Water in crawl space

Hogmaster · 03-22-2003, 01:34 PM

I had this problem too. At my last house, which sits at the very top of a hill ABOVE everyone else in West Linn! Seems a spring formed right under the house. When we bought it there was a sump pump that had burnt out. I wanted the house so I bought a replacement pump, but lo and behold, 3 1/2 years later when we were going to move the replacement pump had burnt out too and water had returned.

At the buyer's insistance we compromised on putting a french drain UNDER the house. That was not a job I wanted to do, but the Company that did it knew what they were doing. The owner of the company was very good and knew how to address the problem. I had visions of mud and gravel all over the inside of our house to get to the crawl space and underneath, but no worries as it turned out. Cost $1200 (split) but saved the sale. It really should have been done when I bought it, so I figured I spent it either way...

If you want his details, email me. The Business is "Ability Plus Drainage Co." on Barbur in PDX. This is their specialty and my job came with a 5 year warranty.

Where'sMyBobber is right, if you can drain the water off before it gets underneath the house you should. Unfortunately I didn't have that luxury.

[ 03-22-2003, 02:44 PM: Message edited by: Hogmaster ]

lost_sailor · 03-22-2003, 05:25 PM

Mine was disintegrated cast-iron drain pipe. The laundry drain was basically running into the crawl space. Ewwwwwwwwwww.

Replace with plastic, sell house. (We were going to sell anyway.)

Jettin' Fool · 03-22-2003, 11:29 PM

I have water in my crawl space. Anybody have this problem and what did you find was the culprit? The inspector found the problem and may interfere with the sale of my house. Anybody have a connection or know a reasonable outfit that is liscesed to do such work?

Thanks

Fool

WheresMyBobber · 03-22-2003, 11:59 PM

I had this problem. Our house is about half way down a hill, and water was apparently soaking into the ground until it hit clay, then traveling down hill until it found my crawlspace. I solved the problem by having a 3 1/2 foot deep French Drain put in across the entire uphill side of my property. We ran it from the back edge of my lot out to a curb drain. Ever since then, it's stayed dry under the house, and in times of heavy rain there is a pretty good amount of water draining out into the street.

Some people put in a sump pump under the house, but that doesn't really solve the problem. The key is preventing the water from getting under the house in the first place.

The company we used to install our drain was Select Construction in Portland. Their price was by far the best of the 3 bids I got, plus they used 6" rigid (perforated) pipe instead of 4" flexible pipe which can collapse over time.

[ 03-22-2003, 01:00 PM: Message edited by: WheresMyBobber ]

lucky man · 03-24-2003, 07:52 PM

Where do you live? Im a warranty manager for a builder and deal with these situations in my work

Jettin' Fool · 03-25-2003, 07:48 PM

I live in Vancouver (Salmon Creek). Do you do the work or have a contact that does reasonable priced work?

lucky man · 03-26-2003, 03:34 AM

Iknow people that can do the work but it may be something very simple. I am in that area all of the time. Give me an e-mail & I will see if I can help you out if you are interested.