Vapor barrier installation in Tallahassee FL - a crawl space covered wall to wall

Most folks call because the floors feel clammy, the house smells musty, or the old plastic down there is torn and half buried. The price moves with the size of the crawl space, how much has to be cleared out first, how tight the space is to work in, and whether it's vented or sealed. The schedule mostly turns on whether I find a leak or standing water that has to be fixed before plastic goes down, and on a permit if your job needs one. I look at the space in person and go over what I found before you get a number.

First I go under the house and look for anything the plastic would hide, like a plumbing leak, a wet corner or a low spot that holds water, because plastic over a puddle is still a puddle, just a hidden one. If I find a problem, I'll tell you about it before I sell you anything. Then our crew clears out stored stuff and debris so the sheet can lie across the whole floor. We lay it so water under the house keeps draining the way it already does, since arguing with the slope of your own dirt is a fight you lose. The sheet runs up the walls and posts, and we fasten it there where tape alone won't hold, so the edges stay where they belong. I check the work before we call it done.

A barrier handles the ground, but a house leaks at the top too. If the upstairs stays hot, attic air sealing closes the gaps around lights, pipes and the hatch. On an older house that never got much insulation in the walls or attic, retrofit insulation adds it to the house you already have. If you're thinking about foam under the house, read the termite question below before you decide.

Which office handles your permit depends on where your address sits. Inside city limits, the city's Building Inspection Division issues the permits for building, renovating or altering a house, and permits are required for alterations too. Outside the limits, the city sends you to Leon County Development Services at 850-606-1300. Whether a crawl space ground cover on its own needs a permit is a question for that office, so I don't guess. We find out whether you're inside the limits or out, check with the office that covers you, and handle the permit paperwork if the job needs one.

Then there's the air. The usual advice for Florida homes is to keep indoor humidity around 55% or lower, because higher humidity can encourage mold and wear on building materials over time, and that's a big reason homeowners here start looking at what's going on under the floor. We see the same damp dirt and tired old plastic under houses in Crawfordville and Bradfordville, and the work goes the same way there.