Seal out ground moisture for good. 20-mil reinforced vapor barrier, taped seams, wall & pier wrap, sealed vents, and a dedicated dehumidifier — installed in one to three days for most Charlotte homes.
A licensed local crew — usually out in 24 to 72 hours. Written scope, fixed price, no pressure.
Last month I encapsulated a 1979 split-level off Sam Newell Rd, about half a mile from Downtown Matthews. The homeowner had owned the house since 1992 and had never once opened the crawl door before he called us. Access was 22 inches on the good side, 17 in the low corner where the trunk duct sagged into the ductwork chase. Torn 6-mil plastic. Foil-faced fiberglass batts collapsed out of six joist bays above the master bedroom. Six brick piers on the interior girder, three of them shimmed with cedar wedges that had rotted through. Standing water in the northeast corner from a disconnected downspout. Duct joints leaking condensate onto the rim joist for so long there was a 30-inch soft spot in the sill plate. The scope came in at three days of work, sequenced structural first, then encapsulation.
That house is the Matthews split-level baseline. If your house was built between 1972 and 1988 anywhere off Sam Newell Rd, Sardis Rd, or the sections of John St feeding away from the historic downtown grid, that is essentially what is under your floor right now — original 6-mil plastic in rags, fiberglass batts sitting on dirt, undersized 8-by-16 foundation vents, brick pier settlement on any pier that has been in ground contact for four decades. Matthews got hit hard by the split-level tract boom of the late 1970s and 80s and the crawlspace envelope on those houses was an afterthought at construction. Nobody was thinking about Piedmont summer dew points in the low 70s condensing on cold ductwork in June. They were thinking about how many units they could frame per week.
The other layer of Matthews is the pre-1970s brick-pier stock closer to Trade St and the historic town core, and the 2000s subdivisions along the Independence Blvd corridor and out toward the Weddington Chase side. Three different construction eras, three different crawlspace personalities, three different scopes. A Trade St 1958 brick ranch with unmortared piers gets a completely different plan than a 2005 subdivision home off Sardis Rd with a builder partial encapsulation that was never finished. Both get a different plan than a Matthews-Mint Hill Rd 1982 split-level with rotted rim joist. If you show up with a one-size scope in this town you are wrong before you open your mouth.
I have been under Matthews houses for twenty years — grew up ten minutes from Downtown Matthews and can sketch a 1978 split-level floor plan from memory before opening the hatch. Free on-site inspection anywhere in Matthews, Mint Hill, Stallings, Weddington, and Indian Trail. Fixed written quote. No surprises.
The process on a Matthews encapsulation branches at the front door based on which era the house belongs to, and I decide the sequence before I put down the first sheet of liner.
1970s-80s split-level tract (Sam Newell, Sardis, John St off downtown, Matthews-Mint Hill Rd corridor). Low-clearance job. Every sheet of 20-mil liner has to be cut smaller than a normal roll-out and worked in through the hatch one piece at a time. Seam tape gets applied on my back or side, not standing up. The first day is almost always tear-out — original 6-mil plastic, collapsed foil fiberglass batts, decades of pest debris, sometimes a dead squirrel or two. Fiberglass on a Matthews split-level has been down there long enough to be a solid mat of dust and rodent nesting material, and you cannot recycle it, you bag it and dispose. Then pier assessment — even in the 80s tract stock, interior brick piers set on grade have moved. I probe each one with a level, note which ones need shoring, and sequence structural work before liner goes down. Ductwork through the joist bays is a Matthews split-level signature and every duct joint gets sealed with mastic and UL 181 tape as part of the scope because leaky ducts drip condensate onto the very insulation you are trying to protect. Rim joist inspection matters — I have seen rotted sill plate on more Matthews split-levels than any other stock in the metro because the ductwork chase leaks have been running for 40 years unnoticed.
Pre-1970s brick pier near Trade St and Downtown Matthews. Structural first, always. Every pier gets probed and photographed. If any pier has settled more than a quarter inch below the girder or lost contact entirely, that pier gets a new footing dug and poured (12-inch minimum on undisturbed soil per Mecklenburg code) and a Grip-Tite or Tiger SmartJack adjustable steel post to re-shim to the girder. Clearance is the tightest in Matthews on these Trade St era houses — 18 to 24 inches is common and I have been in some at 15 where you are moving on your back with your heels. Encapsulation itself is the same 20-mil, individually wrapped piers, mechanical wall termination, sealed vents, dehumidifier — but the sequencing takes two extra days because of the structural work.
2000s subdivisions along Independence and out to Weddington Chase. These are the finish-the-builder-job scopes. Tall crawls (32 to 42 inches), block perimeter, easy access. The 6-mil the builder called encapsulation gets torn out and replaced with 20-mil. Vents that were left open get sealed. Piers get wrapped individually. Wall liner terminated with mechanical bar. Dehumidifier added — usually a Santa Fe Compact 70 or Aprilaire E070 sized to the cubic footage. Two-day job with a two-person crew most of the time.
