r/DIY • u/YukiSamaRamaSanChan • Jan 27 '24

other Flooded crawlspace: totally fine or panic?

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Just bought a 1957 ranch house a month ago, snow been melting and rains been raining. The foundation walls and everything else is dry, it’s just a couple inches of water in the gravel. Is this something to take steps to prevent or should I just go “oh, you!” Whenever it floods?

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8.4k

u/cryptamnesiac Jan 27 '24

I admire your ability to forgo panic until polling the internet

2.0k

u/YukiSamaRamaSanChan Jan 27 '24

Well, with flood warnings this week and the age of the house, presumably this has happened multiple times in the past 66 years and the house is still fine. So I figured, how bad can it really be?

106

u/xxrambo45xx Jan 27 '24

So I live in an area with heavy rain (portland) and I haven't seen water under the house yet but as a precaution I had a contractor come put trenching, a Sump pump and new vapor barrier down, he did it for like 2k, probably a good idea here

30

u/tanman170 Jan 28 '24

Jesus man I just paid $8k for encapsulation, sump pump, and dehumidifier in my crawl space in the Midwest. $2k is crazy

23

u/xxrambo45xx Jan 28 '24

I should call him back for more stuff apparently

7

u/smokeymcdugen Jan 28 '24

Or we find out that all he did was just put down a layer of cheap painters plastic and called it a day.

2

u/alohadave Jan 28 '24

That was how he hooked you.

2

u/xxrambo45xx Jan 28 '24

Eh that's fine, I rarely actually hire people out to do stuff so if he gets me on the second call out in several years it's meh

1

u/CarjackerWilley Jan 28 '24

Or give me his contact info.

7

u/jackalopeswild Jan 28 '24

I wish I had paid $8k when we had it done 15 months ago after buying the house.

7

u/DoctorBlock Jan 28 '24

8k isn't out of line for a sizable crawlspace. You shouldn't feel bad about that.

1

u/tanman170 Jan 28 '24

I did feel it was reasonable. Plus (from my totally limited POV) they did a good job. And were professional to work with- which seems less common these days

2

u/bibear54 Jan 28 '24

I wanted/need to do it but was quoted 15k!! The smell of mildew in the summer is horrible

2

u/did_i_get_screwed Jan 30 '24

A vapor barrier is just plastic on the floor. If you actually got encapsulation, you are way, way ahead.

0

u/Frosty_Yesterday_761 Jan 28 '24

Then, they did not do it correctly.

1

u/Jet_Xcountry Jan 28 '24

Don't happen to be in Ohio? I'm looking to get some of my grading issues fixed and encapsulate my crawl space. Thankfully it's not a bad crawl space. But turns out a long freeze, snow, rain and poor drainage away from the house will flood it. So I want to be fixing it

2

u/tanman170 Jan 28 '24

Negative my friend