Questions we get before the inspection.

Yes. Josh comes out, gets under the house, takes photos and moisture readings, and walks you through what he found. You get the photos and a written recommendation whether or not you hire us.

It depends on the size of the crawlspace, how much clean-out is needed, and whether water has to be managed first. Published 2026 cost guides put full encapsulation at $3–$10 per square foot, and most projects land between $5,000 and $15,000 with a dehumidifier. Every quote lists each solution with its own price so you can do it in stages if you want to. There is no charge for the inspection or the quote.

Every piece priced on its own line: the clean-out, the liner and its thickness, whether it runs up the walls, sealing the vents and access door, the dehumidifier, any sump or drainage, insulation, and hauling away what comes out. If two quotes are far apart, compare them line by line. The cheaper one is often missing something, like the dehumidifier or the clean-out.

Mostly because they are not quoting the same job. A thin sheet of plastic laid loose over the dirt and a reinforced liner taped at every seam and sealed up the walls are both called a vapor barrier. Ask each company for the liner thickness, how the seams and walls are sealed, which dehumidifier, and what clean-out is included.

A vapor barrier stops moisture coming up from the ground. Encapsulation also stops the humid outside air from coming in and adds a dehumidifier to hold the space dry. In Florida, with ninety-percent summer humidity, most crawlspaces that have had mold or rot need the full seal. We will tell you honestly which one your house needs.

A vented crawlspace relies on openings in the foundation to dry it out, which works when the outside air is dry and backfires in a Florida summer, when the outside air is the wettest air around. A sealed (unvented) crawlspace closes those openings, covers the ground and walls with a liner and dries the air mechanically. Florida’s residential code allows both, with separate rules for each (sections R408.2 and R408.3).

Usually, when the smell is coming from under the house, which it often is. Crawlspace air finds its way up through gaps in the floor, around pipes and into ductwork, and it brings the mildew smell with it. Drying and sealing the crawlspace removes the source; an air freshener or a fan only moves it around.

Because the air is wet. Humid summer air comes in through the vents and meets joists, pipes and ductwork that the air conditioning upstairs has cooled, and the water condenses right on them. That is why a vented crawlspace here can be at its wettest in a dry July, and why the fix is keeping that air out, not just covering the dirt.

It matters for timing. The Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30, with most storms between mid-August and mid-October, and that is when standing water and a weak sump show themselves. Drainage and a sump put in before summer get tested by the first big storm instead of failing in it. The inspection is free in any month.

Standing water, wet or fallen insulation, a liner that has floated or torn, a sump that is running nonstop or not at all, and a musty smell that was not there before. The EPA advises drying water-damaged areas within 24 to 48 hours to prevent mold growth, so water still sitting under the house a couple of days after a storm is worth a call.

More than anything else. Northeast Florida is wet in four different ways: sand over a tidal water table on the barrier islands, a water table that moves with the river in the lowlands, water perched on hardpan in the pine flatwoods, and clay that holds water against piers in the karst uplands. Each one puts water under a house differently, which is why every town page on this site explains the ground there.

Not until the water is handled. We start with a French drain, a sump, or both, then seal the space once it stays dry. Sealing a liner over standing water just hides the problem.

A French drain catches water before it reaches the crawlspace; a sump removes water that is already there, usually because the water table itself rises under the house. Lots along the river and the coast often need both, with the drain carrying water to a basin and the sump pushing it out and away. The inspection finds where the water is coming from, and that decides it.

Yes, and they are often the cheapest thing to fix. A downspout that empties next to the foundation puts a whole roof’s worth of rain right where the crawlspace is. Extensions that carry it away from the house, and ground that slopes away from the walls, can dry out a crawlspace before anything else is needed.

Only as part of a full encapsulation. Closing the vents over bare dirt traps the ground’s moisture under the house with nowhere to go. Florida’s residential code allows an unvented crawlspace when the ground is covered with a sealed vapor retarder and the space is conditioned, for example with a dehumidifier (section R408.3). In a mapped flood zone, the flood openings have to keep working.

Under the Florida Building Code, Residential (8th edition, section R408.3), exposed ground gets a continuous Class I vapor retarder with joints overlapped 6 inches and sealed or taped, run at least 6 inches up the stem wall and sealed to it. The space also needs one of the listed ways of conditioning it, such as continuous exhaust, a conditioned-air supply, or dehumidification sized to the manufacturer’s specifications.

Josh gets into the crawlspace and collects photos, moisture readings and anything hazardous, then walks you through what he found. You get his recommendation, your options and a general estimate, and a written quote follows with every solution priced on its own.

Most clean-outs and vapor barriers are a day. A full encapsulation is usually two to three days depending on the size of the space and how much water has to be dealt with first.

Josh Teboe, the owner, does the inspection and is on the job. Firm Foundations is owner-operated, so the person who quotes your crawlspace is the person responsible for it.

Out of Jacksonville across all of Northeast Florida: Duval, St. Johns, Clay, Nassau, Baker, Putnam and Flagler counties, plus Bradford, Union, Columbia, Alachua and the north end of Volusia.

We remove remains, droppings and debris, and we seal every opening so nothing gets back in. For live animal trapping we will point you to a licensed wildlife trapper first, then do the exclusion once the space is clear.

Droppings, a sour or dead-animal smell coming up through the floor vents, insulation pulled down or shredded, a torn liner, scratching at night, and vent screens that have been pushed in or pulled off. Any one of these is worth a look, because whatever got in will keep using the same opening until it is sealed.

Check the dehumidifier’s humidity reading every month or two, keep its filter clean and its drain line clear, make sure the sump runs and its discharge is not blocked, and look the liner over after anyone works under the house. An annual check of the dehumidifier is available if you would rather not do it yourself.

A sound liner with a few tears can be patched and taped. Thin plastic that has shredded, has water or animal waste on top of it, or was never sealed at the seams and walls is cheaper to replace than to chase, typically $2–$4 per square foot installed. The inspection photos show which one you have.

Rot and settlement should be dealt with before a crawlspace is sealed, not covered up by it. The inspection photographs what is there and says so plainly, and anything structural is priced separately, sometimes by a structural contractor, before the liner goes down.