Damp dirt or torn old plastic under the house? We deal with the water first, then seal a barrier across your crawl space floor.
Vapor barrier installation in Carson City means laying heavy plastic over your crawl space floor and sealing it to the foundation walls and piers, so water and water vapor from the ground stay out from under your floors.
Most people call after a look through the crawl space hatch. They find plastic that's torn, bunched in a corner or pulled away from the walls, or bare dirt with no plastic at all. Sometimes cold floors or a musty smell are what sent them down there in the first place, and the first question is nearly always whether that old layer can be saved.
The price mostly turns on how big the crawl space is, how many piers the plastic has to wrap around, whether your old plastic can be patched or needs a new layer, and whether there's water or mold to deal with first. That last part also drives the schedule, because nothing goes down until the floor is dry and clean, and so does whether your address needs a permit. After I've looked under the house with you, I'll put together an estimate for your crawl space.
You call or send a request, and most of the time I'm the one who calls you back to set up a visit. I spent years behind a desk before I traded it for a flashlight and a tape measure, and I started this business in 2017.
I do the estimate visits myself, and I'd rather you see what's down there than take my word for it, so I'll point out the old plastic, any damp spots and the vents. Then I put together an estimate and go over everything I found before you decide anything.
Our installers do the work, and a lead installer runs each job, so one person on site knows the plan we talked through. When the plastic is down, we clean up after ourselves and I walk you through the finished job.
We're fully licensed and insured, which is what you want before anyone crawls around under your house. Your satisfaction, guaranteed, and if anything about the job doesn't sit right with you, I want to hear about it at the walk-through.
If there's old plastic down there, I'll tell you honestly whether taping it up will do or whether a new sealed layer is worth it. Plastic that's only loose or split at the seams can often be fixed by taping the tears and seams and running it up the walls, and that's the smaller job. A new sealed layer laid over the top lasts longer, so when the old plastic is brittle or torn all over, that's where I'd put your money. Once any water problem is handled, we clear the space, lay the plastic, seal it and fasten it in place.
While I'm under the house, I'm also looking at how the rest of it holds heat. If the upstairs runs drafty, attic air sealing closes the gaps around lights, pipes and the attic hatch. In an older house that never got much insulation, retrofit insulation adds it to the walls and floors without a remodel.
Here's the order we work in once you've said yes, and why each step comes where it does.
Stored boxes, old lumber and other debris come out first, so the plastic can cover the whole floor instead of going around piles. If you keep things down there, mention it at the estimate and we'll plan for it.
Standing water, mold, rotten wood or anything hazardous gets dealt with before new plastic goes down, because sealing over a problem just hides it. If I see something that needs a different trade, I'll tell you plainly, and we'll hold off on the plastic until it's fixed.
We spread heavy plastic across the whole floor and carry it up the foundation walls and around each pier, overlapping the pieces. On a repair, we either tape the old layer's tears and seams or lay the new sealed layer right over it.
Every seam gets sealed and the edges get fastened to the walls and piers, so the plastic is held in place when someone crawls across it later. Ask me how we'll fasten it at your house, and I'll show you before we start.
Tell us what you've seen down there, like standing water, mold or old plastic that's torn or loose, so I know what I'm walking into. We respond within 1 business day, usually with me on the phone, to set up a free on-site estimate. There's no obligation, and nothing gets decided until I've gone over what I found with you.
(775) 227-5588Full crawl space encapsulation with a vapor barrier and a dehumidifier usually costs about $5,500 to $9,500 in Nevada for a 1,500 sq ft crawl space. That's the going rate for the bigger job, so repairing old plastic or putting down a barrier without a dehumidifier lands somewhere else, and the size of your crawl space, the piers and any water cleanup all move it. I'll give you your own number after I've been under the house.
Yes, the national building guidance says the plastic ground cover should go in whether a crawl space is vented or not. In a vented crawl space, most of the moisture comes from water getting in through poor grading, missing drainage around the house or how the yard gets watered, so I'll look at those outside too. Closing the vents is a separate decision you can make later.
It can, because a well-installed barrier helps hold down soil gases like radon along with ground moisture. Any home that sits on soil can build up radon, mobile homes with skirting included, and Nevada's state health division recommends testing every home, since a test tells you what yours has. I'd test either way.
We find out for you, because the rules differ between Carson City, the counties and the cities around us, and if your job needs a permit, we take care of the paperwork. In Carson City, the Carson City Building Division issues permits, inspects construction and helps with applications at 775-887-2310. If you'd rather do the work yourself on the home you live in, the Nevada State Contractors Board lists an owner exemption you apply to the board for, and it doesn't cover a house you plan to sell or lease.
We're based in Carson City and work across the cities around it, from Reno and Sparks down to Gardnerville and up to Incline Village, with plenty of places in between like Dayton, Johnson Lane and Sun Valley. The crawl spaces vary from older homes over bare dirt to manufactured homes with skirting, and we do the job the same way wherever we go.
Most of our calls come from homeowners with a cold room or a drafty house, and a fair number of landlords call too, since a crawl space is easy to forget in a rental. What I usually find underneath is plastic someone laid down years ago that nobody has checked since, torn by whoever last ran a pipe or a cable and pulled off the walls.
Ripping out plastic that only needed tape wastes your money, so call (775) 227-5588 or email hi@carsoncitysprayfoaminsulation.com and let me take a look first.
If you've got a question about what's under your house, send it over and I'll explain what I'd do and why.
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