I see a lot of the pros chiming in on this diy stuff and I do agree if a homeowner can afford your prices then by all means hire a pro to do all of this work , bottom line y'all's prices are just too damn high for us homeowners. Most people can't afford 15 to 30k to repair a bad crawl space. I do understand that this is very labor intensive, but there is a whole helluva lot of mark-up in the materials too, so please forgive us diy'ers for trying to save some money !

Good tip on ducting the dehu to the tightest area of the crawl to create a convective current. I'll be doing that as I complete my project soon :)

Pretty informative! I am going with Ventilation Fan with keeping other vents open during non-winter times first, if it doesn't work I am going to use a humidifier. I have a meter and already brought the wood moisture to 15% in North Carolina!

I've been in the encapsulation business for years. DO NOT tape any poly / liner to concrete piers or concrete foundation walls. It will not stick over time and will shortly fall off. You are better off using concrete anchors every 3-5 feet on the top edge and then sealing with a 2" double sided butyl tape, a polyurethane caulking, or spray foam. The anchors will keep the top edge permanently up and your sealing method will keep it air tight. Also please be aware that fogging your crawlspace will cause a lot of that product to go upstairs as your HVAC duct work, subflooring, plumbing penetrations, electrical penetrations all allow air from the crawlspace to go upstairs. Also you should cover as much of the foundation walls as possible and support columns. Concrete wicks moisture and to go up only 4 inches on the wall allows for evaporation off that concrete. Just leave at least 4 inches of foundation wall exposed at the top to make the termite companies happy for inspection purposes. If the homeowner doesn't care about a termite inspection gap at the top then just seal up the entire wall to maximize mitigation of evaporation which high humidity causes mold and fugal growth. Also this is not a DIY project, hire a pro

Insulation is better on the OUTSIDE. On the inside it can trap moisture in the wood. The foundation wicks water up onto the wood so the spray foam creates a vapor barrier sealing it inside.

Having done this for almost 20 years, I agree with fogging the crawlspace 100%. I've used RMR-86 and it takes a piece of lumber that is totally black to looking brand new. The house I was working on was vacant. It is very "bleachy". I can't see using RMR-86 except on homes with a few bad spots. If there's more than that, it will need soda blasting. (In my opinion) but if they want some tremendous amount for soda blasting, I'll use 2.5 gallons of the RMR with my electric sprayer and let the odor go away. I did a very black piece of plywood in 2017. I'd love to see it today, but the homeowner is somewhat hostile. I did the job for the seller and the home was vacant. We did one heck of a job, really. Just starting out making a name for ourselves, etc. well, the new homeowners called and said they had to send a plumber into the crawlspace and the dehumidifier wasn't working. Wasn't working? Someone (and I think I know who) caused the leak and turned over our dehumidifier , ruining it. While I was installing a free dehumidifier, the wife walks down and says, don't bump that wire down there. I had to pay $175 to fix that wire after you guys did your work. It was a rusted, 75 year old, 220 volt wire that had exposed copper. We saw it on day one and made damn sure we didn't "bump" it. We put a bicycle rope lock on this one and they'll never see us again, no matter what. Unless it's in court. I made videos. The person we did the work for and the real estate agent were delighted, it passed a VA LOAN inspection and they're tough. Rambling !!!

As a termite professional, I recommend anyone should check with the company that has your termite bond before ever using spray foam.

I’ve seen both and now I’m confused to which it should be. Should I put my vapor barrier on top of my rigid insulation on the walls or behind?? I’d be kind of concerned of putting the rigid insulation behind the vapor barrier because I don’t want soil vapor to have access to the rigid insulation and eventually keep wicking up through even though it’s high density XPS and so won’t absorb much I just don’t want it to be able to absorb any

Lowe's video on crawl space.

Will the plastic used under the foundation dry up crack into pcs . And get poke pcs of plastic all over.. i thought the vent dry out the moisture

Us termite professionals cringing hard at the mention of spray foam directly on wood members. Good luck getting a thorough WDIR.

