Originally Posted By: slanicek This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
A friend of a friend got in contact with me the last few days. The story is they have owned this home for four years now, did not have an inspection done when they bought the place. They did some inspecting on their own before buying going so far as to get into the crawlspace and check things out. Everything was fine…then.
Several months later when winter came along they noticed that they were not getting a damn thing in the way of heat upstairs. Husband goes down in the crawlspace to see whats up with the furnace. He opens up the crawlspace and humididty and heat hits him in the face immediately. The furnace ducts are disconnected and there is water everywhere.
The problem now is the water in the crawlspace.The furnace, it was just a matter of hooking the ducts back up and everything was fine. Question was, were they loose like that on purpose to help dry out the area or did they just innocently slip off. Thats specualtion. What is a fact is that there is water in the crawlspace sporadicly. I asked her all the questions that came to mind: is your water bill high? i.e. a water line causing the problem? no; gutters clogged? no; extensions on your downspouts? yes; proper garding of surrounding area? yes; near a body of water? no; have you called the city/county water department to come out and check it? yes, they verified that it was not their water by doing a chemical test on it; do you have any constant wet areas in your yard, areas of constant green grass in the summer....i'm thinking maybe a septic tank issue. no.
She tells me that the last few years after much investigating that they have discovered there are prevalent underground streams in the area. Could this be the culprit? I mean she tells me that the space isn't just moist and humid but that the sump regularly runs and that you can actually see the water flowing down there. 
The home is about 12 years old and she says that there are really no major structural issues like sheetrock cracks, windows/doors out of square and hard to close, etc..
She's in the process of suing the former owner because she says the crawlspace problem was not disclosed and she has some witnesses who say that the previous owner was well aware of the problem.
Originally Posted By: dbush This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Very common in this area. We have mostly crawl spaces and wet ground. Most of the crawls here have a sump pump installed (including my own) to keep them dry.
Originally Posted By: slanicek This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
i found some info about a new furnace permit that was issued by the county back in 96. if she goes down to the courthouse to view all the paperwork and ‘if’ there was water in the area at the time…wouldn’t you think the code inspector would have noted something?
Originally Posted By: dbowers This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Steve - To help your friend put things in perspective, I remember about 10-11 years ago I saw a DRY CRAWLSPACE. Thats the only time I remember seeing one. Almost all will leak at some point in time - some more than others. Contrary to what people tell you the grading, downspout extensions, patio slope, etc is seldom adequate.
Originally Posted By: gbeaumont This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Steve wrote:
you can actually see the water flowing down there.
I would hope that this is somewhat of an exageration as water "flowing" around the crawl space obviously has the capability to erode the soil under the footings, and have a significant impact on the stability of the building over a period of time.
Originally Posted By: slanicek This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
those were her words…water flowing. i’ve never seen the place before. water table? no clue.
i can understand the dampness, even a crawlspace getting wet. but when she tells me that the place does not fluctuate with weather conditions or seasons...it almost just has a mind of it's own...puzzled the heck outa me.
Originally Posted By: rmoewe This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Steve,
I live in rocky top country; Tenn. We have that problem here all the time. I have seen brand new homes with 6" of water in the crawlspace. It does come from under ground springs and fissures in the soil. There is only one way that I know of to remedy this problem. They install a positive drainage system in the crawlspace itself. This will help keep most of the water that is coming up, to be diverted in the drain tile, before it gets to the top layer of soil.
How much mold is in the crawlspace? Is there a vapor barrier installed?