Crawl space oh sh#t

Loganwayne

#BTL
Joined
Feb 15, 2013
Location
Clyde, North Carolina
Came home and went to water the quail. Noticed that the crawl space door area was wetter than the ground around it. Opened the door and saw the crawl space has 2-4” of water in it. Oh shit. I know my house has a drainage problem the lot behind my house was a nursing home now torn down but when it was tore down they regraded this lot and raised it 4-8” making my yard the low spot. This house I’m renting to own from my dad until some legal issues are taken care of. I know the long term fix is to regrade my lot and get positive drainage I’m also not going to do that until I buy it.

The plan until then is to get the water out now, and regrade the crawl space to get any water that may enter into it flow to one spot. At this area I plan on installing a “bucket drain” with a sump pump, that I’ll run into my sewer line.

Anyone else have anything to add. Besides just grade it now

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Pictures are hard to tell the grade from but I would like to add enough dirt to come within a couple inches of the top of the pond

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Running it into the sewer line is a terribly bad idea for multiple reasons.

Slope the crawlspace to one point, put a 20 gallon trash can in the ground with 2.5” of rock on bottom and sides. Drill 1/2” holes all over the trash can prior to installing it with the top surface flush with grade.

Put in a sump pump and pump the water wherever. Get the discharge pipe as high as you can immediately out of the pump and slope the pipe downward until termination.

If you can’t slope the crawlspace to one low point, or too much water is eroding the soil, then perimeter French drain connected to the sump.

You can French drain the outside of foundation to the same pump and sump installation but make sure to get the pipe at or below the footer.


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Running it into the sewer line is a terribly bad idea for multiple reasons.

Slope the crawlspace to one point, put a 20 gallon trash can in the ground with 2.5” of rock on bottom and sides. Drill 1/2” holes all over the trash can prior to installing it with the top surface flush with grade.

Put in a sump pump and pump the water wherever. Get the discharge pipe as high as you can immediately out of the pump and slope the pipe downward until termination.

If you can’t slope the crawlspace to one low point, or too much water is eroding the soil, then perimeter French drain connected to the sump.

You can French drain the outside of foundation to the same pump and sump installation but make sure to get the pipe at or below the footer.


548e2ba9340da60eb11301b9d7ad3338.jpg

That’s basically what I was going to do only using a smaller bucket. I can use a larger trashcan.

But I don’t know where to run the pumped water to, my whole house has negative drainage to the house. The gutter drains run underground and dump into the yard. So I would basically be running a loop with the water taking it out into a gutter. I can tie into my waste line under the house.


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How long ago was the nursing home torn down? They shouldn’t grade their lot and dump all their surface water to your lot.

Before I moved here, other wise it wouldn’t have happened. I’ve talked to the new owners of the lot and they plan to add apartments and are willing to help regrade my lot but that’s not for another 3-5 years by that time I will have it done.


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That’s basically what I was going to do only using a smaller bucket. I can use a larger trashcan.

But I don’t know where to run the pumped water to, my whole house has negative drainage to the house. The gutter drains run underground and dump into the yard. So I would basically be running a loop with the water taking it out into a gutter. I can tie into my waste line under the house.


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Yes you may be recycling some water, may not fix that without regrading everything.

Again do not tie into the sewer/waste system.

The larger sump helps to not keep cycling and short cycling the pump. Also helps to get more rock to keep sediment from reaching pump. You also want it deeper than a bucket so that the crawlspace isn’t flooded before the pump cuts on.
 
I know a guy will will dig you a 10ft deep ditch for cheap @Croatan_Kid
 
Seriously, if the grading has caused the flooding/runoff that was not there before demo/ grading there's a lawsuit in the making and shit needs to be fixed by the owners of that adjacent lot.
 
Seriously, if the grading has caused the flooding/runoff that was not there before, there's a lawsuit in the making and shit needs to be fixed by the owners of that adjacent lot.

The problem is the site was graded who knows how long ago. The house was empty for 10+ years and my grandmother didn’t have her wits or was able to check crawl space before it the nursing home was tore down.

It has also only done this twice. With extremely saturated ground and heavy rains

Also if I took the property owner to court and hired an engineer to do a water flow analysis of his property to prove that most of the water is from his property, I could have fixed it three times over. I have access to mini-x and a sheep’s foot that wouldn’t cost me anything but the fuel for them, then I just have to get soil hauled from a grader or one of our waste sites. I just don’t want to do it until the property is in my name.

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The problem is the site was graded who knows how long ago. The house was empty for 10+ years and my grandmother didn’t have her wits or was able to check crawl space before it the nursing home was tore down.

It has also only done this twice. With extremely saturated ground and heavy rains

Also if I took the property owner to court and hired an engineer to do a water flow analysis of his property to prove that most of the water is from his property, I could have fixed it three times over. I have access to mini-x and a sheep’s foot that wouldn’t cost me anything but the fuel for them, then I just have to get soil hauled from a grader or one of our waste sites. I just don’t want to do it until the property is in my name.

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I assume there were buildings, roofs, a paved parking lot etc. before the demo? If so there had to be gutters,swales/ditches. pipes etc to drain the rain off somewhere and not onto the property you are on or it would have been a problem before the demo/grading.
 
Had to dig the hole and drain in my dad's crawl Monday. I'm glad I don't do that for a living... I'm still sore.
Luckily I have a short friend who used to do this stuff before becoming a preacher man.

It's just too wet.
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Had to dig the hole and drain in my dad's crawl Monday. I'm glad I don't do that for a living... I'm still sore.
Luckily I have a short friend who used to do this stuff before becoming a preacher man.

It's just too wet.
1f331d74a81f3cfe382ac522923a4a86.jpg


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Shoot that crawl space is y’all compared to mine I’m not looking forward to it


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Had to dig the hole and drain in my dad's crawl Monday. I'm glad I don't do that for a living... I'm still sore.
Luckily I have a short friend who used to do this stuff before becoming a preacher man.

It's just too wet.
1f331d74a81f3cfe382ac522923a4a86.jpg


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We have that same sled. It's a good one.
 
Forget any Lawsuit, it's a lost cause. Been Too long [probably], Property not even in your name, & a suit could be drug out til your broke, or give up. If anything, maybe they other property owner could be persuaded to bring dirt in asap, instead of 3-5 years. He buys the dirt, you do the grading. With out seeing it in person, I don't know What you can do to drain it!
 
It’s just a really wet time. I would do the bucket sump and also try to get a fan to get some air moving under there.

As far as where to pump the water, are you on city sewage or a septic tank?

Could it be pumped to a ditch by the road?
 
It’s just a really wet time. I would do the bucket sump and also try to get a fan to get some air moving under there.

As far as where to pump the water, are you on city sewage or a septic tank?

Could it be pumped to a ditch by the road?

City sewer. Road is flat and water puddles on the edge of it in front of every house


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City sewer. Road is flat and water puddles on the edge of it in front of every house


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It may be against some law, but I see no issue in pumping it discreetly into a drain line. They charge you sewage for washing your car or watering your lawn.
 
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