Don’t let mold grow inside your home or office!
If you live in Wake County, the chances are that you have a crawl space. However, if you have vents rather than crawl space insulation, many issues can come along with it. You must seal your Fuquay-Varina, NC crawl space to keep out things that could damage your home.
Moisture is one of the worst factors that can enter your crawl space. To keep your crawl space safe from water and moisture, you need crawl space encapsulation. Do you know what crawl space encapsulation is and why it’s so essential? Also, do you know the dos and don’ts of encapsulation? Luckily, Sealed Solution is here to help you through this journey of protecting your crawl space. To learn everything you need to know, keep reading below and call Sealed Solution for additional information.
What Is Crawl Space Encapsulation?
You first need to understand what crawl space encapsulation in Wake County is before you can learn the dos and don’ts. Encapsulation is an extra layer of protection against moisture. You may wonder if you need encapsulation if you already have crawl space insulation, but encapsulation can help keep your home safe. While insulation helps, there are other ways you can continue to protect your home. For example, vapor barriers also keep moisture from entering your crawl space. Encapsulation provides an extra layer of protection.
Completely sealing your crawl space makes his heavy-duty barrier most effective in blocking moisture. But what else do you need to know about encapsulation? There’s a lot to learn.
Do: Address Issues With the Crawl Space First
Before you can add crawl space insulation in Fuquay-Varina, NC, you need to ensure that there aren’t any issues with the space. The last thing you want to do is accidentally seal damages into the crawl space. You need to address any repairs, or the issues can persist.
For example, you need to ensure no moisture has already built up in your Wake County crawl space. If you encapsulate your space without removing the water source, you can create a space conducive to mold growth.
If you already have mold inside your crawl space, you need to remove it before encapsulating. If you fail to remove the mold, it can continue to grow. Mold growth won’t only harm your crawl space. Since this space circulates air throughout your whole home and regulates your temperature, the spores can enter your living space. Also, mold can cause wood to deteriorate, so you can also harm your foundation by forgetting this step. For your health and safety, you need to keep mold out of your crawl space.
Don’t: Encapsulate Without Sealing
You should never encapsulate your Wake County crawl space without sealing it first. Before installing encapsulation, you should have crawl space insulation added. This will act as the first barrier against moisture. Failing to insulate your crawl space can let moisture or pests inside.
Do: Seal the Space
However, what should you seal before crawl space encapsulation? As we previously mentioned, you need insulation in your Fuquay-Varina, NC home. You should also install a vapor barrier in your crawl space to keep moisture from accumulating.
Also, if you have any vents in your crawl space, you should have them sealed and closed. Vents let outside air inside. Often, the air outside your home is a different temperature than that inside your house. When these different temperatures meet, condensation can form. So even if you have encapsulation, you can risk mold growth if you don’t seal the crawl space.
Don’t: Insulate With Fiberglass
When you plan on installing a crawl space encapsulation, you shouldn’t use fiberglass for your crawl space insulation. That’s because fiberglass absorbs moisture. When the whole goal is to prevent moisture, you waste your time installing the encapsulation.
While fiberglass insulation once reigned supreme in crawl spaces, it has gone out as the most popular crawl space insulation. Instead, you can choose spray foam insulation for your crawl space. Therefore, if you plan on encapsulating your crawl space, keep fiberglass out of it. If you already have fiberglass in your crawl space, you should call Sealed Solution to replace your insulation before you move forward with encapsulating.
Do: Control the Moisture
The most important step is to control moisture. You can do this in many ways, such as ensuring you remove any pooled moisture or damage before sealing and closing your vents. Lining the walls and floors with a vapor barrier can help control moisture and temperature.
Controlling the temperature can also help you keep moisture from getting into your crawl space. When you ensure the air in your crawl space is the same temperature as that in your home, you know you can keep out moisture. That’s why controlling these aspects is essential for the safety of your home and crawl space.
Don’t: Skip Drainage
Finally, you should never skip adding drainage to your Wake County crawl space. Don’t fall into the misunderstanding that encapsulation alone will keep moisture out of the space. While it can help keep moisture down, it cannot get rid of it forever. Installing a water drainage system that will keep water away from your crawl space can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars in repair.
