Lemmy
Member
My crawlspace floor is mostly flat with rock that is covered by plastic. But about 25% of it is a pour slab where I store quite a bit of things. Then there is a section that is higher that is just dirt with plastic over it. It can be seen in the attached drawing. I have rarely had an issue with water getting in and it has never been bad. After a big rain I might see a 1' wide puddle about 1/8" deep on the plastic in a couple of places. But recently I have had issues with standing water after the big rains we have had. I can't find any place it is coming in and almost seems to be rising up from the ground as the water is more in the middle of the crawlspace and not near any wall. Of course I know it could leak in and just seek the lowest point.
I plan on buying a basin and a sump pump, but I was wondering if I placed it in the worst spot and drilled several holes in the basin, would it help the entire crawlspace, or is digging a trench and putting in a french drain necessary. It seems that it is common to run the french drain around the perimeter of the wall, but I don't seem to have any water around most of the perimeter. Should I put in a french drain just to the problem spots and bring to the basin, or is just a basin with holes sufficient?
I do have a footer drain on the outside of the house. When I had some downspout issues I found that 2 or 3 downspouts and a foundation drain come around the right side of the house and dump in to that deep gravel shown on my diagram. Then when the gravel pit fills up with water there is another pipe that empties deep in to my back yard. I wanted to dump the downspout drains down there too, but they are too deep (at the level of the footer drain) so they are already lower than the lowest point at the back of my property. So ultimately I put the gravel back and left it as is.
Thanks
I plan on buying a basin and a sump pump, but I was wondering if I placed it in the worst spot and drilled several holes in the basin, would it help the entire crawlspace, or is digging a trench and putting in a french drain necessary. It seems that it is common to run the french drain around the perimeter of the wall, but I don't seem to have any water around most of the perimeter. Should I put in a french drain just to the problem spots and bring to the basin, or is just a basin with holes sufficient?
I do have a footer drain on the outside of the house. When I had some downspout issues I found that 2 or 3 downspouts and a foundation drain come around the right side of the house and dump in to that deep gravel shown on my diagram. Then when the gravel pit fills up with water there is another pipe that empties deep in to my back yard. I wanted to dump the downspout drains down there too, but they are too deep (at the level of the footer drain) so they are already lower than the lowest point at the back of my property. So ultimately I put the gravel back and left it as is.
Thanks