Crawl Space Repair in Wichita Falls, TX: Dealing With the Water Before It Reaches the Framing
A wet or bare crawl space under your pier and beam house gets dried out and lined, priced after a free on-site inspection.
- Free on-site inspection
- The water source answered first
- Written itemized quote
Wichita Falls Foundation Works takes on wet, bare and debris-filled crawl spaces under pier and beam houses across Wichita Falls and Wichita County. Crawl space repair here starts with where your water is coming from, answered before any liner goes down, because a plumbing leak under the house keeps refilling the space no matter what plastic goes over it. Call (940) 202-0406 and our estimator gets under the house before we price anything.
A written itemized quote follows your free on-site inspection, naming the scope and the square footage.
What crawl space repair includes
The scope runs in order: we get under the house to see it, find where the water is coming from, clear out debris and old plastic, deal with standing water or a leak, then put the liner down. Two levels of work get named plainly on your quote, a 6-mil to 12-mil vapor barrier over the ground, or a full encapsulation with a sealed liner, sealed vents and a dehumidifier.
Liner thickness is a priced choice, 6-mil, 12-mil or 20-mil reinforced. We price the plumbing repair separately if a leak is feeding the space, along with any framing already gone to rot and any drainage or grading work outside.
Crawl space work falls under pier and beam repair, and we are under there for the moisture.
What you get in writing before a liner goes down
A free on-site inspection comes first, with a written itemized quote naming the scope and the square footage before we cut any liner. You get the warranty terms in writing too, with the transfer terms spelled out: what passes to the next owner, what a transfer costs, what voids it. We quote your scheduling window up front, and our crew serves Wichita Falls and Wichita County.
What a wet crawl space looks and smells like
- A musty smell rising through the floor in a hall or a closet
- Damp ground, or standing water, under the house after a wet week
- Condensation beading on the ductwork
- Wood flooring above that has cupped or buckled
- Old torn plastic on the ground, or bare dirt and no plastic at all
- Debris and construction offcuts left under the house from years ago
Both halves matter, and the structural half is what we price: moisture works on the joists, girders and sill plate and softens the ground your pads bear on. Rot repair itself belongs to beam, joist and sill plate repair.
What Wichita Falls homeowners get from Wichita Falls Foundation Works
A hydrostatic test on the drain lines at $250 to $600 tells you whether a leak or plain surface water is feeding the space, and that one is a plumber's bill rather than ours. We decide barrier or encapsulation on the space in front of us, never on an upsell: a barrier stops ground moisture rising and is the normal answer, while encapsulation seals the whole space including the vents and adds conditioning, which is what a persistently wet space or rot already in the framing calls for.
A dehumidifier belongs with a sealed encapsulation, at $800 to $1,800 on top. Texas does not license foundation repair contractors; ask any company for proof of general liability insurance, the written warranty with its transfer terms, and whether an engineer's report is included or billed separately. The City of Wichita Falls licenses and registers contractors and requires a permit before repair or alteration work starts; ask to see both.
Vapor barrier compared with full encapsulation
A 6-mil to 12-mil vapor barrier. Laid over the ground, it stops ground moisture rising, and it is the normal answer where your crawl space is only damp.
Full encapsulation. This adds a sealed liner, sealed vents and a dehumidifier, for a space that stays wet or already has rot in the framing.
Either way, the two scopes start the same. We pull the debris and old plastic out, deal with any leak or standing water, and price the liner thickness, 6, 12 or 20-mil, to the space. Where surface water turns out to be the source, drainage correction and grading outside is what keeps the space dry afterward, and floor leveling and shimming is the separate job for a floor that also slopes or bounces.
How the job runs, the water source to the finished liner
- Free on-site inspection: we get under the house to look at the ground, the framing and the vents, plus elevation readings above, and leave a written estimate behind.
- The water question: a plumber's hydrostatic test on the drain lines where we suspect a leak, because a leak keeps refilling the space.
- Clear out: debris and old torn plastic come out first.
- Liner: we lay 6-mil, 12-mil or 20-mil reinforced over the ground, seal the vents or leave them open depending on the scope, and deal with the access hatch where it is too small to work through.
- Conditioning where the scope is a full encapsulation: we add a dehumidifier at $800 to $1,800.
Crawl space height and headroom set the labor on every one of these steps; a tight crawl space adds 20 to 30 percent to labor on pier and beam work.
