You’ll notice the difference in your energy bills first. Homes with proper crawl space encapsulation cut heating and cooling costs by up to 20% because your HVAC isn’t fighting against humid air seeping up through the floor.
Then there’s the air you’re breathing. Up to half the air on your main floor comes from your crawl space. When that space is damp and moldy, you’re pulling that into your living room, your bedrooms, everywhere your family spends time.
Graham’s humidity doesn’t help. Spring and fall temperature swings create the perfect conditions for moisture to settle in your crawl space and stay there. A proper vapor barrier installation stops that cycle. Your floors stay solid. Your air stays clean. And you’re not dealing with sagging beams or soft spots five years down the road.
Clean Air LLC is a family-owned business serving Graham and the surrounding area since day one. Rick Watson and our team have seen every version of crawl space damage North Carolina’s climate can throw at a home.
We’re not a national franchise. We live here. We know what Graham homeowners deal with—the humidity spikes in July, the temperature drops in January, and everything in between that makes crawl spaces a problem if they’re not handled right.
You’ll get straight answers, fair pricing, and work that actually lasts. No upselling. No runaround. Just the fix your home needs.
We start with a full inspection of your crawl space. That means checking for standing water, existing mold growth, damaged insulation, and any structural issues that need attention before we seal anything up.
Next comes crawl space cleaning. If there’s debris, old insulation, or contamination down there, it gets removed. You don’t encapsulate over a mess—you’ll just trap the problem.
Then we install a heavy-duty vapor barrier, minimum 20-mil thickness, across the floor and up the walls. This isn’t the thin plastic you see in hardware stores. It’s designed to last and comes with a 25-year warranty against rips and tears. Seams get overlapped by at least six inches. Walls get covered 12 inches up.
After the barrier is sealed, we install a crawl space dehumidifier if your space needs it. In Graham’s climate, most do. The goal is to keep humidity between 40-50%, which prevents mold, wood rot, and that musty smell that works its way upstairs.
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Crawl space encapsulation isn’t one-size-fits-all, especially in North Carolina. Graham homes face specific challenges—high summer humidity, temperature swings that create condensation, and soil that holds moisture longer than it should.
Our encapsulation includes a complete moisture control system. That means proper vapor barrier installation with sealed seams and wall coverage, not just a floor liner. It means dehumidifier installation sized correctly for your space, not an off-the-shelf unit that can’t keep up.
We also handle crawl space insulation if your existing insulation is damaged or ineffective. Wet insulation doesn’t insulate—it just holds moisture and grows mold. If it’s compromised, it gets replaced with materials that work in sealed environments.
You’ll also get a detailed walkthrough of what we found, what we fixed, and how to maintain your crawl space going forward. Most homeowners never think about their crawl space again after encapsulation, but it’s worth knowing what’s down there and why it’s working.
Most encapsulation projects in the Graham area run between $5,000 and $15,000 depending on the size of your crawl space, the condition we find it in, and what systems you need installed.
If your crawl space has standing water, significant mold growth, or structural damage, costs go up because those issues have to be addressed first. You can’t seal a space that’s actively failing.
The investment makes sense when you consider what you’re avoiding. Structural repairs from wood rot can cost tens of thousands. Mold remediation throughout your home isn’t cheap either. And you’ll see the return in lower energy bills and better resale value—homes with encapsulated crawl spaces sell for 5-10% more on average.
Yes, and you’ll notice it within the first few months. Homes with properly encapsulated crawl spaces typically see energy cost reductions around 15-20%.
Here’s why it works. Humid air is harder to heat and cool than dry air. When your crawl space is open to outside moisture, that humid air rises into your home and your HVAC system has to work overtime to maintain temperature. Seal the crawl space and install a dehumidifier, and your system isn’t fighting that battle anymore.
Graham’s climate makes this even more pronounced. Summer humidity and winter temperature drops mean your HVAC is constantly compensating. Encapsulation stabilizes the environment under your home, which stabilizes the environment inside your home. Less work for your system means lower bills for you.
A properly installed encapsulation system lasts 20-25 years, sometimes longer if it’s maintained. The vapor barrier itself comes with a 25-year warranty against tears and degradation.
The dehumidifier is the only component that may need replacement during that time, typically after 10-15 years depending on usage. But that’s a straightforward swap, not a full system overhaul.
What matters most is the quality of the initial installation. Cheap barriers tear. Poor seam sealing lets moisture through. Undersized dehumidifiers can’t keep up with Graham’s humidity levels. When it’s done right the first time, you shouldn’t have to think about your crawl space again for decades.
Yes, and that’s one of the benefits most homeowners don’t think about until after the work is done. An encapsulated crawl space is clean, dry, and usable.
Before encapsulation, storing anything down there meant risking moisture damage, mold growth, and pest problems. After encapsulation, you’ve got a climate-controlled space that stays dry year-round.
That said, you still want to be smart about what you store. Keep items off the ground on shelves or pallets, avoid storing anything that could puncture the vapor barrier, and don’t overload the space. But for seasonal items, tools, or anything that doesn’t need to be in your main living area, an encapsulated crawl space works well.
A regular vapor barrier is typically thin plastic laid on the ground, maybe 6-mil thick, with minimal sealing and no wall coverage. It’s better than nothing, but it’s not a complete moisture control system.
Encapsulation uses a heavy-duty 20-mil barrier that covers the floor and extends up the walls. All seams are sealed. All penetrations are sealed. And it’s paired with a dehumidifier to actively control humidity levels, not just block ground moisture.
The difference shows up in performance. A basic vapor barrier might reduce moisture by 30-40%. Full encapsulation with dehumidification brings crawl space humidity down to the 40-50% range and keeps it there. That’s the level where mold can’t grow, wood doesn’t rot, and pests don’t want to live. It’s the difference between slowing down a problem and actually solving it.
In Graham, yes. The vapor barrier stops ground moisture, but it doesn’t address humidity that comes from temperature differences, air leaks, or seasonal weather patterns.
North Carolina’s climate means your crawl space will still see humidity spikes even with a perfect vapor barrier. Summer heat and high outdoor humidity create condensation. Temperature swings in spring and fall pull moist air into the space. Without a dehumidifier, that moisture has nowhere to go.
The dehumidifier is what keeps your crawl space humidity in the safe zone year-round. It’s the active part of the system that responds to conditions the vapor barrier can’t control. Most crawl spaces in this area need a unit that can handle 70-90 pints per day to keep up with our climate. Anything smaller and you’re not really solving the problem.
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