Rain, Rain, Go Away
When you are working a full time job and restoration is a nighttime and weekend job, rainy weekends can cause frustration! Here in the south, it's been raining - mainly on the weekends! - for months and with rain comes lots of water and flooding. The good thing about rain and old house repair is that it's real easy to find the leaks when it's raining! This old house is only 80 years old, but there has been quite a bit of rim and floor joist damage due to moisture running into the crawlspace. All of this rain has allowed us to see where the water is getting in and begin dealing with these issues.
Foundation Vents
First, there are the vents in the foundation. Foundation vents came into being when builders started closing in the crawlspace. Underpinning was installed and vents were added to allow circulation under the house and in the walls. But now that modern "subfloor" construction techniques closes the wall circulation and blocks the breathing of the house, the vents can serve as a moisture INPUT, but not much of an output. At LMV, as is true with most old houses, over the years the ground has built up in many areas around the house and the ground level is at or above the vents, so during a downpour the water can pour under the house instead of away from it. So we are in the process of remedying this situation. First, we will (Ha! Ha! I mean HE WILL) pull the built up soil from the house to allow drainage away from the house instead of under. Then he will seal vents and "vapor barrier" (encapsulate) the underneath of the house. (I will be the gopher for this project!)
Foundation Holes
Next, there are all of the necessary openings that have been cut in the foundation through the years for plumbing and heating and air piping. Each of these holes is a water IN point due to the soil build up. No one sealed around anything. anywhere! So each of these holes is being sealed and taken care of.
Concrete Slabs
Finally, there are the huge concrete slabs that were installed around the house to keep dirt and mud from being tracked into the house from the walkways, and to keep the dirt from splashing up on the siding. This might have been a great idea, had they NOT BEEN POURED RIGHT AT THE VENTS!!! So the deluge of water from the guttering can splash, and oftentimes, flood right back under the house! Sometimes you have to wonder...."What were they thinking!" So these slabs will be removed and/or redesigned with better drainage lines added to drain the water away from the house.
I am sure that previous owners had no knowledge of what was going on under This Grand Old Lady of ours. When they noticed a problem, they hired someone to come in and fix it and supposedly the work was done in the best interest of the house. But as we look around, it appears that numerous quick fixes were done through the years (probably with a hefty price) without any consideration of future ramifications! They simply tried to hide the symptom instead of curing the disease.
The great thing is...this house was built on the top of a hill! So with the proper corrections, the water WILL run away from the house...if it will just stop raining long enough to get the bulldozer and tractor out to finish pulling the dirt away from the foundation and sloping it back down the hill!
Rain, Rain, Go AWAY!!!