Is 12 Mil Vapor Barrier Ideal For Crawl Spaces?

I was alerted to the vulnerabilities of a home due to the crawl space not being maintained properly. I regularly take care of my home and I consider myself a DIY person. I mow the lawn myself, I do repairs wherever I can, I take care of the drainage in my home, I paint the walls when needed and so on. However, I have not been to the crawl space because I did not think about it at all. I stay in Raleigh and when my friend told me that he had his crawl space encapsulated, that was when it hit me, I had neglected the crawl space. He was the one who alerted me to the dangers. He also told me that I should not look at saving money by doing it myself; rather I should hire a Raleigh crawlspace encapsulation expert and get the job done.

However, my DIY instincts kicked in and I started researching online about crawl space encapsulation, the material used, the way to do it etc. After the research I was sure that I needed an expert to do the job, but I had a few questions for him.

The first question I asked the encapsulation expert was whether I needed crawl space encapsulation in the first place. I wanted a detailed answer and the Raleigh expert did not fail me. He pointed out the problem areas, he showed me where mold and mildew had grown, and he showed spots with fungus growth. I was amazed to see that a few rodents had made the crawl space their home and a termite colony had sprung up recently. He advised me that I had no other option but to encapsulate the crawl space and that too immediately.

The next question I asked was, what mil vapor barrier is ideal for crawl spaces? He was taken aback, because not many people know about the material that is used and most do not even want to know, they just need a quote and a deadline to complete the task. He then told me that vapour barriers are available from 6 Mil to 20 Mil and 6 is thin material whereas 20 is the thickest material. He did not advocate 6 Mil as it was too thin and could get damaged soon, 20 Mil was too thick, after looking at our crawl space he suggested 12 Mil. I was fine with it, but I asked him whether 12 Mil vapor barrier was the ideal one for all crawl spaces. The expert told me we could go for 10 Mil too but if you want the crawl space encapsulation to last for years then 12 Mil was the ideal one. He further told me that he had years of experience in the field and 12 Mil vapor barriers with reinforced string was the best and lasted long.

I heeded his advice and I had the crawl space encapsulated with 12 mil vapour barriers and I can say that I am really happy and I need not think about my crawl space at all, after all I have a lot of other DIY options at home.

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