Musty smell under the floor or torn old plastic in the crawl space? We lay a ground cover across all the dirt and fasten it at the walls.
A crawl space vapor barrier in Lubbock is a plastic ground cover our crew lays over all the dirt under your house, so ground moisture stays below the plastic and soil gases have a harder time getting into your rooms.
Most people call because the floors feel cold and clammy, there's a musty smell in the house, or they looked through the hatch and saw old plastic bunched in a corner with bare dirt everywhere else. A cover only does its job when it reaches the walls, so a sheet that has slid or torn isn't doing much for you.
The price mostly comes down to how big and how low the crawl space is, how much has to come out before we can lay plastic, how many piers we have to wrap, and whether we're patching an old barrier or laying a new sealed layer over it. The schedule turns on whether there's water or mold to fix first, and your written estimate puts your own number on the work. When a job needs a permit, we get it from the city where your house sits and take care of the paperwork, and if we aren't sure, we call that city's building office and ask before we start.
Here's who you'll deal with from the first look under your house to the last one.
I've run this business since 2021, and I'm the one who comes out, goes through the hatch and looks at the ground, the old plastic and anything wet or moldy. Then I come back up and talk you through what I saw, for as long as your questions take.
After the visit I send a written estimate that spells out whether I'd patch your old barrier or cover it, and any problem that has to be fixed before plastic goes down. You get it in writing so you can read it twice and ask me about any line.
Our own crew lays the barrier, and we're licensed and insured. When they're done, I look over the finished job with you so you can see the cover for yourself, and it's satisfaction guaranteed on every job.
I start by checking what's already down there. If there's an old barrier, I look at whether patching it is worth it or a new sealed layer over the top is the better buy, and I tell you which and why. Standing water, mold, rotten wood or anything hazardous gets dealt with before anything new goes down, because plastic laid over those problems just hides them, and if I see old wiring under the floor, I'll tell you to get that sorted first too. Once the floor is ready, our crew clears the space, lays the sheet over every bit of ground and fastens it at the edges so it doesn't creep back toward the middle.
A ground cover is one piece of keeping moisture and drafts out of a house. If you need a barrier somewhere other than the crawl space floor, that's our vapor barrier installation work. And if the upstairs runs hot or the house feels drafty, attic air sealing closes the gaps up top, since a covered crawl space won't stop air leaking out through the ceiling.
The work itself is plain, so most of the care goes into doing it in the right order.
Stored boxes, scrap wood and other debris come out first, because the cover has to reach the whole ground to work. You can move your things ahead of time, or we'll handle it as part of the job.
If the estimate turned up water, mold or rot, that gets handled before any plastic arrives. That's why some crawl spaces take two trips instead of one.
Once the cover is down, the crew goes back over the seams and the edges at the walls and piers, because a loose edge is where a cover usually starts to fail. Anything that's pulled free gets fastened again.
We haul off the debris and any old plastic we cut out, so nothing's left piled in your yard. The hatch gets closed up the way we found it, ready for you to look in whenever you want.
Send the form or call (806) 370-4846, and we'll get back to you within one business day. The on-site estimate is free, with no pressure to book. I'll come out, look at the crawl space, talk through what I find and then send a written estimate, so it helps to jot down any standing water, mold, old plastic or stored items you've noticed down there.
(806) 370-4846Yes, federal building guidance says the plastic ground cover should go in whether the crawl space is vented or unvented, so you can plan on it whatever your vents look like. In vented crawl spaces, most of the moisture comes from water getting in through poor grading, missing drainage around the house or how the yard is watered. If yours stays damp, it's worth looking at the yard as well as the cover.
Often it can, since an old sheet that's open at the seams or not attached to the walls can be repaired by taping it and running it up the walls. Laying a new sealed layer over the top is the longer-lasting choice, though, so a barrier torn in a lot of places is usually better covered than patched. I'll tell you which one I'd pick for your crawl space at the estimate.
The city's permit list doesn't name vapor barriers, so it doesn't settle the question for a ground cover on its own. Lubbock requires permits for structural, electrical, plumbing or mechanical changes, such as new circuits or duct work, so if your crawl space job brings any of that along, that part needs one. The city's number for residential questions is below.
If your crawl space job turns up wiring that needs a new circuit or duct work that has to change, that's when the city gets involved. Lubbock's Building Safety Department takes residential questions at 806-775-2087, Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and you can ask for a Residential Plans Examiner.
We're based in Lubbock and work across the city and the cities around it, including Wolfforth, Slaton, Levelland, Plainview, Littlefield and Brownfield. We crawl under older homes with years of stored boxes and newer ones with thin plastic that was never fastened, and the job goes the same way wherever the house sits, with any permit coming from the city it's in.
We answer the phone seven days a week, until 9 PM every night, so call (806) 370-4846 or send the form after you've had a look through the hatch.
Questions about your crawl space are welcome, even if you're not ready to book anything yet.
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