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Water under the house!!!

RhamlinRhamlin Posts: 9,031 ✭✭✭✭✭
in Non Cigar Related
So the Orkin guy was here while iwas in the boat doing his yearly inspection. We've always had a problem with water getting under our family room. It's enclosed but its dirt bottom. Now it looks like mold is starting to form on the wood of the floor. I know I'm going to have to get a dehumidifier and spray it down with bleach to kill the mold. But I've no idea where the water comes from. Any ideas on how to stop water from coming in ? I'm going to get some hoses to attach to the gutter down spouts to divert that water away from the house.

Comments

  • StsepasStsepas Posts: 475
    Have you considered a French drain?
  • Amos_UmwhatAmos_Umwhat Posts: 8,811 ✭✭✭✭✭
    ooh, that sounds bad. Too many possibilities. One thing's for sure, you need to get it dried out. I have to get out two or three times a year and dig diversionary trenches, as our house is built at the bottom of a small hill. Got really wet under there one year and we had millions of little millipedes coming up from below.

    I've also had to replace entire floors from mold damage, not my house, was working for a contractor while in college, and thats a lot of cigar money!
    good luck!
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  • raisindotraisindot Posts: 1,294 ✭✭✭
    Ooo, not good.

    Is it safe to assume that this room is on the ground floor and you have no basement? If so, the water is probably coming up from the water table in the ground below. Generally, ground-level flooding occurs because the water table rises because of heavy rains or whatnot. The hoses that divert water from the down spouts are a good idea, but, again, if rain is making the water table rise it might not help. Short of having to spend a fortune in flood control strategies, you might want to dig a 3 foot deep trench around the outside area surrounding the room and fill it with rocks (which can help disperse the water a little better) or build large piles of dirty around the side of the house. You might want to do some plantings there, too, because plant roots can absorb a LOT of water. Dehumidifiers may help a bit but they won't keep mold from forming, since once wood gets wet mold just needs a micro-drop to form. If you have mold on the floor, it's also possible that you might have mold growing in the walls as well. It's hard to know until you start tearing stuff apart. We went through a hugely expense water damage repair project affecting two bathrooms last year, and mold was all over the walls and ceilings of each room. Sucked big time!
  • RhamlinRhamlin Posts: 9,031 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I dug a trench once and put some of that irrigation piping in and covered it with rocks then put die back over it. It worked for a long while. My neighbor says I used the wrong type rock (crushed rock) he said round is better because the sharp corners mesh together after a while and fills in with dirt. So I'll be digging that up and redoing it.
  • clearlysuspectclearlysuspect Posts: 2,124 ✭✭✭✭
    Coat entire under side of house with this. Nothing will ever get in again. EVER!!!

    http://www.skygeek.com/corrosion-inhibitive-sealants.html

    ps... this is not practical, it would be insanely expensive, but it would definitely work. LOL. This is what is used to seal the leading edges of aircraft structures. Takes ridiculous amounts of punishment and doesn't give.
  • bwcarter54bwcarter54 Posts: 142
    Had the same problem. I installed a sump pump under the house in a sump well made from a 5 gallon bucket. The pump has a float on it to turn it off and on. Water was coming up from the ground after a rain. The pump keeps the water out and no more problem.
  • Dark_RoastDark_Roast Posts: 1,070 ✭✭✭
    bwcarter54:
    Had the same problem. I installed a sump pump under the house in a sump well made from a 5 gallon bucket. The pump has a float on it to turn it off and on. Water was coming up from the ground after a rain. The pump keeps the water out and no more problem.
    Seems like the simplest and least expensive idea. My parents had this problem in their basement. They used towels to sop up. Got tired of doing that and had a 1ft wide by 1ft deep ditch dug next to foundation on the inside of basement. It was the unfinished part. Never had a flooding problem after that.
  • RhamlinRhamlin Posts: 9,031 ✭✭✭✭✭
    bwcarter54:
    Had the same problem. I installed a sump pump under the house in a sump well made from a 5 gallon bucket. The pump has a float on it to turn it off and on. Water was coming up from the ground after a rain. The pump keeps the water out and no more problem.
    Did you angle the dirt floor so all the water would run to the pump? Our water is scattered all over the place in puddles.
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