DIY Crawl Space Encapsulation on a Budget: Day 3 - Cut Vapor Barrier, Hang Walls, and Wrap Piers

Supplies:

• 12 Mil Crawl Space Vapor Barrier, GuardianLiner™ (2 rolls)
• Tape measure
• Retractable utility knife
• Sharpie 
• Tape
• Hard bristled brush
• Foundation Seal Tape™ for Crawl Spaces- Made in the USA! (2 rolls)

Today I finally worked on installing the new vapor barrier. The first few hours were spent during the day rolling out two huge 13' x 75' sheets of plastic and cutting them to fit the space. Of course, I already knew the dimensions of my crawl space, so I drew up a plan. My crawlspace is 25' x 45' with five piers running down the center. I cut 45' off of each roll, giving me two sheets 13' x 45' to cover the floor on either side of the crawl space. I cut the remaining 30' of each roll into 6 4' strips. I used 5 of these to cover the walls, and I cut the last one into 6' x 4' sheets to wrap the piers. I made sure that each piece was cut generously enough to allow for a 12" overlap.

I was incredibly nervous to cut into this expensive material, so I triple checked every measurement. As I made each cut, I labeled the piece, rolled it up, taped it, and set it aside. When all pieces were cut, I put them all into the crawlspace for later.

Hours later, after my kids were in bed, I went back to work. I used a hard bristled brush to remove dirt and dust from the foundation walls.

I then applied black foundation tape to the walls 3-4" from the top of the block. Most resources that I found online recommended this gap in order to allow for future termite inspections. Finally, I carefully applied the vapor barrier to the block. I left about an inch of the vapor barrier above the tape so that I could later add some caulk. I recognize that using both caulk and foundation tape is overkill, but I couldn't choose between the two.

The foundation tape came with a paper backing, and I only removed a short section of the tape at a time.  It was pretty difficult to manage the 30' long sections. It was easier to keep the material straight if I worked with 3" or so at a time, but I often rushed through and ended up with some wrinkles. Also, as I adhered the vapor barrier onto the foundation tape, I used the back of my utility knife to make sure it would hold.

I wrapped the piers in much the same way except that the sheets had to be cut at each corner.