Why Wichita Falls crawl spaces get wet
NOAA's 1991-2020 rainfall normals for Wichita Falls give a winter total of 4.16 inches for December through February and a summer total of 7.90 inches for June through August, with May the wettest month at 3.81 inches. NRCS records Kamay as well drained with slow permeability, Hollister as well drained with very slow permeability and high to very high runoff, and Tillman as well drained with slow permeability and medium to high runoff, so a flat lot on these soils sheds water rather than absorbing it.
Census Bureau tables say about a third of the 43,371 housing units in Wichita Falls were built before 1960 and about half in 1970 or later. Older framing under an older house has had more years to take on moisture, which is why we would rather look at your crawl space before symptoms show up inside.
How much does it cost to fix a wet crawl space in Wichita Falls?
A 6-mil to 12-mil vapor barrier over 1,000 to 2,000 square feet runs $1,250 to $4,500. A full encapsulation with a sealed liner and a dehumidifier runs $4,350 to $8,700, with the dehumidifier itself adding $800 to $1,800. In practice, crawl space square footage and headroom, liner thickness, debris removal and whether standing water or a leak needs fixing first all move the number inside those bands. Call (940) 202-0406 and we will get under the house for free before you decide which scope fits.
| Work | Typical range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Crawl space repair (vapor barrier and moisture control; full encapsulation at the top of the band) | $1,250 to $8,700 per crawl space | A dehumidifier adds $800 to $1,800. |
| Hydrostatic plumbing test | $250 to $600 per test | A plumber's bill, not ours, run where a leak is suspected of feeding the space. |
Swipe the table sideways to see the notes column.
Typical quotes for Wichita County. We price every job after a free on-site inspection and an elevation survey.
Crawl space work across Wichita County
Crawl spaces get dried out and lined the same way across service areas in Wichita County, including Henrietta, Holliday and Bowie. Your inspection is free wherever the house sits, and we drive to it.
What happens when you call
The inspection
A free on-site inspection comes first. We come to the property, look at the work in person, measure, and check the things that change the price before quoting anything.
A written, itemized quote
Every line item goes on paper before any work starts: prep, materials, labor, cleanup and the scheduling window. No verbal numbers.
Warranty terms in the contract
Workmanship and material warranty terms come in writing and go in your contract so you can read them before you sign.
Scheduling you can plan around
You get a start window and a working-day estimate up front, and the crew tells you before anything changes.
Who this is not for
Wichita Falls Foundation Works handles foundation repair and the related work listed on this site. It does not take on unrelated trades; if your job is outside that scope, a specialist in that trade is the right call.
Vapor barrier and crawl space questions from Wichita Falls homeowners
What does crawl space work fix that leveling does not?
It deals with the moisture attacking the structure, not the height of the floor. We put a liner on the ground, take the debris and old plastic out and deal with standing water, so the beams, joists and sill plate stop taking on water. Level and slope is a different job; see floor leveling and shimming.
What does a vapor barrier or a full encapsulation cost?
Roughly $1,250 to $4,500 for a 6-mil to 12-mil vapor barrier over 1,000 to 2,000 square feet. $4,350 to $8,700 for a full encapsulation with a sealed liner and a dehumidifier. We settle which of the two you need under the house, on the free inspection.
Do I need full encapsulation, or just a vapor barrier?
Usually just a barrier. A barrier stops ground moisture rising and is the normal answer. Encapsulation seals the whole space including the vents and adds conditioning, and that is what a persistently wet crawl space, or rot already in the framing, calls for.
Where is the water under my house coming from?
Either a leak in the drain lines or surface water finding its way in, and that gets answered before any liner goes down, because a leak keeps refilling the space. A hydrostatic plumbing test on the drain lines at $250 to $600 is how you tell the two apart, and it is a plumber's bill.
Does a damp crawl space really move the house, or is it just a smell?
Both matter, and the structural half is the point. Moisture works on the joists, girders and sill plate, and it softens the ground your pads bear on. That is the part we price; see rotted joists and sill plates for what happens once rot has set in.
Will a dehumidifier be needed, and what does that add?
Only with a sealed encapsulation. A plain vapor barrier on its own does not call for one. Adding a dehumidifier runs roughly $800 to $1,800 on top of the encapsulation price, and we name it as its own line on your written quote, so you can see what it costs on its own.
A musty smell coming up through the floor is never nothing, and guessing at the cause before anyone gets under the house wastes money either way. Find the water first, then choose a barrier or a full encapsulation on what the space actually needs. Anyone who skips that order and sells you a liner on the spot is guessing along with you. Call (940) 202-0406 and we'll tell you straight which of the two you're looking at, after a free look under the house.
Get a written quote
Call (940) 202-0406 or send the form. The next step is a free on-site inspection and a written quote with every line item before any work starts.
Call (940) 202-0406