Water in Crawl Space

• Jul 7, 2010

• #1

Derek

Senior Member

My house is on a crawl space....it is 5 ft high in the front and about 3 in the back of the house....where they poured the footers is lower than the rest of the crawl space. I have like 2-3 ft wide trenches where the footers are poured.....on one side of the house the footers will keep about 2 inches of water on top of the footers in places. not sure where it is coming from or if it just water seeping from the ground....I do have a high water table where the house is. Question is if this is a big deal or not? I have a box fan built into the crawl space door that runs non stop to keep the air circulating under there. I see a little bit of mold mildew but nothing that looks alarming to me. What are you guys thoughts on this?

 

• Jul 7, 2010

• #2

T

Twenty five ought six

Banned

You need to fix it.

That little bit of mildew will be a very expensive repair if you ever go to sell the house.

 

• Jul 7, 2010

• #3

B

benellisbe

Senior Member

you could consider a sump pump, they are fairly cheap and will simply pump the water out once it gets into the sump pit. I personally would want the water out. I would worry about mold/mildew as the summer heat continues to drag on.

 

• Jul 7, 2010

• #4

maker4life

Senior Member

x2 on the sump pump

 

• Jul 7, 2010

• #5

Buckbuster

Senior Member

If water is there even when we you have not had rain for a while then it is coming from the ground. You are going to have to put a sump pump in there to help it get out. It will defiantly be a problem if you don't do something. First you need to be sure if it is coming from the ground or coming in from outside due to a drainage problem from your house such as gutters or landscaping.

 

• Jul 7, 2010

• #6

pnome

Senior Member

Yes, you need to fix it.

I had these guys re-do mine:
http://www.crawlspaces.com/products-solutions.html

They dig drainage and seal and concrete over. They did a great job on mine. Not cheap tho.

 

• Jul 7, 2010

• #7

J

Jody Hawk

Senior Member

Buckbuster said:

First you need to be sure if it is coming from the ground or coming in from outside due to a drainage problem from your house such as gutters or landscaping.

Click to expand...

Good point. Clogged gutters will cause the water to flow next to the foundation and it will find it's way under the house. I spent hours dealing with drainage issues when I built my house. My problem now is the duct work sweating during the summer months. Keep in mind also that if it stays damp, you will most likely have termites at some point !!!!!!!!!!

 

• Jul 7, 2010

• #8

Derek

Senior Member

I purchased a small sump pump and occasionally pump out the water I can.....the problem is the water is just sitting on top of the concrete footer, so I can't ever get all of the water out. Everywhere else seems to stay pretty dry.

 

• Jul 7, 2010

• #9

Stick

Senior Member

How old is the house? Is the grade inside higher than the grade outside?

The grade inside the crawl space should be flat or sloped gently to the exterior with a high point in the middle. There should be a poly vapor barrier on top of the dirt at minimum. There are a lot of ways to attack this; seal the crawl space and condition it, de-humidifiers, sump as some mentioned. Mildew isn't a huge problem although not desirable, but mold is. You need to get rid of the moisture. The water won't harm the footings and you may be able to re-grade and push it to the outside. Often a french drain is used around the perimeter of a crawl space to help direct water away from the foundation. It sounds like you have enough topography on your lot to get rid of the water.

 

• Jul 7, 2010

• #10

DYI hunting

Senior Member

What about burying the footer so they are level with the rest of the ground?

 

• Jul 7, 2010

• #11

Dead Eye Eddy

Banned

I have a similar problem. My mobile home is on a slab that wasn't poured correctly. Water stands in my crawlspace year round. It's been that way for about 9 years, so I'm not overly concerned about it. I get claustrophobic, so I can't do anything about it, and I can't afford to pay someone else to do anything about it. The mold and mildew hasn't killed me yet, so I'm not gonna worry about it.

 

• Jul 7, 2010

• #12

Swamprat

Swamprat

DYI hunting said:

What about burying the footer so they are level with the rest of the ground?

