What Happens Under Your House When it Rains
During periods of heavy rains, the soil all around your home becomes saturated. As the rain continues, the water can no longer be absorbed into the soil. We call this the “saturation point.” Once the soil can no longer absorb the water, hydrostatic pressure builds and the water moves upward through the soil and accumulates in the crawl space or basement.
Some people will install an exterior drain as a form of basement or foundation waterproofing. At first glance, this seems to make sense until you really think about how insignificant an impact your house makes on the soil it sits upon.
Typically, a crawl space footer is 1’ to 2’ underground, and a basement footer may be 6’ to 8’ deep. An exterior drain is usually located at these footing depths. In a period of rain, the ground reaches saturation 20’ to 40’ deep. An exterior drain is installed so shallow in the earth, that it can never prevent water from entering a crawl space or basement when the soil is saturated.
It is impossible to stop the hydrostatic pressure from building under your house. The water has no other place to go when the ground is totally saturated.
How Can You Fix the Problem?
The only solution for effective crawl space and basement waterproofing is to install an interior drain system to gather the water as it enters the crawl space and then to install either a gravity drain to daylight or a sump pump system. The topography of your lot will determine the best option between the gravity drain or sump pump system. Removing any standing water from your crawl space is the first step to gaining control of your moist crawl space.
For more information on a waterproofing system that comes with a Lifetime Warranty, contact Crawl Space and Basement Technologies at 919-847-7072.