You have to hire right people and that is hardest part, this guys in the video, they are amateurs. Why would you spray foam insulation in the crawl space? Even you want to spray it, they should of removed the insulation before they spray it. The reason why you don't want to spray foam it is b/c it will trap a moisture. At 4.17 mark, you could see the mold present on the wood. Before you hire anybody, educate your self so that you know who to hire

For the pump part in winter whats the solution

1:31 "Lowes made this GFX possible to exist in this world"! Hilarious.

Is it possible to place supports and plywood to make the crawl space a useful storage area?

Is there a way to not use a dehumidifier? I had 50% moisture reading on the wood in my crawl space. I don't have $10,000 or whatever it will cost for encapsulation and machinery. Can I use Thompson's water seal on the wood and concrete sealer on the walls?

Lowe’s: “install a GFCI in the crawl space.” Also Lowe’s: *installs regular outlet* 🤣🤣🤣

Loving the Chin Diaper!!!!

No radon test??

By the way, you don't want to seal all your crawl space vent b/c of radon gas. You need to install one crawl space ventilation fan and close other vent. The reason why you want to close all the vent except one is b/c you don't want to bring in humid air from the outside and dehumidifier don't have to work too hard. If you have mold problem in crawl space, you need to take of where the moisture is coming from, if you don't address this, other stuff you do is waste of time and money

I don't get it; where's the insulation?

Some pros suggest to lower humidity of the space and in the wood before mold remediation.

I've been researching my crawl space and learning for 3 years. Foundation and crawl space contractors are opportunists. They're also without shame, taking advantage of consumers and charging exorbitant amounts of money to consumers. It's wrong & they know it, but at an average of $10,000 for 1000 sq ft crawl space, and basic menial labor which is not complicated work. Just a bit intimidating until you get used to your crawl space. I recommend fully lighting up your crawl space first, before you commence any work. Working in darkness, with a single little light is a whole different ballgame & intimidating and difficult, versus working in bright lights. The work is easier, you can navigate and see well, and it feels welcoming! After all is said and done, you will spend a fraction of what the opportunistic crawl space contractors would charge you. There is massive markup with the materials by contractors & their labor rates are abhorrent. So I've learned plenty. You just have to compartmentalize the project in phases. I've got three phases. Phase I: Repair any structural weaknesses in posts, beams, etc. And clean up crawl space of debris. Phase II: Install French Drains, for more efficient drainage. Install sump pump, and 15 Gal. sump pump basin and connect sump pump to outdoor drainage system. Phase III: Remove old torn up and tattered vapor barrier. Grade out flat, the extra dirt that was dug up for the French drains in the crawl space soil area. Install new vapor barrier. Materials & Planning. Prior to installing the new vapor barrier, you'll need 10 or 12 mm thick one piece Vapor barrier. Draw up with schematics, and then properly pre-cut the Vapor Barrier prior to going down into the crawl space for each section. Have on hand more material than you think you will need. That would include 4 inch wide seam tape, butyl tape for adhering the plastic to the concrete wall surfaces and plenty of vapor barrier to overlap 6 to 12 inches. In addition to that for phase 2, you will need the right amount of linear feet of perforated 3 inch or 4 inch pipe for the French drains. For a 1000 sq ft. crawl space you'll need 2 to 2.5 yd of rock. Smooth, round 3/4 River Rock will work well for a French drain in a crawl space. Get a utility sled, so you can slide the heavier rock down the crawl space lengths, so you can transport the heavier objects to and from where you need to go. You'll need short Trench shovels, short rakes and plenty of patience. Wear a mask, get some really high quality knee pads, and coveralls so you don't get too filthy. Pace yourself. Take your time and enjoy the process. Plan, plan, plan, and plan some more. Make a bullet list. Draw up detailed schematics. And give yourself a pat on the back for becoming a very competent homeowner. It's nice to work with someone else too because this is a difficult job underneath your home. You can vet five or six different contractors and pick one that's very reasonably priced, trustworthy, good follow up, punctual, and honest, anywhere from $30 to $50 an hour to help you with the heavy heavy work. That is, a general contractor that Do Not specialize in crawl spaces or foundation work. You can find ones that will work with you, for a reasonable price and then you'll have a second person to help you do the job just steer clear from foundation and crawl space contractors, they charged exorbitant amounts of money that are unfair to the consumer and not ethical.

