create a buffer zone that minimizes heat loss during the colder months and heat gain during warmer months. This reduces the need for excessive heating or cooling, leading to energy savings.
An encapsulated crawlspace maintains a more constant temperature, effectively acting as a form of insulation. The heavy-duty polyethylene cover acts as a thermal barrier, mitigating the impact of external temperatures on your crawlspace. Consequently, it reduces the strain on your HVAC system and your energy bills. It’s a win-win situation for the environment and your wallet.
Moisture Control
Moisture is a common problem in crawl spaces, and excess moisture can negatively impact the energy efficiency of your home, not to mention mold. When moisture levels are high, the air becomes more humid, which can make your HVAC system work harder to dehumidify the air.
By encapsulating the crawl space and installing a vapor barrier, you prevent moisture from entering the space, reducing the overall humidity levels and preventing mold growth. This helps your HVAC system operate more efficiently, saving energy and improving indoor comfort.
Encapsulation also leads to an overall improvement in your home’s air quality. Since around 50% of the air you breathe on the first floor of your home comes from the crawlspace, encapsulating it prevents the intrusion of moist, moldy air, and instead provides cleaner, healthier air to circulate around your home.
Prevention of Ductwork Issues
Crawl spaces often house HVAC ductwork. When the crawl space is unsealed and uninsulated, ducts can be subject to temperature fluctuations and can lose conditioned air through leaks and poor insulation.
Encapsulating the crawl space and insulating the ductwork can help maintain the desired temperature of the air traveling through the ducts, minimizing energy losses and ensuring that conditioned air reaches its intended destinations efficiently.
Minimization of HVAC System Strain
When a crawl space is unsealed, it becomes susceptible to extreme temperature variations, especially in regions with hot or cold climates. This can cause the HVAC system to work harder to compensate for these temperature differences, leading to increased energy consumption and wear and tear on the equipment.
By encapsulating the crawl space and creating a more controlled environment, you reduce the strain on your HVAC system, prolonging its lifespan and reducing the frequency of repairs or replacements.
Encapsulating your crawl space creates a sealed, insulated, and controlled environment that minimizes air leakage, controls moisture, and optimizes the efficiency of your HVAC system. These combined effects result in a more energy-efficient home, lower energy bills, and increased overall comfort for you and your family.
Crawl space encapsulation is a fantastic measure to prevent the growth of mold and improve your home’s energy efficiency. The most effective solutions are those that address multiple issues at once. So, if you’re considering ways to improve your home, don’t overlook your crawlspace. It might just be the key to a healthier and more energy-efficient home.
For the local experts in crawl space encapsulation, call the team at Dog Gone Mold to come out and take a look at your home and we can give you all the information you need to know what’s the best solution for your family and your home.