Emily Long
03-27-2010, 11:11 PM
Hello All,
New to the forum and in desperate need of some good information or where to seek it. We live in Santa Rosa, CA and we have clay soil in our area. Bottom-line I am trying to find the best way and the best professional to contact to help us correct our moisture issues in the crawlspace.
We bought our house 8 months ago and have been through 1 winter (rainy season). During the buying/inspection process wood boring beetles, fungus, and an improperly installed/functioning sump pump were identified. The house was tented and before it was tented a 2mil liner was placed. We also had a general contractor fix the sump pump issues (not deep enough, back flow valve broken). We also had some of the piers and other parts of the crawlspace scraped and treated with Timbor. Now that we have gone through 1 rainy season we wanted to know if what was done was controlling the moisture. This has been a real thorn in our sides. We REALLY want to be sure we fix the moisture and are prepared to invest $$ to make sure. We had an inspection by a company that installs clean crawlspace products (complete encapsulation). Of course they recommended the works. What they did not address/evaluate were any drainage issues/trenching, etc. They also said the liner was not done correctly (in strips instead of wrapped around our posts & piers), there was a ton of debris under the house, and that the sump pump was still not correct. The contractor we hired put it in a five galloon bucket and drilled 14 holes into it to allow the water to come in. The crawlspace company also said the float was wedged against the side of the bucket and wouldn't trip. Now I don't know to believe all they say because they wanted t sell us a new sump pump as well. There was an area under the back of the house that had a higher water stain and the ground was wet - to me this says this area might be lower - but am not a professional.
We really want someone to come and evaluate the whole area and make educated recommendations. Like I said we are really to invest $$ to make sure this problem is taken care of. Maybe we need grading, trenching, etc. What kind of professional to I contact for this?
New to the forum and in desperate need of some good information or where to seek it. We live in Santa Rosa, CA and we have clay soil in our area. Bottom-line I am trying to find the best way and the best professional to contact to help us correct our moisture issues in the crawlspace.
We bought our house 8 months ago and have been through 1 winter (rainy season). During the buying/inspection process wood boring beetles, fungus, and an improperly installed/functioning sump pump were identified. The house was tented and before it was tented a 2mil liner was placed. We also had a general contractor fix the sump pump issues (not deep enough, back flow valve broken). We also had some of the piers and other parts of the crawlspace scraped and treated with Timbor. Now that we have gone through 1 rainy season we wanted to know if what was done was controlling the moisture. This has been a real thorn in our sides. We REALLY want to be sure we fix the moisture and are prepared to invest $$ to make sure. We had an inspection by a company that installs clean crawlspace products (complete encapsulation). Of course they recommended the works. What they did not address/evaluate were any drainage issues/trenching, etc. They also said the liner was not done correctly (in strips instead of wrapped around our posts & piers), there was a ton of debris under the house, and that the sump pump was still not correct. The contractor we hired put it in a five galloon bucket and drilled 14 holes into it to allow the water to come in. The crawlspace company also said the float was wedged against the side of the bucket and wouldn't trip. Now I don't know to believe all they say because they wanted t sell us a new sump pump as well. There was an area under the back of the house that had a higher water stain and the ground was wet - to me this says this area might be lower - but am not a professional.
We really want someone to come and evaluate the whole area and make educated recommendations. Like I said we are really to invest $$ to make sure this problem is taken care of. Maybe we need grading, trenching, etc. What kind of professional to I contact for this?