It looks like they are applying the spray foam before removing the mold.

This is for Lowe's Pros|? most showed no masks being used and poor technique looked more like DIYers

not supposed to cover band joist.. all wood structure should be open to inspect

How does a dehumidifier work draining water when its 40 below zero!

Definitely go through a local insulation company! I’ve done way to many jobs where homeowners do really crappy jobs and it almost 90% of the time we get the call to fix it after they “tried” witch makes it more difficult for us.

I just cleaned 60 years worth of junk, out my crawlspace last weekend. Now it's down to the dirt I will put down poison in the dirt and cover it with 6 mill plastic, and next spring I will get a contractor in there to put concrete on the floor

Step 1 . Sell the house and move

Oh god this type of job is seriously tedious, hard and super labor intensive. Its like going to some marine boot camp with all that crawling and be covered with crap. I bet in fixing any "major" crawlspace issues will never be a 100% a problem solver down the road and the "repair" bill will cost as much as buying another home. I have seen a "patented" system where the crawlspace company literally lifts the whole freaking house like 1 story high in an affordable manner so that the working condition will never be like some kind of military boot camp training during the repairing process. All in all, never buy a house with a 3 foot "crawlspace, get a house that has at least 8 foot crawlspace (A.K.A a basement). If anyone has a "major" crawlspace problems, it would be more "logical" to actually dig out the the crawl space and make a basement and aid in the repairs, the budget will be more expensive, but now the advantage is that your house's market value has increased due to having converting a "crawlspace" into a "basement", you basically killed 3 birds with one shot. Fixed the crawlspace issue, created a large basement headroom and also boosted your home's market value. I feel it's insanely pathetic to just fix the "crawlspace" alone so that 10 years later you're gunna need to repeat the process again. Having a basement can allow homeowners to easily repair any issues underneath the house. "Crawlspace repairs do indeed need a professional".

street fighter music in the BG? lol

I feel bad for the property owner of this house because this job is total shit lol

Makes way more sense to install the dehumidifier BEFORE laying the moisture barrier on the floor so that you don't puncture the barrier.

Remember: when you hire a pro in the US, for every $10 you pay them, $5 of it is for them to send to the government. If you can do a DIY job so well that someone buying your house can’t tell it wasn’t done by a pro, you are saving yourself a ton of money. Basements are low-hanging fruit-DIY this all the way.

Watch at 2x. Avoid slow talkers

2:38 Nice mask.

Jesus, the amount of trash piled up outside the neighbors house.

$$$$$$$$$$$

Wear a crawlsuit

pobre hombre sin mascara

Horrible from a Code perspective. Worst encap I have seen

This has to be the most disgusting informational video about "Encapsulate a Crawlspace" I have ever seen! Lowe's, I ask you kindly to remove this video, as this will not help ANYONE with what you have shown.

FOR PROFESSIONALS "ONLY" SHOULD NOT HAVE POSTED ON KZfaq!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pretty sad you guys posted a video of a young man breathing in fungus, mold, who knows what else while failing to protect the young man properly by equipping him with proper ppe

This is dangerous info for the non-informed. There are a couple of useful cutting tips though.

Spray foam is the WORST for insulating a Crawlspace. That info is completely wrong. If you have high moisture in a Crawlspace and can’t afford to do an encap, spray foam will trap moisture and rot your wood extremely fast. Even when doing an encapsulation, you shouldn’t spray foam in a Crawlspace.

You never cover a crawl space with 100% ,,,,,,only about 90% will do. The crawl space needs to have some breathing space......So only about 90% coverage!!!!!