How To Prevent Flooding and Water in Your Crawl Space

You might not think about the crawl space of your Florida home often. Unfortunately, excessive water in crawl spaces is a common occurrence that can cause devastating results to the property, including damage to the building’s structural integrity. Stuart water damage restoration can help restore damage from a flooded crawl space, but flood prevention is best. 

Water can enter the crawl space because of weather, a rising water table, and leaky plumbing. Avoid a flood or wet crawl space with the tips below. 

The Problem With Damp Crawl Spaces

Whether there’s water in the crawl space after heavy rain or puddles under your home due to water leaking from a pipe, you must address the problem immediately. Excessive moisture in a crawl space could result in the following problems:

• Wood rot in the building’s support structures
• Corrosion of metal pipes and nails
• Pest infestations from insects and wildlife
• Mold and mildew

Water in crawl spaces doesn’t solely impact the crawl space. Over time, the consequences of a wet crawl space will infiltrate your home’s interior.

For instance, spores from mold growing in the crawl space could eventually spread throughout your house. Mold could start growing on various surfaces in one or more rooms. The building’s indoor air quality could also decline because of the extra mold spores floating around. 

Best Ways To Prevent Water From Entering Your Crawl Space

Working with an experienced water damage restoration company could alleviate the problems your home develops because of a wet crawl space. Still, it’s better to prevent flooding and excessive moisture than to restore the property from water damage. Here’s what you can do to minimize crawl space moisture.

Keep Your Gutters and Downspouts Clean and Clear

For some houses in Stuart, the culprits behind wet crawl spaces are clogged gutters and downspouts. When gutters have obstructions, they can’t effectively transport water from the roof to a spot away from the property’s foundation. The water will cascade over the side of the house and gutters, pooling around the base of the building. 

Inspecting and cleaning your gutter every year in the spring and fall is a good idea. This practice ensures the gutter system is clear and ready to handle rainy weather. You should also ensure the downspouts point away from your home to a drain at least two feet from the residence.

Address Your Property’s Interior and Exterior Drainage

The land around your house should have a slight slope going away from the building to prevent water from pooling around the foundation and crawl space. A sufficient slope would be a minimum of six inches from the foundation walls. Grading your yard once annually can alert you to shifts in the grade. 

Drainage within the crawl space is also helpful. You’d need to dig an 18-inch deep, nine-inch wide trench around your foundation’s interior for this type of drainage system. The hole will need a one-inch slope every ten feet. 

When the trench is complete, lay a perforated drain pipe inside to collect the water.

Install a vapor barrier around the crawl space after laying the pipe and covering the trench with gravel. The vapor barrier will keep moisture in the soil from getting into the space under your house.

Install a Sump Pump

How does internal crawl space drainage remove the water it collects? A sump pump is the answer.

You can install a sump pit with a submersible pump and connect it to the drain pipes. As the pit reaches a specific water level, it will automatically pump the water out of the basin and dispose of it outside and away from the house. 

Check the Plumbing

Sometimes, plumbing is the reason for a wet crawl space. Pipes and appliances can leak behind walls, ceilings, and flooring before pooling in the crawl space. 

Call a plumber immediately if you suspect your home has a plumbing leak. A plumbing expert can inspect your system, pinpoint the problem area, and provide the necessary repairs. 

Get Crawl Space Ventilation

Cross-ventilation will remove excess humidity in the crawl space. Installing vents in the crawl space’s interior wall can provide the necessary airflow. 

Call Stuart’s Water Damage Restoration Professionals for More Help

When residents in Stuart, Florida, experience property damage due to excessive water in crawl spaces after heavy rain, they turn to DRYOUTpro PLUS for help. Our full-service fire and water damage restoration company has over 27 years of experience breathing life into damaged structures. No job is too much for our IICRC-certified restoration technicians to handle. 

We offer comprehensive solutions, direct dealings with insurance companies during the claims process, and 24/7 emergency availability. Contact our team today at (772) 732-3405 for an appointment or fill out the contact form on our website.