Home › Forums › Archives › Old Bulletin Board Archives › Dampness in crawlspace › Reply To: Dampness in crawlspace
Theres probably nothing you can do about it. When the ground outsides really wet from a lot of rain, the ground water table (or level) rises closer to the surface. As it does, the water level under your house also rises, since all this dirt is connected together. Think of what happens if you push the open end of a glass into a sink of water – the water is held out of the opening by the air pressure inside the glass. However, if you were to use a metal can with both ends cut out, and push the tube into the water, the level inside would be the same as it is outside the can. Since your crawl space isnt an airtight dome all the way to the bottom of the foundation, the water level inside it will rise as it does outside. The same forces act on houses with basements (think of a slighly leaky boat in the water), we just try to control the inflow by sealing all openings, and pumping out any seepage. Theres nothing you can do about this, except try to help the crawl space dry out after the water level goes back down by moving some air through it.