We will tell you if crawl Space Vapor Barrier Installation is not what your Mount Pleasant crawl space actually needs. Doing this stage out of order is the most common reason the work has to be repeated.
Bare soil under the house is evaporating moisture into the space every day.
Vapor barrier on lowcountry and coastal plain ground
A barrier earns its keep faster around Mount Pleasant than almost anywhere. With the water table close to the surface the soil underneath is damp more or less permanently, so an uncovered crawl space floor is evaporating into the space every day of the year.
In Mount Pleasant the complication is the water table. It sits close enough to the surface that soil under a house can be saturated with nothing broken, so this work is usually dealing with moisture arriving from below rather than from a failure inside the house.
Mount Pleasant at a glance
| County | Charleston County |
|---|---|
| ZIP | 29464 |
| Elevation | about 23 ft |
| Region | Lowcountry and coastal plain |
Named water nearby
- the Cooper River (stream)
- the Wando River (stream)
- Lake Woodlawn (lake)
- Lake Wackedaw (reservoir)
Signs you need this
- Bare soil anywhere on the crawl space floor
- Existing sheeting that is torn, bunched or not sealed at seams
- Barrier that stops short of the walls and piers
- Crawl space relative humidity holding above 60 percent
What the work involves
On a Mount Pleasant job this covers:
- Clearing and preparation of the crawl space floor
- Reinforced polyethylene barrier across the full soil area
- Overlapped and sealed seams
- Barrier carried up and sealed to walls and piers
Why it is worth dealing with now
The cost of this work does not stay flat. Every season a Mount Pleasant crawl space stays wet moves more of the job from drying towards framing repair.
The full method and the step-by-step for this work is on the Crawl Space Vapor Barrier Installation page, and how it behaves across the state is on the Vapor barrier in South Carolina page.
Vapor barrier in Mount Pleasant: common questions
Barrier or full encapsulation for a Mount Pleasant home?
A barrier covers the ground and stops soil moisture. Encapsulation seals the walls and vents too and controls humidity directly. Which one your Charleston County property needs should follow a humidity reading, not a preference.
There is already plastic under my Mount Pleasant house. Is that enough?
Often not. Most of what we find has been laid loose, has torn, or was never sealed at the seams and walls. Unsealed sheeting performs much closer to bare soil than to a finished barrier.
Does being close to the coast make this worse?
It raises the water table and lengthens the wet season, which is why homes near the Cooper River and the low ground around Mount Pleasant tend to need drainage as well as a barrier.
Does storm flooding reach crawl spaces around Mount Pleasant?
Yes, and often with nothing visibly broken. After a tropical system the usual picture in Charleston County is a saturated crawl space where the water came up through the ground rather than out of a pipe.
Why is my Mount Pleasant crawl space wet when nothing has leaked?
Near Mount Pleasant that is the normal pattern rather than the exception. At around 23 feet on the coastal plain, the water table sits close enough to the surface that soil under the house can be saturated with no pipe broken.
I already have plastic down there. Is that enough?
Often not. Most of the sheeting we find has been laid loose, has torn, has pulled away from the walls or was never sealed at the seams. Unsealed, incomplete sheeting lets ground moisture track around and through it, and performs much closer to bare soil than to a finished barrier.
Vapor barrier near Mount Pleasant
We cover Mount Pleasant and the surrounding part of Charleston County. The same service in nearby towns:
Other crawl space services in Mount Pleasant
Crawl Space Water Removal in Mount Pleasant
Standing water pumped and extracted from under the house, then the saturated material taken out.
Crawl Space Structural Drying in Mount Pleasant
Joists, girders and subfloor dried back to a measured target with air movers and dehumidification.
Crawl Space Mold Remediation in Mount Pleasant
Contained removal of mold-affected material, HEPA cleaning, and the moisture source shut off.
Crawl Space Drainage and Sump Pump Installation in Mount Pleasant
Interior drainage to collect water, a sump and pump to lift it, and a discharge that takes it away.
Crawl Space Wood and Subfloor Repair in Mount Pleasant
Rotted joists, girders, rim joists and subfloor sections repaired or replaced once the space is dry.
Or see everything we cover in our Mount Pleasant service area, and how this service works across the state on the South Carolina page.
Crawl Space Vapor Barrier Installation in Mount Pleasant
Call (888) 724-1354 and tell us your street and what the space looks like. We will tell you whether this is the right stage to start at.
Tell us what you are seeing under the house and we will tell you what it needs.