why Crawl space standing water happens | surface drainage vs groundwater

Standing Water In A Crawl Space

Wet crawl space problems.... for more than twenty years I've been assisting home and company owners on how to properly remove standing water in a crawl space.

Many said customers and trainees, before understanding my complete training curriculum, only viewed problematic standing water issues inside crawl spaces from an ''above surface'' point of view. 

What I mean by that is, before me, their comprehension of the matter stopped beyond what was visible to them. That's not a dig towards anyone either. It's simply a matter of what a friend taught me years ago, ''We don't know what we don't know.''

Good news is, most average contractors are aware of visible water drainage. They can see it running atop the grass, water rushing out of gutter downspouts, and most plan accordingly to prevent any problems from these referenced points via an exterior perimeter French drain which was typically installed during construction, dirt grading pitched so that surface water routes away from the foundation of the home, and gutter downspouts extended into the yard, where the dispensed water will fall naturally away from the home.

Bad new is, after most average contractors have performed all their known precautionary measures, I still see standing water inside crawl spaces!

The question then becomes, ''Where is this standing water coming from?''

Surface Drainage Water

Let's first quickly go over some of the most commonly witnessed surface drainage water situations. As a crawl space contractor, the first thing you should learn to do as you are pulling up to each new crawl space inspection, is take into account the topography of the land. 

As you are studying the pitch of the land, start thinking like water. Where's your high point? Where's your low point? 

Having the ability to identify these two points will instantly tell you the direction of water flow.

Once you have grasped the direction of water flow, often times you will see that the foundation of the home is not only in the direct path of water flow, but ask yourself another question?

''What's the deepest point in that water highway you're studying there?''

The answer usually is what I mentioned above, the foundation of the home! And that's due to whenever the footing was initially dug for concrete, that depth has to be so deep, in accordance to satisfy the general building guidelines per local territory of construction.

These footing points are now the lowest points in the currently referenced water highway. This is the bottom location of the foundation walls, as well foundation piers.

I'll get more into these low points momentarily, for now, now that you have a basic understanding of topography and water flow, you need to make sure water is ''shedding'' away from the home. Any identified points where water flow is allowed to directly find the foundation of the home is a problem, and needs to be rectified via the addition and pitching of soil, so that the problematic water then not be allowed to directly find the foundation of the home. Same ruling applies to any water witnessed running towards the home via the driveway, exterior patios, etc.

Grinding and re-pitching concrete and asphalt often results in a drainage channel having to be cut into said concrete or asphalt, and then directing the captured water away from the home via gravity preferably, or by the use of a sump pump.

The biggest surface drainage water contributor is coming from the roof! Always study the downspout locations. If water is dumping at these points, instead of the discharge points being extended into the yard, there's one of the largest problems to address.

Now, what if I told you, that even if you address all exterior situations mentioned above, I mean you have gotten all of the dirt pitched so that the surface water is now shedding away from the home, all of your gutter downspouts are now extended properly into the yard, no water is now able to directly find its way against the exterior foundation at any driveway, patio, etc., that standing water can still end up making itself visible inside the crawl space!

Because friends, THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I'M TELLING YOU!

Groundwater Drainage

Everything that I just said above, you know what it all has in common? It's all visible. So essentially, surface drainage water is visible, while another invisible culprit is at play.

The invisible culprit I am referencing is of course groundwater! And groundwater drainage is not something that can be seen, until it's visibly standing around the inside perimeter of the foundation, and around the bottoms of the foundation piers.

And you might be asking why this water is now visibly standing around these points in the crawl space?

Well just resort back to your water highway! Where are the lowest points inside that highway?

That's right! Where the footing was dug.

And worse news is, in most circumstances, the entire crawl space ground level is at a lower depth than its surrounding exterior ground level.

It's a hole guys! And when that groundwater makes itself visible, usually 24-28 hours after the rain began, it can't magically grow legs and climb itself back out of the crawl space, and join its surface drainage water buddy along the water highway. 

And whenever this is the case (which it normally is the case), you have to resort to my system, which has been proven for years, across multiple states.

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