WATERPROOFING YOUR HOME’S CRAWL SPACE
With the Spring rains approaching, some homeowners will begin to experience ponding of water inside their crawl spaces after heavy rain events. It is important not to panic, but to focus on identifying the real problems causing these symptoms to occur.
Be careful of commissioned based sales people attempting to sell you an expensive repair that you don’t need.
One of my biggest complaints about the industry is poorly trained sales people that don’t know anything about construction or the soils in this area. They are given 3 days of computer training, handed some leads and a “go get em tiger” mentality.
Recently, I ran into a situation where a sales person recommended thousands of dollars in new foundation drains on a house. I discovered that all of the standing water was due to a broken condensation pump!!
People will make hasty decisions about these problems because they are scared.
Never sign a contract with a company on the first visit. Always explore other alternatives and get other opinions. You want a professional that can look at the problem from all angles and make an objective analysis of the situation without bias and not promoting a solution that the corporate franchises want the sales person to recommend.
Often, some inexpensive solutions can be applied to solve the problem without installing expensive foundation drains.
1. Clean out your gutters once a quarter if you have a wooded lot.
2. Install Leaf Guard Systems (Not Gutter Guard Systems)
3. Upgrade your gutters and downspouts to extra large sizes to carry more flow of
4. Install 5 ft. gutter extensions to all of your downspouts and get the water away
5. Empty out your window vent wells.
6. If you have a flat lot, consider installing N-12 underground piping systems (The N-12 pipe underground retention/ detention system utilizes subsurface pipe that detains storm water and releases it either through a controlled outlet or holds it until the surrounding soil can accept it.) to get the water away from the house completely.
If you have damp soils inside the crawl space, this may not be a drainage or waterproofing problem. It may be a symptom of condensation problems that can be solved with controlled ventilation.
For more information and solutions for these challenges please feel free to contact me directly at (704) 787-6972.