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I kinda agree but wonder why the contractor did not backfill the footer after it had set up.

As far as the mold/mildew, I would tackle that problem soon as it will not get better. A cheap easy solution is to get a sprayer and fill with a mixture of water and bleach or liquid chlorine with a little heavy on the bleach/chlorine. Might not get rid of it completely but will knock it down. Even water and muriatic acid will work, just wear protective gear and ventilate the crawlspace for a few hours.

Me seems to think that you must need to find where the water is coming in first. If it is groundwater you might have to install some type of french drain system around the outside and possibly inside the crawl space to keep the water at bay.

You did not mention but is your house sitting on a flat spot with the surrounding area being on a upslope and it just naturally funnels down toward your house. You could even have flat side yards but the back is upslope or even the front but the other side is downslope and once water hits the flat area of the house it just collects. In that case a french drain or under drain system would be the way to go.

 

• Jul 8, 2010

• #13

Stick

Senior Member

Swamprat said:

As far as the mold/mildew, I would tackle that problem soon as it will not get better. A cheap easy solution is to get a sprayer and fill with a mixture of water and bleach or liquid chlorine with a little heavy on the bleach/chlorine. Might not get rid of it completely but will knock it down. Even water and muriatic acid will work, just wear protective gear and ventilate the crawlspace for a few hours.

Click to expand...

This will kill the mildew but not the mold. Mold doesn't die, it will dry the spores and then they will begin to grow again once reintroduced to moisture and oxygen. You can spray with bleach and then paint with an anti-microbial paint to seal them up. Mold is no joke and some can be very hazardous to your health. Conquering the mold without removing the high concentration of water/moisture is a waste of time. It will only return. Water/moisture is the only thing you can control in the equation for mold growth.

How old is your house? Did you build it or a contractor?

 

• Jul 8, 2010

• #14

Derek

Senior Member

the house is about 4 yrs old....I did alot of the work but contracted out some as well. Not sure why they didn't backfill, but to do that know would be days of back breaking work. I would say that its mostly mildew and not mold....landscape, grading, downspouts, all of that has already been looked at......what about putting some kind of water barrier paint on the inside of the crawl space block? I applied the waterproofing to the outside of the block and installed the drain all the way around the house, covered it in gravel before back filling.

 

• Jul 8, 2010

• #15

Stick

Senior Member

If the water is properly directed away from the foundation on the outside, I see no need to seal the block on the inside. If the grade is lower on the inside of the foundation than the outside, you need to address that. I like to see 3-4 inches minimum. The code (IRC 2003 which is what the house was likely built under) requires that the grade be at least level with the outside unless an approved drainage system is provided. You mentioned a high water table and from the sounds of it, you have poorly draining soil and are getting ground water in the low areas. My suggestion is to correct the grade and install 6 mil poly over the entire area of your crawlspace.

If you had a contractor build the house for you, he should be responsible for this as it's negligent and does not meet code if the grade is lower inside than out. If you permitted the house yourself, well... I've seen many of these issues in the past and really am not a fan of crawl spaces anymore. None of that matters, we need to fix your issue. The water must go, or you will have problems down the road.

 

• Jul 8, 2010

• #16

Derek

Senior Member

the grade on the inside of the crawl is most definately lower than the outside by at least 2-3 feet. As I mentioned, the crawl space is 5 ft high in most places and the back fill dirt outside is 4-5 inches below the vents. I did install either 8 or 10 Mil plastic as well.

 

• Jul 8, 2010

• #17

Stick

Senior Member

Derek, I would look at installing a french drain on top of the exposed footings and routing it out through the bottom course of block. Then I would try to at lest fill the trench you have to get a level grade inside. 2-3 feet lower, I'm pretty sure you are dealing with ground water and that's the only way I know to get rid of it. If you know a plumber, they should be able to core drill through the block to the correct size.