Anyone here know much about crawlspaces & water?

[teija]

We went for a second viewing at a house I really love (this, after about 2 years of looking so far)... FINALLY got my hubby to admit he likes the place and would be interested to put together an offer... BUT...

It is a split-level, so there is a large crawl space under the kitchen/living room area. It is located in the low-lying area near Boundary Bay, so the water table is already a bit of a problem... The crawl is actually below-ground by about a meter or so (it's dug about 2 feet lower than the "basement" rooms of the house).

We looked into the crawl space last night (after 3 days of rain) and saw nothing but water reflecting back at us. To be fair, it was very shallow (hubby estimates a cm or two at most), but it was a wide expanse, not just a little puddle here or there.

Aside from setting up a fish pond down there, I have very little experience in this sort of thing. Has anyone had similar experience, and if so, how difficult has this been for you to fix? Is it likely to even BE fixed? I know that the first course of action would be to set up a sump, and then we'd have to start looking into perimeter drainage (upgrading/repairing)... I have heard that drainage work can set you back by a fair amount, but not sure how much (or whether it would even fix some/all of the problem).

REALLY torn on this because we really like the house otherwise.

[Athomedad]

To set up proper drainage would be $10,000 plus and if the crawl space is below the water table it won't matter much.

If there is constantly water in the crawl space the humidity will seep into all the wood above. Pop off a baseboard in the lower levels and look for moisture or mould. Mould takes 72 hours to start growing.

Sorry.

[grizadams_7mm]

I would have to agree. If the crawl space is with in the foundation then the work to repair the leak is very $$ and can take a fair bit of Time. You might be able to use this to low ball them if you really like the house. Good luck either way

[gklaw]

This is not really something you can guess at it, you coud be out by a factor of 20 or more.

You could be talking about $1,500 to clean out a plugged drain tile. Or you could be talking about $15,000 to dug up and replace broken old clay tiles (make nice large pleco caves).

Or you could talking about $25,000 or more if the drain tile level is below city storm drain level. If it is combined storm and sewer, you may even end up with sewer back up. Sorry, I don't mean to scare you off a house you love. I do not love my house I bought 20 years I am still in today - but I saw the potential.

The best is to get a professional drainage contractor for a firm quote and factor that into your negotiation. Now is the time.

[Elle]

Run, don't walk away. Water in a crawlspace is a major mold risk. It doesn't matter how nice the rest of the house is, you don't need that headache. A basement or anything below grade in an area with a high water table is just asking for trouble.

If you really love the house and are prepared to take a chance, you could always hire an inspector or a couple of drainage firms to come up with an estimate and either knock the amount off the price or make the offer subject to the repair being completed. A good drainage firm can snake a camera down to see if the drainage issue is just clogged pipes, but some fixes need excavation to even figure out the scope of the work.

However, given the area and your description, I really would not buy the place. It goes without saying that any home purchase should be subject to an inspection by a reputable and qualified inspector.

[teija]

Thanks everyone... the input is very much appreciated (and needed). I love the area, but not many houses around there have sunken basement areas, and this is probably the main reason why! The estimates of $10-15K for fixing/replacing the perimeter drainage sound about right. We would definitely knock that off the asking price, but I keep wondering if that money would just be wasted - as has been mentioned above, it could simply NEVER go away. Another problem with the place is it will be a nightmare trying to get a tractor or any other machinery around to the back... Which is maybe why the current owners haven't done it yet themselves.

[effox]

In Surrey we had a drainage issue that was estimated at $15k to fix. Me and my family decided instead of taking out a loan we would fix it ourselves. It took a year due to weather and the amount of work to do (jack hammering concrete, digging, sloping, installing the pipes, getting the crushed gravel, installing a sump, etc, etc.). It was a huge amount of effort, and would have otherwise costs us more than we could possibly afford.

Not to say that would fix your problem as its below water level, as ours wasn't. Personally, after having to go through all that, I wouldn't purchase the house. Make the home owners pay for it if you're going to purchase it, have that as part of your condition, they'll likely refuse.

Sorry...

Cheers,
Chris

[teija]

I don't think it is technically below the water table, but that part of Tsaw has a high table... Could also have been made worse by the wind storm the other night, driving more rain along one side of the house, etc.

[poiuy704]

As Elle says run!!
If it`s been an ongoing thing for any length of time there are sure to be mold and rot issues throughout the house.

[Shiyuu]

On the side of the note, if the house u mentioned on the Boundary Bay side is the ones that nears the beach, be advised that there's a VERY limited bus schedule running over there.
So you might also look into extra time/cost on the future transportation, especially when the kids are going to school...