Water getting in under house.

[j_seph]

My parents house is sitting over a crawl space about 1 foot to 3 foot high above the ground. They have an oil furnace under the house. There was a 6x6 square hole dug with a concrete bottom about 30 inches deep that the furnace sits in. When we get lots of rain it tends to soak into the ground and runs through the ground which in turn seeps out into this hole that the furnace sits in about 20 inches above the bottom. Any idea how to stop this from happening?

 

[dwhee87]

Where's the water coming from? Does the house have gutters? Are the working properly? Are the downspouts directed away from the house? If the water that's getting under the house is 'sheet flow', you could construct a diversion berm to make it flow around the house, or maybe a french drain to catch and channel it away from the house. Figure out where the water is coming from, and fix that.

 

[1gr8bldr]

Some areas have a "water table" that is higher. My house for example, with proper fall everywhere, gutters and french drains within the crawl space, water still "comes up", even in the middle location of the crawl. It would not matter if my house were perfectly water proofed. Best you can do is trench drain lines, fill with a coarse rock and create a sort of "Bilge pump". I hear my pump come on often when we have had soaking rains. My pump sets in a bucket type container, dung into the ground, at the lowest point. Rock surrounds the bucket, acting as a filter and allowing free flowing into the holes along the cylinder walls.

 

[1gr8bldr]

Gutters , properly drained, are usually the fix if it's not a water table issue

 

[j_seph]

Say this is the 6'x6' dug hole, water runs in at the cyan line

 

[Jeff C.]

I'd be willing to bet it's simply a poor drainage situation. Our ground is absolutely saturated right now and has been for most of this year.

 

[Cmp1]

What do they call it where there's stone by the foundation and the water drains down and under the house,and not thru the blocks,,,,

 

[Stroker]

I have the same problem. My house with gutters and drains sits on a small rise with good fall away from the house. Mine problem is caused because the house was built on a bed of shale rock which doesn't allow the water to penetrate/percolate. I dug a large hole at the lowest point and installed a automatic sump pump in a 5 gallon bucket with a bunch of 1/2 inch holes drilled in it and filled in around it with gravel.

 

[1gr8bldr]

Foundation drains are popular in new construction. But I will not do them except specific circumstances. Example, lets say you have a rectangular house. With a foundation drain, you might have a potential water problem midway on one side. If you attempt to move this water with a foundation drain, you will now create potential water problems for the remaining foundation for the length of the wall until it exits. Why would you purposely introduce water to your footing. The corrugated pipe does nothing. The rock is where the water moves. Unless you have major water, like a fire hose. The corrugated pipe ridges stand 1/2 inches high. This is dam after dam after dam, so the water moves through the rock, usually never getting 1/2 deep. In the rock, it works just like a septic tank. Dispersing through the soil, right at the footing, the worst place possible. And if the grade is not perfect, you create under ground water holes that seep into the soil rather than drain, unless the level gets high enough. You could pour a 55 gallon drum of water into the highest point at the foundation and then go to the exit of the pipe on the lower side, and don't expect to see even a gallon exit. Truthfully, this method should be banned. Proper fall on your grade and addressing sidewalks daming effect, will solve most water issues.

 

[GoldDot40]

Does the dugout have any type of sump pump to evacuate the water as it accumulates?

 

[model88_308]

As a realtor for 20+ years, this is a PITA problem that popped up often. First thing, a positive drain placed to drain any water to the lowest side of the crawl space and through the foundation, outside the house's footprint.

If the water might be running along the surface to the "hole" a plastic covering and trenches to divert to the positive drain.

Or, simply put a sump pump in the area where the furnace is housed. Auto on/off switch, drains through the foundation.

 

[Taco4x4]

I have this same problem with my house. Mine is water table when we have a lot of rain. As others here did I dug a hole at lowest point and put a bucket with holes surrounded by rock. Except I am using a marine bilge pump with a check valve attached to a 12 volt marine battery maintained by a trickle charger. It pumps the water to a stream behind my house.

 

[1gr8bldr]

I have this same problem with my house. Mine is water table when we have a lot of rain. As others here did I dug a hole at lowest point and put a bucket with holes surrounded by rock. Except I am using a marine bilge pump with a check valve attached to a 12 volt marine battery maintained by a trickle charger. It pumps the water to a stream behind my house.

I did the same for a year or more. Then switched to one from lowes. I used the battery, trickle charger because I had a bad experience with the prior electric pump. I came home from work one day with smoke coming out of my crawl vent. Ran over and opened up the door. The motor had locked up. Attic vent fans can do the same and burn down a house

 

[Milkman]

Waterproofing companies can do wonders but aren’t cheap. For what they will have to pay going that route they could have someone install a new Hvac system.
Chances are it’s old and should be replaced anyway, right?

 

[j_seph]

Waterproofing companies can do wonders but aren’t cheap. For what they will have to pay going that route they could have someone install a new Hvac system.
Chances are it’s old and should be replaced anyway, right?

Was replaced with same system about 4 years ago

 

[Milkman]

Was replaced with same system about 4 years ago

What are you calling an oil furnace?

 

[j_seph]

What are you calling an oil furnace?

It is a furnace, that uses oil which is in normal terms off-road diesel. There is a holding tank that holds 300 gallons, it comes into the furnace and is computer controlled. It has an igniter and burns the oil.