Skip to content
Basement GurusLANCASTER, PA
Call
Call Now

Lancaster County · 22 years

Crawl Space Encapsulation in Lancaster County, PA

Crawl Space Encapsulation in Lancaster, PA

Seal it once, properly.

Encapsulation is a sealed liner across the floor and up the walls, with the moisture controlled rather than vented. Done right it is the single biggest change you can make to how the whole house feels.

(800) 834-6584
A sealed crawl space, with the liner seam magnifiedCutaway of a crawl space under a floor, with a block wall at each side. A heavy green liner covers the ground and turns up both walls, terminated by green bars near the top. A gold band of damp ground lies under it and gold arrows rise out of the soil, stopping at the liner. The vent in the left wall is sealed with a green cover, green hatching marks insulation on both walls, and a green-outlined dehumidifier with a fan sits in the space. Leader lines run from a point on the liner to a large circular detail on the right, which magnifies the seam: two liner sheets lapped over each other, covered by a strip of seam tape and pinned by a mechanical fastener.Lapped, taped, mechanically fastened20-mil liner, floor to wallGround moisture stops hereConditioned dehumidificationVent sealed

What's included

The actual scope

  • 20-mil reinforced vapor barrier
  • Sealed and insulated foundation walls
  • Conditioned dehumidification
  • Vent and access sealing
  • Radon-ready detail work

How it runs

Start to warranty

  1. Measure and moisture-map the space
  2. Clear, treat and prepare
  3. Line, seal and condition
  4. Lifetime warranty on the liner

Terms, plainly

Free estimate. No money down. Financing available. Lifetime warranty on waterproofing systems, and it transfers when you sell.

How the system works

A sealed, conditioned crawl space

Not to scale · sized to the space
A sealed, conditioned crawl spaceCutaway through a crawl space under a floor, with a foundation wall at each side and bare ground below. Blue arrows show moisture rising out of the soil. A green liner covers the ground and turns up both walls, the vent at the left is sealed shut, gold hatching marks insulation on the walls, and a dehumidifier and a sealed sump sit in the space. Five numbered callouts. One, gold: moisture rising year-round out of the bare ground. Two, green: a 20-mil reinforced liner across the floor and up the walls. Three, green: the sealed vent and the insulated wall behind it. Four, green: a dedicated dehumidifier holding the space dry. Five, green: drainage and a sealed sump carrying collected water out.12345GradeFloor aboveInsulated wall
  1. The problem: Moisture rises out of bare ground all year. Half the air in your first floor comes up through it.
  2. The system: A 20-mil reinforced liner covers the floor and runs up the walls, sealed and mechanically fastened.
  3. The system: Vents get sealed and the walls insulated — a vented crawl space just imports humid summer air.
  4. The system: A dedicated dehumidifier holds the space dry, which is what stops mold and wood rot returning.
  5. The system: Where water collects, drainage and a sealed sump carry it out before it reaches the liner.

Where you live changes the job

Crawl Space Encapsulation on limestone is not crawl space encapsulation on red shale

Lancaster County has four distinct ground conditions, and each one changes how we size and place this work. Your town page has the specifics.

Limestone valley floor

Interior French drain tied into a sealed sump basin with a battery backup, because the volume shows up fast and all at once. Wall vapor barrier where the block has been wicking.

Northern red shale and clay

Interior drain at the footing to relieve the pressure, plus wall reinforcement (carbon fiber or steel) anywhere the block has started to move. Exterior grading and downspout extensions to stop feeding the clay.

Southern schist uplands

Drainage on the uphill side first — interior drain plus exterior interception where the grade allows — and a discharge line routed far enough downslope that it does not simply return.

Susquehanna river terraces

Sub-slab drainage with a high-capacity sealed sump and battery backup, mortar repointing on stone walls, and encapsulation where the space is unfinished.

Before you call

Crawl Space Encapsulation questions we get from Lancaster County

What's the difference between encapsulation and just laying plastic down?

A sheet of plastic on the dirt covers some of the ground and stops very little. Encapsulation is a 20-mil reinforced liner sealed across the floor, up the walls and around every penetration, with the moisture then controlled by design. One is a partial cover, the other is a sealed envelope.

Do I need a dehumidifier in there as well?

On most sealed spaces here, yes, and it belongs to the design of the system. Once the space is closed off it stops exchanging air with outside, so something has to hold the humidity down. A conditioned dehumidifier sized to the space is what keeps the liner doing its job.

Will encapsulation actually lower my heating bill?

It usually helps, and we won't put a number on it because too much depends on the rest of the house. What owners report most is comfort: dry air is easier to heat and easier to cool, and the floor above stops being the cold room.

Should the vents be left open or sealed up?

Sealed, for this climate. Venting a crawl space was standard practice for decades and it works against you through a humid Pennsylvania summer, because warm outside air hits cool surfaces down there and condenses. Closing the vents belongs to the encapsulation itself.

How long does a liner last?

A 20-mil reinforced liner properly sealed and protected is a decades-long product, and ours carries the lifetime warranty. What shortens a liner's life is traffic and punctures, so where a space gets used for storage we detail it for that.

Other things we fix while we are there

Get a real price on crawl space encapsulation.

Free estimate anywhere in Lancaster County, and an honest answer about whether it can wait.

(800) 834-6584