# Crawl Space Moisture



## fowl (Feb 15, 2003)

The crawl space of our home seems to be holding excessive amount of moisture. I assume the moisture is just coming from the ground? I have a few ideas for solving this problem, but would like some expert opinion on the best way to deal with it. 

Easier option: cover the ground in the crawl with plastic, install a dehumidifier which drains to a pump. The water is then pumped into the drain and to the septic field.

Harder option: cover the ground in the crawl with plastic, trench and install corrugated drain tiles around the foundation. Either drain out away from the house or install a sump. 

Do either of these seem like they would solve the problem? Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.


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## spoonfed (Jan 8, 2011)

My wife used to work for a company that did crawl space capulation. They would put a sump and then cover with a thick plastic and tape all the seems. They ran the plastic onto the block and anchored it and then taped it. I can give you their number but you can do the same and save money. Open vents on crawl on opposite ends of house to have a cross flow.

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## WALLEYE MIKE (Jan 7, 2001)

My neighbor had hers professionally done. HD vapor barrier on the dirt and I think some type of air system. Nice and dry.

Very minimum a vapor barrier along the floor and up the sides and secured. You should also have (if you don't already) cross ventilation with vents in your foundation (above the dirt but below your floor joists)

Been there done that at my first home.


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## plugger (Aug 8, 2001)

My daughter has a large house in Illiois that was half basement and half crawl space. The half that was basement was a walkout with windows and patio doors. The crawl space side had deep footings in part so she dug that out and I laid block walls up to the crawlspace level making a 16 x 20 utility room. On the remaining crawl space part she leveled and put down heavy plastic, sealing at the footing. We rented a pump and poured and finished concrete on the crawl space. She has scrubed and painted all the walls with white driloc paint and did the floors in epoxy. We had about two grand in the concrete and 500 to rent the pump. She said this approach made her house much more livable. No odors from the dirt or moisture. They now have clean dry usable storage. Moving around to do maintaince is no problem, she got a little seat with wheels for me to use when I redid some plumbing, after installing a water softener. By making the crawl space usable she was able to finish the entire walk out half for a large family room.


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## nick 74 (Dec 4, 2008)

A Radon system works great under the plastic. Basicly a length of 4inch pvc with holes in it under the plastic, then the radon fan draws out all the moisture. Most fans are about 80 watts so they wont make your electric bill go up too bad. The nice thing is you can turn it off when not needed.


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## WoW. (Aug 11, 2011)

fowl said:


> Easier option: cover the ground in the crawl with plastic, install a dehumidifier which drains to a pump. The water is then pumped into the drain and to the septic field.


You are not going to be able to get by with just a typical dehumidifier hooked up to a sump crock. You will either need a ton of them or one with enough muscle to get the job done based on square footage. The price of one of those babies might just take that idea right on out of the "easy" category.


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## Rudi's Dad (May 4, 2004)

How is the drainage from roof runoff? Maybe eavestrough's would take the extra water away from the home.


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## fowl (Feb 15, 2003)

You are right about runoff from the roof. Unfortunately I live in Otsego Co which gets 150-170 in of snow a year (not the case this year). Very few homes in this area have eaves troughs. The snow and ice tear them off and you get bad ice dams. But I do have a valley that channels high amounts of rain water off the back of the house. I am thinking of putting in a short section of gutter and downspout there to at least take that large concentration of water away from the foundation. The other steps I will try is lining the ground in the crawl with plastic and improving ventilation and air circulation at least in the summer. Again, I pretty much have to close all of the vents in the winter to prevent the pipes from freezing. If those steps don't help I'll be looking for more ideas.


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## mi duckdown (Jul 1, 2006)

This is what I did. Dug to the footings. glued 2" pink foam to the block. (in the crawl space)
Put drain tile at footing inside the perimeter of the block wall with pea gravel, installed a crock and sump pump. Ran the pump line ouside away from the House. Installed 6mil plastic on the dirt floor. Added 8 vents in the block walls.


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## Greenbush future (Sep 8, 2005)

fowl said:


> You are right about runoff from the roof. Unfortunately I live in Otsego Co which gets 150-170 in of snow a year (not the case this year). Very few homes in this area have eaves troughs. The snow and ice tear them off and you get bad ice dams. But I do have a valley that channels high amounts of rain water off the back of the house. I am thinking of putting in a short section of gutter and downspout there to at least take that large concentration of water away from the foundation. The other steps I will try is lining the ground in the crawl with plastic and improving ventilation and air circulation at least in the summer. Again, I pretty much have to close all of the vents in the winter to prevent the pipes from freezing. If those steps don't help I'll be looking for more ideas.


That was the answer for me was to get the water away from the foundation, on more than one house too. I did it with gutters and french drains, and changing the slope outside around the entire house. My sump is running about 1/3 of what it did, and problem did go away.

Ice dams are a result of other issues, that can include poor attic ventelation, insulation, baffles and such. I had them too but not anymore.


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## Mark S (Nov 4, 2009)

A good seamless gutter company can install a gutter that will hold up. The guy who installed mine grabbed a hold of the gutter and stepped off the ladder hanging from it to show me how strong they were , he weighed a tad over 200#. I would address the gutters then I would work on grade, at least 1" of drop per foot of run for at least 6ft. Next I would install pit liner in the crawl. There is a company in Kalkaska called Greatlakes Containment that sells pit liner direct. You can glue the seams and make boots for any piers.


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## Rudi's Dad (May 4, 2004)

Mark S said:


> A good seamless gutter company can install a gutter that will hold up. The guy who installed mine grabbed a hold of the gutter and stepped off the ladder hanging from it to show me how strong they were , he weighed a tad over 200#. I would address the gutters then I would work on grade, at least 1" of drop per foot of run for at least 6ft. Next I would install pit liner in the crawl. There is a company in Kalkaska called Greatlakes Containment that sells pit liner direct. You can glue the seams and make boots for any piers.


Those plastic gutters you get at the home center are a waste of time. Get the seamless....


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