When you step into your crawl space, you expect to see the usual things. Some spider webs, darkness and all the rest, but you would never expect to see what one of our customers saw. As he opened his crawl space hatch, he saw hot steaming water about a foot deep in his crawl space. What prompted this visit to the crawl space was the soaring water bill costs. He assumed that maybe a water pipe was leaking, but he didn’t expect to find a hot water pipe completely burst open, filling his crawl space with hot water.
Of course, the consequences were disastrous. Insulation was ruined, duct work was ruined, and the hot water created a mold creating factory down there. It was a mess that nobody wants to have to deal with and it all could have been avoided.
Now, this example is the extreme, but it is not uncommon to have standing water in the crawl space wreak havoc. Normally, it is a process that happens over time as water slowly accumulates, but regarless of how it gets there, it is important to have a system in place that will move it out of there. This is where we come in here at New Leaf Crawl Space Solutions. We specialize in creating drainage solutions for any property.
What Solution Is Best For Your Home?
Every home is different and drainage will need to be addressed depending on how the property slopes. However, a pretty sure fire way to prevent having standing water is to have a sump pump installed. A sump pump will pump water out of the crawl space (usually into the gutter drainage system of the property) and stop water from accumulating and doing damage. Another way to address standing water is to locate the low point drain in your crawl space. Most homes should have this, but not all low point drains actually do their job. When this is the case, digging trenches and installing a french drain can be a very effective solution.
Installing a drainage system can sometimes seem like a costly thing to do, but it is far less costly than the damage that can be done without a system in place. We live in a very wet area in the Portland Oregon area, so having drainage systems in place can be one of the best investments you make in your home.