Also, ensure you maintain the drainage system around your home. As long as you keep your drainage system working fine, you can stop water from entering your crawl space.
Can You Benefit From Crawl Space Encapsulation?
So can you benefit from crawl space encapsulation in your Fuquay-Varina, NC home? After considering the many advantages of encapsulation—and the damages of ignoring your crawl space—you should install encapsulation as soon as possible.
You should always have a professional install your encapsulation. There are so many factors that can go wrong if you don’t make the right move. If you forget about crawl space insulation, vapor barriers, or accidentally install fiberglass, it can ruin everything you did to protect your home. Mold is dangerous, and you don’t want to risk letting it into your home.
That’s why you should call Sealed Solution at 919-302-1081. We can install your encapsulation, so you never have to worry about your crawl space again.
Fuquay-Varina is a town in southern Wake County, North Carolina, United States, lying south of Holly Springs and southwest of Garner, and north of the Harnett County town of Angier and west of the unincorporated community of Willow Springs. The population was 17,937 at the 2010 census, and estimated at 30,324 as of July 2019. The hyphenated name attests to the town’s history as two separate towns. Fuquay Springs and Varina merged in 1963 to create the modern town. Economically, the town initially grew due to tobacco trade and agriculture, but has seen recent population growth and real estate development due to its proximity to Research Triangle Park.
Frenchman William Fuquay first settled in the small farming town of Sippihaw, named for the original Native American tribe that inhabited the area. Although there is no history of a tribe called Sippihaw, there are historical accounts in the area of a tribe called Susippihaw. In the mid-19th century while plowing the fields of the family plantation tobacco farmer Stephen Fuquay, great-grandson of William, discovered a spring. Originally the spring was used solely for drinking water. Stephen soon came to the conclusion that the mineral water flowing from the springs had healing properties. As word spread, locals began to help the springs establish this reputation, which brought residents from neighboring communities and counties to its waters. The springs were eventually walled in to better serve the tourists coming to the area by road or rail. In 1860, Fuquay sold the springs to a group of local investors who formed the Chalybeate Springs Company to market the attraction and its waters.
At that time another Sippihaw resident, J. D. ‘Squire’ Ballentine, was returning home from the Civil War. Ballentine had been the town’s schoolmaster before going off to fight for the Confederate Army. During his tour of duty, he had received letters from one of many southern ladies who wrote to the troops to improve their morale. Originally signing her name ‘Varina’, perhaps an homage to the wife of Jefferson Davis, Virginia Avery would later meet and fall in love with Ballentine. He continued to call her Varina throughout their life together. When he became the first postmaster at the new post office in town in 1880, he named it ‘Varina’ in her honor. A community grew just south of the springs, near the post office and the couple’s Varina Mercantile Company general store. In time, it adopted the same name. Ballentine’s business success allowed him to construct the Ballentine Spence House in 1910, the first house to have plumbing and electricity in the area. This house, a local historic landmark, still stands today.
Ben Wiley Hotel
The Fuquay Mineral Spring’s popularity grew in the 1890s and around the start of the 20th century as local businessman John Mills developed the idea to offer ‘Moonlight Excursions’ to the springs. He fitted flat rail cars with seats and offered nighttime train trips to southern Wake County from Raleigh. As more guests came to the springs to ‘take the waters’, a group of small hotels sprung up in town, along with restaurants, barbecue stands, and a dance pavilion with a player piano. The town became a tourist destination and was the site of special celebrations on Fourths of July and Easter Mondays. During these events, residents of Raleigh would take the train down to watch the accompanying baseball games and participate in the dances and celebrations. Hotels like the Ben Wiley Hotel catered to the out-of-towners and became as much a center of town life as the springs. In 1902, Sippihaw was renamed ‘Fuquay Springs’ in honor of its founding family and was officially incorporated in 1909.
Learn more about Fuquay-Varina.
Here are some inspection-related links:
← Previous Service LocationNext Service Location →
