Mud in crawlspace. Vapor barrier? Sump pump?

[wetone]

I am sitting on a wet piece of property with an old home with cinder block walls. The structure is gutted completely, has no roof and ready to rebuild. The crawl fills up and I cant tell if it is the rain water or the water table. It appears as though the soil level in the crawl is the same as the lake level. If I add sand and pea gravel to bring it up well above lake level will that work. Seems like installing drains and sump is just going to pump out what will come right back in. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[K'ledgeBldr]

Originally Posted by wetone

I am sitting on a wet piece of property with an old home with cinder block walls. The structure is gutted completely, has no roof and ready to rebuild. The crawl fills up and I cant tell if it is the rain water or the water table. It appears as though the soil level in the crawl is the same as the lake level. If I add sand and pea gravel to bring it up well above lake level will that work. Seems like installing drains and sump is just going to pump out what will come right back in. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

My initial response is contact the village planning department and talk to someone about building next to a lake- find out what is required "today". 'Cause I'm guessing you have what was a pretty old house that was built before any stringent code enforcement.

The village of Holly is surrounded by lakes and wetlands- so it's no surprise you're seeing what you're seeing. If it were me and do-able- I'd fill the crawl and make the foundation a raised slab. Otherwise, you'll be fighting an extremely high moisture problem- along with mold, rot, and infestation.

[montanaspin]

I live in the mountains and I have a problem with a wet crawlspace. I live on the side of side of a mountain, but the slope of the mountain where my home is built has about 4 foot of drop per hundred feet, then it rises more steeply. I have taken numerous steps to eliminate moisture, but I still have moisture and the associated damp smell in the crawlspace. I have encapsulated the crawl space, eliminated all crawlspace vents, installed a 2-2.5 foot deep French drain along the uphill side of my home (five feet from the foundation). There is also a small shallow French drain at roof drip line also on the uphill side of the home. We even installed a de-humidifier that runs all summer long. We do not winter here and let the home go cold for about 6 months. Every spring when we return there is several gallons of water sitting in the low spots of the plastic liner encapsulation. With the de-humidifier, we are able to dry and keep the plastic liner dry on top during the summer, but underneath of it there are some spots remain muddy, but most areas appear dry. I believe that I may have a spring that forces water through pinholes in the plastic in the spring and keeps some areas moist under the plastic liner throughout the summer. I am considering running perforated pipe under the footings into the muddy spots from the downhill side of my home to establish a gravity drains. Good idea or bad. I would sure like some thoughts on the matter. Most of the muddy spots are about 10-20 feet from the downhill
crawlspace walls. If I am in the wrong thread, please excuse me as I have not used forums before.

[montanaspin]

I did run a 1.25 inch pvc pipe full of holes under the footings into one muddy spot in the crawlspace which should be about 6 inches below the ground surface in the crawlspace. No drainage so far. The ground outside and under the footings were bone dry. Anyone with thoughts on the matter? Although the basin on a sump would provide a much larger drainage area than a pipe, It seems to me that a positive drainage pipe should still work.

[montanaspin]

Positive drainage pipe has yet to bleed off any ground moisture. Pulled pipe out to see if it was plugged, it was not and I added more and larger holes before putting in back. Ground under crawlspace plastic is still muddy. I now will wait until spring to see if it can prevent the water seeping through tiny perforations in the plastic. Still looking for feedback.