The Great Crawlspace Challenge

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casualfc

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Lots to cover, so bear with me. Bought my rebuilt house 5 years ago. The original foundation is 50 years old, but this has an additional foundation added 5 years ago. To the best of my knowledge, there has been no sump pump or drainage installed ever. After several years of heavy rains, and recently Irene, I can't wait to fix this any longer.
Situation:
Entire basement is a crawlspace. Both foundations are cinder block. Original foundation floor is coarse gravel with an old vapor barrier which comes to within a few inches of the walls. Newer foundation is poured concrete floor. No vapor barrier. There is a space cut out of the original basement foundation wall to access the rear basement. Both basement areas are fairly flat, with the concrete floor one being about an inch higher. In heavy rain situations (Irene put about 8-10 inches under there), the water rises and sit under the vapor barrier which pushes up. Very high water table here. Eventually the water level goes down. Gravel crawlspace is now dry, but there's about a quarter of an inch of water in the concrete floored space.
I am going to install a sump pump soon, and have some specific questions. Any additional comments are welcome.
1- Vapor barrier- can someone recommend a new one? Do I need to do a complete cover-the-walls encapsulation?
2- Concrete area- how do I create a sump pit in there, when you can't get a jackhammer into the low crawlspace. How do I get the water from there into the gravel crawlspace?
3- Pump location. Crawlspace has outside access on one side. This side would be good for the pump, but this side is where my water and gas lines come in. Is it too much of stretch to put the pump on the side with the opening (for easy access), then run horizontal pipe across the width of the house (35+ feet) to drain?

I'm sure there's more, but that's just my initial thoughts. Thanks for reading this lengthy tale. Pictures probably tomorrow...
 
You need a french drain and gutters that drain away from the house. You need to prevent the water from getting in, not dealing with it once it's in there.
 
Hire a professional get several opinions. Check the expansion joint where the new foundation ties into the old. There are dozens of factors to be considered here so chose corrective action wisely remember you will never prevent the water from getting in prrmanantly. the object is to minimize it getting in and expedite getting it out and dry after it gets in.
 
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