Water in crawlspace

Mark T · #1 01/13/14, 11:47 AM

My 100 year old farm house has a couple of inches of water in the excavated crawl space.

The original house was built on stone piers for the foundation. Sometime in the 30s or 40s, the owners excavated (by hand! You can still see the shovel marks!) under the house to a depth of five feet to make room for pipes for a bathroom. Eventually the excavated space was expanded to put in a gas furnace for central heating and cooling. The stone piers are on the outside but the "walls" of the excavated area are still dirt. Is there any way to make the space water tight?

How bad is it to have the water in the excavated area (no contact with any wood part of the house)?

Alice In TX/MO · #2 01/13/14, 01:13 PM

It's bad. Your flooring and beams will rot. Ask me how I know.

simi-steading · #3 01/13/14, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

It's bad. Your flooring and beams will rot. Ask me how I know.

yep.. I just got done replacing all the joists and floors in our house that had this problem..

Darren · #4 01/13/14, 01:18 PM

Divert any water from the roof away from the house. Put in a french drain around the house if needed to intercept water before it gets into the crawl space. Or if the water is from the water table below the house, dig a pit, line it and install a sump pump. the deeper the better. If you have a wet spot, dig the pit there. If the entire space is wet, pick a central place for the pit. One, two or all three will fix your problem depending on where the water is coming from.

JoePa · #5 01/13/14, 01:57 PM

Is your house on a hill?--If it is there is a solution -

topofmountain · #6 01/13/14, 05:21 PM

First pump the water out from under there. Then determine were & how the water is getting in there. As stated above divert roof water away from house. But until you figure out where it is coming from taking preventative measures is pretty tough.
Standing water under house will cause mold, invite unwanted things like snakes, mice, etc. How they get into places that there just seems no way for them to get in is the amazing thing.

charged · #7 01/13/14, 08:08 PM

First, make sure it isn't from a water pipe leaking.

CurtisWilliams · #8 01/13/14, 08:42 PM

Aside from the rotting wood and vermin, water will soften the dirt walls and hasten collapsing. I am speaking from experience. At my last house, a rental, during a thunderstorm, a water sodden wall collapsed partway and four inches of watery silt flowed into the half of the basement that was concrete. Fortunately nothing structural gave way, but it was a real mess.

How high is your water table? Five years ago, some excavation was being done here and they hit water at five feet. The year before my basement was wet. Not too bad.. Then it flooded for two years continuously. The first flood caught me by surprise, and I had to wade thru three feet to get to my pump. Since then, my sump pit is never completely dry, although the water table has fallen to about eight feet below grade.

plowjockey · #9 01/14/14, 08:43 PM

Personally, (especially since the furnace is in there), Id put a plastic sump pit in the bottom of the excavation and add a sump pump.

All current and future water problems solved.

Check to divert other water sources, as other have suggested.