A Crawlspace That Was Only Half Encapsulated
I Found Some of the Worst Work I've Ever Seen
AND IT SHOWS EXACTLY WHY YOU CAN'T DO HALF A JOB
I walked into a crawlspace in Farragut yesterday that stopped me in my tracks.
This is an older home - late 70s, early 80s. Someone had come in and encapsulated part of the crawlspace. Just one section. Maybe 500 square feet. The rest? Completely open to the dirt.
I've seen bad work before. But this might be some of the worst.
The encapsulated section had sloppy installation. Battery backup thrown in. Some ductwork running to what I hope is a dehumidifier but might just be an exhaust fan. And then it just stops. Opens right back up into an unencapsulated crawlspace.
The fungal growth is everywhere. The wood is deteriorating. Nothing about this system is working.
And now the homeowner has to pay to fix someone else's mess.
What I Found in This Crawlspace
Let me break down what I was looking at.
One section encapsulated, the rest open. About 500 square feet had vapor barrier installed. The other half of the crawlspace? Nothing. Just dirt floor and falling insulation.
The installation quality was terrible. I'm talking sloppy tape jobs, gaps everywhere, equipment just thrown in without proper planning. This wasn't careful work. This was rushed work.
Some kind of dehumidifier setup serving only that one section. There was ductwork running to what might be a dehumidifier. Or it might just be venting outside. I couldn't tell from looking at it. Either way, it's only trying to control humidity in that one enclosed area.
Fungal growth covering the unencapsulated side. The wood was covered in it. Black, fuzzy growth all over the floor joists. This is what happens when moisture isn't controlled.
The wood is rotting. You could see the deterioration. The fungal growth was eating away at the structural wood. That's not just ugly - that's dangerous.
Why Partial Encapsulation Doesn't Work
Here's the thing about crawlspaces - they're all connected. Air moves through them. Moisture moves through them.
You can't seal off one section and expect it to stay dry while the rest is open to the dirt. It doesn't work that way.
Think about it like this. If you lock your front door but leave your back door wide open, is your house secure? No. Same concept here.
The moisture from the unencapsulated side is going to move into the encapsulated side. The humidity doesn't care that you put up a vapor barrier in one area. It's still coming from the dirt, still getting into your wood, still causing problems.
And that dehumidifier? It's fighting a losing battle. It's trying to pull moisture out of one section while the other section is constantly pumping more moisture in. You're just wasting electricity.
The fungal growth in this crawlspace proves it. If the system was working, we wouldn't see that much growth. But because only part of the space is controlled, the whole thing is failing.
You either encapsulate the whole crawlspace or you don't encapsulate at all. There's no in-between that actually works.
Why Would Anyone Do This?
I've been trying to figure out why someone would stop halfway through this job.
Maybe they ran out of budget. The homeowner said "I can only afford to do this much" and the contractor said okay. But a good contractor should have explained that partial work won't fix the problem. You're better off saving up and doing it right than wasting money on something that doesn't work.
Maybe they ran out of time or materials. They got to a certain point, realized they didn't have enough material or couldn't finish in the timeline, and just called it done. Took the money and left.
Maybe they just didn't know better. Some of these installers don't understand the science. They think "well, we're controlling part of it, that's better than nothing." It's not. In some ways, it's worse because now you've spent money and still have the same problems.
Or maybe they didn't care. Got paid for what they did and moved on to the next job. Never thought about whether it would actually work long-term.
Whatever the reason, the homeowner is the one stuck dealing with it. And that's not right.
The Real Problems This Creates
So what happens when you have a partial encapsulation like this?
The moisture problems never get solved. The whole point of encapsulation is controlling humidity. If you only do part of the space, you're not controlling anything. The homeowner still has moisture issues. Still has that musty smell. Still has humidity in their home.
You wasted thousands of dollars. Someone paid good money for this work. And it's not functioning. That money is gone and they're no better off than before. Actually, they're worse off because now they have to pay again to fix it.
Fungal growth keeps spreading. That growth I saw on the wood? It's not going to stop. It's going to keep eating away at the structural wood. The longer it goes, the more damage it causes.
Health concerns for the family. About 50% of the air in your home comes from your crawlspace. If there's mold and fungal growth down there, you're breathing it upstairs. That affects your family's health.
Now they have to pay twice. Once for the bad work that didn't work. Once for us to come tear it out and do it right. That's double the cost for something that should have been done correctly the first time.
What Should Have Been Done
This job should have been straightforward from the start.
Encapsulate the entire crawlspace. Not just a section. The whole thing. That's the only way to actually control moisture and humidity throughout the space.
Treat all the wood before encapsulating. That fungal growth needed to be treated on the front end. You don't just cover it up with plastic and hope it goes away. You kill it, let the wood dry out, then encapsulate.
Install one dehumidifier system sized for the entire space. Not some partial setup that only serves one area. One properly-sized dehumidifier that keeps the whole crawlspace under control.
Do the installation right. Clean tape lines. Proper sealing. Equipment installed correctly with condensate pumps that drain outside. This sloppy work with gaps everywhere? That's inexcusable.
Explain to the homeowner what they actually need. If someone can't afford to do the whole job right now, be honest about it. Tell them partial work won't solve the problem. Help them understand why it's better to wait and save up than to waste money on something that doesn't work.
Get It Done Right the First Time
Look, I hate seeing homeowners have to pay twice for the same work.
If you're dealing with moisture in your crawlspace, or you've had partial work done that isn't solving the problem, let's take a look.
I'll come out personally or send one of my managers. We'll inspect your entire crawlspace - not just part of it. We'll show you what's going on and give you an honest assessment of what needs to be done.
No sales pitch about doing sections to save money. No games. Just straight talk about what it takes to actually fix the problem.
We'll give you a quote for doing it right. The whole crawlspace. Proper materials. Proper installation. The kind of work that actually functions years down the road.
You shouldn't have to guess whether your crawlspace work is going to hold up. And you definitely shouldn't have to pay twice.
