Musty smell or damp dirt under the house? We lay a sealed plastic cover over your crawl space floor to hold ground moisture down.
A crawl space vapor barrier is a plastic sheet laid over the dirt floor under your house, and in Aliso Viejo we install it to help keep ground moisture and soil gases like radon from rising into the space below your floors.
Most people call because of something they notice upstairs, like a musty smell, cold floors, or a damp feel when they pop the crawl space hatch. Plastic only does its job over a dry floor, so wet spots are the first thing I look for when I go under the house.
The price moves with how big and how tight the space is, how much has to come out before we start, any water problem that needs fixing first, how thick the plastic is, and whether you want a plain ground cover or a fully sealed crawl space. The schedule mostly turns on that prep work, so the estimate I write after looking lists each step and anything that has to be fixed first.
You deal with me and our own crew from the first look to the last, and here's how that goes.
After you call or send a message, we set up a visit and I go under the house myself. I've run this business since 2013, and the estimate I write lists each step and anything that has to be fixed before the plastic goes down.
The people under your house are our crew, and we're licensed and fully insured. They do the work in the order the estimate lays out, so nothing gets covered before it's ready.
The City of Aliso Viejo allows construction from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays, with no work on Sundays or federal holidays, so we book your install inside those hours. When the crew is done, I look it over before we call the job finished.
Before anything gets ordered, I'll walk you through the two ways to go. A plain ground cover is plastic over the dirt, and it's the simpler job, while a fully sealed crawl space also takes in the walls, the vents and the air down there, so it's more work and more material. If sealing makes sense for your house, closing the vents only comes up once any fuel-burning equipment under the floor, like a gas furnace or water heater, has been dealt with. I'd rather tell you a ground cover is enough than sell you a sealed job you don't need.
The same plastic and the same care go into vapor barrier installation in other parts of the house. If the upstairs runs hot or the bills are high, attic air sealing closes the gaps around lights, pipes and the hatch at the top of the house, where a lot of air slips out.
The order matters more than the plastic, because a barrier laid over a wet floor or an open gap just hides the problem.
Nothing goes down until the space is clear and dry, so the prep on your estimate comes first. The FAQ below covers what that usually involves.
Our crew rolls the sheet across the whole floor and carries it up the walls, piers and footings as far as the space allows. A strip of bare dirt at the edge lets moisture right back in.
We overlap the sheets and tape them, then seal around pipes and posts that come through the plastic. Loose seams and open cuts are where barriers usually start to fail.
We take our scraps and tape ends out with us and put the access cover back. If you need to store things down there again, lay boards down first so nothing tears the plastic.
Tell us what you know about what's down there, like any standing water, things stored under the house, and any furnace or water heater that burns gas. We respond within 1 business day to set up a visit, the quote on site is free, and there's no pressure to book. I'll come look, then write down each step and what has to be fixed first.
(949) 619-8040A ground cover cuts down moisture coming up from the dirt, but it does nothing about damp walls, humid air or the vents, which a fully sealed crawl space takes on. One cost guide calls a floor-only barrier much less effective than full sealing, but a reasonable first step on a tight budget. I'll show you what your space actually needs and won't push the bigger job if a ground cover will do.
No, closing the vents by itself won't give you a dry, sealed crawl space, and it can push moisture up instead of down. Federal guidance on sealing crawl spaces warns it can also create a deadly situation if a furnace, water heater or other fuel-burning equipment down there vents naturally. If you have gas equipment under the house, mention it when you call so I can look at it first.
One cost guide puts a 6-mil contractor-grade sheet at 3 to 5 years and a 20-mil reinforced professional-grade barrier at 25 years or more, which is worth weighing if you plan to stay a long time. The same guide says failures usually come from tears, seam tape drying out, or open cuts around pipes. A quick look under the house once a year catches small problems before they turn into big ones.
Any standing water comes out and its source gets found and fixed first, so moisture stays down once the plastic is in. Stored things and debris come out too, so the plastic can cover the ground completely. Both go on your estimate as the first steps, ahead of the install.
We're based in Aliso Viejo and work in cities across Orange County, including Laguna Niguel, Mission Viejo and Laguna Hills, plus plenty more nearby. The crawl spaces we see vary a lot, from roomy ones to tight squeezes, and plenty still hold boxes stored years ago.
Termite advice for California homes says to keep the space under the house ventilated and dry, and to fix foundation cracks and plumbing leaks right away. A barrier helps with the moisture coming up from the ground, but a leaking pipe still needs fixing, so it's worth taking care of before the plastic goes in.
We take calls seven days a week from early morning until 9 p.m., so you can reach us at (949) 619-8040 even after you've peeked in the crawl space yourself.
If you're not sure what's going on under your floors, call us at (949) 619-8040 and we'll talk it through.
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