The process of protecting your home from interior and exterior threats is extensive. Most homeowners are aware of the insulation that keeps the house warm in the winter or covering windows to prevent critters from entering the house. A full encapsulation of your crawl space can also be an effective method to prevent an infestation.

Let’s begin with what is a crawl space encapsulation. A full encapsulation consists of:  adding a heavy-duty moisture barrier to the floor, sealing the air vents, insulating the walls, and installing a special crawl space dehumidifier. This process differs from insulation in that insulation is ideal for warming cold floors, whereas encapsulation helps deter ground moisture and humid air. Typical price is around $7,500 but varies greatly on size, cleanliness state and other factors. .

The consensus is that encapsulating your crawl space will have marginal benefits as far as preventing animals from nesting, burrowing, and living. By creating adverse conditions for an animal in which to live, you reduce the chances that they enter at all. Due to the fact that encapsulating your crawl space decreases the amount of moisture in the vicinity, we conclude that animals would have a more difficult time living there than in the wilderness.

Sealing the ventilation system is the most obvious way to prevent rodents and other smaller creatures from entering the crawl space and fostering a family underneath your own. This is a simple fix that can be completed with some supplies from Lowes. Mice and other pests frequent these areas. Other more microscopic creatures like bugs and insects can still sneak through the cracks. Therefore it is pivotal that you follow through on the wall insulation and dehumidifier in order to dissolve the air of precious H2O that the creatures need to live.

Thoroughness and preparedness are some of the most valuable steps in the process of avoiding animals in your crawl space. One should check the crawl space at least once per year to ensure that there are no critters living there. Updating the insulation in the walls annually is also a smart idea. Follow these steps and you will sleep soundly.