blakeo
10-18-2006, 11:47 PM
I have a ranch built in 1937 over a dirt crawl. I bought the place a few months ago, since its been fall we've gotten alot of rain and I've discovered I have quite a water problem.
Each time it rains, I get about 8" of standing water in my crawl space. I have new addition on my home with a cement crawl. The water simply pools everywhere.
The cement side has clay tile pipe that's clearly a drain. I had the drain snaked a few times by a number of companies with no success?it was just plugged solid with clay and gunk.
So, it an effort to get somewhere, I dug up the drain pipe, (found that water was flowing backwards up the pipe for some undetermined reason) buried a garage can (as a sump basin didn't come deep enough) and installed a sump pump. Now the crawl space drains into a crock (outside of the home) as a temporary solution, well I guess it could be permanent, whether its outside or inside doesn't really make a difference (the crawl isn?t heated). Outside is just much easier to maintain since it?s very difficult to get to the dirt side.
The water table seems very high in my neighborhood. If you dig 14 or so inches, you hit ground water. I don?t think it was always like this, but a few of the neighbors I?ve spoken with said this is a new problem and many around me are fighting the same ground water problem. Apparently this has started as a result of a lot of new construction in marshy areas just a few hundred feet away?we?re just guess at that though?anyhow?
Previous to this issue coming to my attention, I personally installed a 6 mil vapor barrier on the dirt side, taped the seams, min 2 ft overlap, sealed against the brick, etc. I left ?the drain? side of the crawl open so any water trapped could drain towards the drain. (not knowing better at the time.)
Now when it rains, the vapor barrier turns into a water bed quite literally until the water is deep enough to run out of the opening towards the drain (we?re talking many gallons of water here). The entire cement side is wet on the floor and pooling in a few small areas.
What can I do? I believe this is ground water although I have notice some pooling around the foundation. I am taking steps to correct the grading?I?ve already corrected the downspouts by shortening their drop from the house and extended them further from the house.
I am absolutely convinced I don?t want a sump pump under the house because I have no way to maintain it. The floor plan doesn?t allow for an access panel and I don?t want to crawl way under the house to maintain this thing. I am open to just about anything else.
My thoughts are to dig around the foundation come spring around the footers and installed perforated pipe & stone (I would also seal the block as its currently not sealed as far as I can tell.) Then pipe that into the sump that exists outside already. That sump pumps the water to a very shallow ditch I have in the front yard. I can?t make the ditch deeper because the storm sewer isn?t that deep. Also, half of the yard collects water and remains soggy for some time, I thought I would run a few tee?s and collect this water as well.
Will this solve the issue?
I also thought about installing a whole house dehumidifier specifically for the crawl space to reduce / eliminate excess moisture?(this site convinced me of that!)
Also I am not opposed to paying someone to do this work as it is hard work, but I have no clue who I should be calling?can Basement systems do everything inside and out?
Am I on the right course?
Thanks for any help you guys can provide!
Each time it rains, I get about 8" of standing water in my crawl space. I have new addition on my home with a cement crawl. The water simply pools everywhere.
The cement side has clay tile pipe that's clearly a drain. I had the drain snaked a few times by a number of companies with no success?it was just plugged solid with clay and gunk.
So, it an effort to get somewhere, I dug up the drain pipe, (found that water was flowing backwards up the pipe for some undetermined reason) buried a garage can (as a sump basin didn't come deep enough) and installed a sump pump. Now the crawl space drains into a crock (outside of the home) as a temporary solution, well I guess it could be permanent, whether its outside or inside doesn't really make a difference (the crawl isn?t heated). Outside is just much easier to maintain since it?s very difficult to get to the dirt side.
The water table seems very high in my neighborhood. If you dig 14 or so inches, you hit ground water. I don?t think it was always like this, but a few of the neighbors I?ve spoken with said this is a new problem and many around me are fighting the same ground water problem. Apparently this has started as a result of a lot of new construction in marshy areas just a few hundred feet away?we?re just guess at that though?anyhow?
Previous to this issue coming to my attention, I personally installed a 6 mil vapor barrier on the dirt side, taped the seams, min 2 ft overlap, sealed against the brick, etc. I left ?the drain? side of the crawl open so any water trapped could drain towards the drain. (not knowing better at the time.)
Now when it rains, the vapor barrier turns into a water bed quite literally until the water is deep enough to run out of the opening towards the drain (we?re talking many gallons of water here). The entire cement side is wet on the floor and pooling in a few small areas.
What can I do? I believe this is ground water although I have notice some pooling around the foundation. I am taking steps to correct the grading?I?ve already corrected the downspouts by shortening their drop from the house and extended them further from the house.
I am absolutely convinced I don?t want a sump pump under the house because I have no way to maintain it. The floor plan doesn?t allow for an access panel and I don?t want to crawl way under the house to maintain this thing. I am open to just about anything else.
My thoughts are to dig around the foundation come spring around the footers and installed perforated pipe & stone (I would also seal the block as its currently not sealed as far as I can tell.) Then pipe that into the sump that exists outside already. That sump pumps the water to a very shallow ditch I have in the front yard. I can?t make the ditch deeper because the storm sewer isn?t that deep. Also, half of the yard collects water and remains soggy for some time, I thought I would run a few tee?s and collect this water as well.
Will this solve the issue?
I also thought about installing a whole house dehumidifier specifically for the crawl space to reduce / eliminate excess moisture?(this site convinced me of that!)
Also I am not opposed to paying someone to do this work as it is hard work, but I have no clue who I should be calling?can Basement systems do everything inside and out?
Am I on the right course?
Thanks for any help you guys can provide!