Water in my crawl space: how best to drain it?

Highbeam · Mar 24, 2006

"he suggested we throw a sump pump in a hole and pump the water out onto the lawn and see how that goes."

Good advice. Muck out a hole in the deepest ponded area. No need to trench at this point. Long term, trenching is a great idea. Go to home depot, it is not a big deal. Be sure you have a bucket to sacrifice with holes.

RFB · Mar 24, 2006

The inspector's opinion is meaningless unless he is willing to indemnify you against loss.

There is no such thing as "as is" when structural integrity is an issue. If you bought a used car "as is" with serious safety issues but unknown to you, it would not preclude redress of the issue. The issue here is not the equivalent of a squeaky floor or leaking faucet. This is an issue that could cause substantial loss (to you). Black mold has become such an expensive issue that many major insurers either will not indemnify for it, or severely limit the coverage. The issue with your house, unmitigated, could lead to a catastrophic loss.

You need to thoroughly document the issue (including photography), start mitigation (pump out the water), and consult with an attorney and an engineer ASAP. Further delay places more of the bill in your pocket.

As far as the mitigation step, your local fire service may be able to assist in dewatering your residence. It is also good documentation of the emergent nature of the issue.

ByronBob · Mar 24, 2006

I know I mentioned this before but really starting with a sump pump and drain is the easiest, cheapest idea and you would know if it was a solution you were comfortable with.

Where do the rain gutters drain to. In the pictures they seem to go underground. Is this correct and if so where do they drain?

Investorguy · Mar 24, 2006

@RFB - Well, we knew there was water down there, we just didn't know the extent of the problem. The inspector seemed to think it was a pretty easy fix.

Should I take more pictures than what I have?

The sump pum solution is more complicated. There are two rows of cement that run along the middle of the house (said "cripple" wall). I would need to either trench or use at least 3 sump pumps. Now all of a sudden that fix is getting more costly.

Investorguy · Mar 24, 2006

@ByronBob

I think that the gutters may very well be hooked into the footing drains. I don't know where they would go if that wasn't the case. I think the best solution may be to make the ditch beside our driveway into a real ditch and run stuff into there. The footings may be lower than that, but the downspouts should be there.

But honestly, 2 weeks of no rain during the wet season and the water in the crawl doesn't change even a little bit, so I think that's unlikely to be a solution.

Highbeam · Mar 24, 2006

So to be clear, you only have one drain draining into the ditch that runs all the time. Just one? It is not unheard of for some laborer to plumb them together without realizing the potential problems.

Don't be too scared, most of the houses in the city where I work have water in their crawls. We are in a valley between Mt. Rainier and the Puget sound. On occasion we get people calling in the fire department when there sump pump fails. Lots of 100 year old wet basements and crawls around here and these houses don't collapse or become uninhabitable. It's not a good thing but it isn't an emergency.

These sump pumps aren't very expensive. You can put three in or you can dig little trenches between the three areas. What should happen is that lowering the water level in one area of the crawlspace, the center is best, should cause the others to come down as well in a couple days. This is why digging a hole for the pump is so important, you are trying to lower the water table under the whole house and that can be done by sucking water out of a single sump.

ByronBob · Mar 24, 2006

Is there any pitch to the concrete. Some place where if you did put a sump pump it would drain to it?

Paddy · Mar 24, 2006

You need to reread the post. I did not say he needs to convert his cralw to a bacement. I said he could have a bacement IF he had a well drain site. Not fill it in as you sugest

I see you also did not even consider what filling would take. get real Three tri-axel loads on your hands and knees!

He has stated he is sitting 5' above grade that is 225' away, hardly a tidle marsh.

Purdue Engineering, class 1996

inveresk · Mar 24, 2006

Get real?

I could have said your boat analogy was hogwash. The hole covers the whole bottom of the boat. How on earth do you propose to plug that? I chose not to use such language because I like to keep my postings civil.

If you can't, you shouldn't be posting. This isn't a competition.

RFB · Mar 24, 2006

"we just didn't know the extent of the problem." 

Then it was not properly disclosed.

 "The inspector seemed to think it was a pretty easy fix." 

Because he was not going to be saddled with the "fix".

"Should I take more pictures than what I have?" 

Yes, you cannot have too much documentation. If you have not/are not promptly acting towards dewatering, you are weighting the situation against your interests. Remedy the immediate issue by pumps/dewatering by F.D. Then/concurrently, seek counsel from an attorney and an engineer.

Regardless of how "normal" or "not a big deal" anyone may consider this to be, their crystal ball does not work any better than anyone else's. If this goes sideways, you could be facing tens of thousands of dollars of repair.