Mecklenburg County does not require a permit for the encapsulation work itself — vapor barrier, sealed vents, and pier wraps are not permitted trades. Structural repair (new pier footings, sistered joists, rim joist replacement) needs a Mecklenburg building permit and inspection through CityInspect.charlottenc.gov. The dedicated 20-amp electrical circuit for the dehumidifier needs an electrical permit. We pull both when scope calls for them. If you are on the Matthews side of Sam Newell that crosses into Stallings or Weddington, permits shift to Union County in Monroe and those inspectors are stricter on pier footing depth. Weddington Chase HOA does not have architectural review for crawlspace work as long as no exterior equipment is street-facing, which for us means condensate discharge routes to a side or rear elevation. Providence Downs South across the line has similar rules.
Materials on a Matthews encapsulation are the same 20-mil reinforced woven poly we spec across the metro (YellowGuard, Viper CS, or Americover depending on supplier stock), individually wrapped piers with 20-mil off the roll, mechanical wall termination bar (1-inch by 1/8-inch aluminum stock, 2-1/4-inch masonry screws every 12 inches, bedded in SikaFlex-1a), Polyken 337 double-sided PSA seam tape, and closed-cell foam vent blocks with mechanical exterior covers. The difference on Matthews jobs is what has to happen first before any of that goes down.
On the 1970s-80s split-level stock, plan on structural work on nearly every job. Cedar shim replacement or Grip-Tite adjustable steel post shoring on any interior brick pier that has moved. Sistered 2x10 alongside any rotted rim joist section — I stock the material by the truck-load because we hit it constantly on Matthews split-levels. UL 181 duct tape and duct mastic for the leaky joints in the joist-bay routing that has been condensing for decades. Open-cell spray foam (Icynene or equivalent, 3-inch minimum) on the rim joist is our default insulation on these houses because the framing is irregular and foam handles the gaps in one pass. Rockwool ComfortBatt R-15 as the fallback if the homeowner wants no foam.
Dehumidifier sizing on Matthews stock: the split-level footprints are usually 1,600 to 2,400 SF crawl side, which puts us on an Aprilaire E070 or Santa Fe Compact 70. The bigger 2000s Weddington-side subdivisions go to a Santa Fe Ultra98 or AlorAir Sentinel HDi90 depending on cubic footage. Discharge humidistat set to 55 percent RH. Dedicated 20-amp circuit — never share with the crawl light. Drain to daylight where slope permits, condensate pump when it does not. On the Trade St pre-1970s stock, tighter cubic footage but often more infiltration through the older pier construction, so an Aprilaire E070 sized to the load usually does it. Zoeller M53 primary sump pump plus Wayne WSS30V battery backup if standing water is documented in the low corners.
Yes — Matthews is a regular encapsulation route. Free on-site inspection anywhere in Matthews, fixed written quote before we touch anything.
Matthews encapsulation is defined by low crawl clearance on the 1970s-80s split-level tract stock — 20 to 26 inches is normal, sometimes 15 in the corners — and by the pier settlement problem on the pre-1970s brick-pier houses near Trade St, both of which make the labor allowance materially higher per square foot than a Ballantyne or Highland Creek encapsulation of the same footprint.
28104, 28105. All Mecklenburg County addresses covered.
It changes the transition wall between the two spaces, which is where most contractors screw it up. The basement side is (or should be) already conditioned space, and the crawl side needs to become conditioned space to match. The wall between them — usually block or poured concrete running down the middle of the house — has to be sealed and insulated on the crawl side with 20-mil liner terminated with a mechanical bar just like a perimeter wall. Any penetration between the two spaces (doorway, framed opening, ductwork chase) gets sealed. Dehumidifier goes on the crawl side sized for the crawl cubic footage, not the whole footprint. If the basement is unfinished and has its own moisture issue, that is a separate scope.
Yes, and I do it as part of the free on-site inspection. On any pre-1980s Matthews house with brick pier construction I probe every interior and perimeter pier with a level and check whether it is still in full contact with the girder above. Piers that have settled below the girder or lost contact are structural repair — they have to be addressed before the liner goes down or the framing will keep moving under the new liner and you will be back in there in two years. I document what I find with photos and give you a written scope that separates the pier work from the encapsulation itself so you can see what each piece costs. Sometimes the pier work is bigger than the encapsulation. Sometimes every pier is still holding and the encapsulation is straightforward. You do not know until somebody actually looks.
Because it is not encapsulated. Open the hatch and look. If you see 6-mil clear or black plastic on the ground with no wall liner running up the block and no dehumidifier down there, that is a builder partial encapsulation and it is not doing what you were told it does. Real encapsulation is 20-mil reinforced woven poly, individually wrapped piers, wall liner running 12 inches up the block terminated with a mechanical bar, sealed vents, and a dehumidifier holding humidity under 55 percent RH. If any of those pieces are missing, you have a partial job. On the 90s and 2000s subdivisions between Sardis Rd and the Stallings town line I finish partial builder encapsulations constantly — probably a third of the Matthews jobs I do in a year are exactly this.
Three to four working days for a straightforward 1,800 to 2,200 SF split-level with no structural work, done by a two-person crew. Add a day or two if there is pier shoring or rim joist repair. Add another day if we have to trench for a sump basin because of documented standing water. The low crawl clearance on Matthews stock adds real time to every job compared to a Ballantyne 2001 tract home with 40-inch clearance — everything is slower when you are working on your back.
Free on-site Matthews inspection. Fixed written quote. Call (980) 227-1769 or book below.