Why do I need encapsulation?
1. Keep your crawlspace at a controlled temperature and humidity to prevent the growth of mold and mildew and potentially dangerous soil gasses from entering the house 2. Lower energy bills
3. Substantially lengthen the life of your ductwork.
4. Helps with rodent infestation
5. Improve the over all air quality of your house. 50% of the air in your house comes from the crawlspace.
Are encapsulations a fad, why did I never hear of this 20 years ago?
The answer is simple….The HVAC systems have gotten so much better than they were 20 years ago. Back then most equipment struggled to keep a home under 80 degrees during the peak of our summers. Nowadays if the thermostat is set on 68, the house will be 68. Ok that being said this is where the problem is. It all comes down to dew point. Dew point by definition is (The temperature air needs to be cooled to to achieve a relative humidity of 100%. At this point the air cannot hold any more water in the gas form, allowing water droplets to form). Just like setting a cool glass of water outside, it will condensate, or sweat Just like the duct work, and floor system in your crawl space. Well you might say well it's all insulated. That is true in theory but not so much in form. Fiberglass insulation is a good insulator, but it has to be touching what it is insulating. Look in your crawl space and see how much of it is actually touching the floor. The problem is how it is installed. They use little wires that stick between the joists and smash it up against the floor. But the smashing of the fiberglass greatly affects its performance. Anywhere there is fiberglass not touching the floor there is an air gap. (see drawing).
The average humidity in Myrtle Beach, SC is 73% (google), average high temperature for the three hottest months is 86 degrees Fahrenheit (again google). At those temperatures the dew point is 76.9 degrees. Basically that means that any surface at that temperature and humidity will start to condensate at 76.9 degrees. So if your thermostat is lower than that your sub-floor will have water droplets form on it behind that sagging insulation. And as a bonus that insulation will retain water, and not let your floor system dry out until fall when our humidity drops. That's why some wooden floors buckle in the summer and lay back down in the fall. The same goes for your duct system….except much worse. As the humidity increases, it gets worse. The floor system will start to form water droplets at higher temperatures. The air that the current HVAC systems are putting out is in the low 50’s, so at those exact same conditions your ducts will begin to condensate at around 82 degrees. Thus, filling the insulation with water and deteriorating the insulation on the ducts. By installing our system we will take mother nature out of the equation, and bring your crawl space to a semi conditioned space that stays almost the same conditions as your home as well as many other benefits.