Home drainage is not on your mind when the sun shines, but home drainage should be on your mind always, if you have experienced groundwater problems in the past. Those groundwater problems will again appear, only worse than before, and at the worst of times next time.
Without a plan to solve those groundwater problems, you are likely to get soaked. That is soaked, as in financially and from mucking around in the basement or crawl space groundwater, as well.
The mentality of waiting until the winter or spring rains come to install your hand excavated french drains may seem sound, but the procrastination, and desire to not spend the cash to solve the problem before, will probably cost homeowners money in the end.
By that time the homes foundation area is already saturated, and the homeowners have already blown the chance to prevent the saturation, with the installation of hand excavated french drains, the process of drying out the crawl space or basement may be some time down the line, depending on how bad the groundwater is, and what the homeowners have done to stop any more of it from coming in.
How successful were the homeowners at preventing the next batch of heavy rain from saturating below grade, or did they install a sump pump and decide they did not have the budget to stop the groundwater at all.
Yes, the homeowners have blown it, for the time being. For perhaps another 6 months to a year after the date when they finally do get those hand excavated french drains installed, and stop adding weight to the outside of their foundation, with standing groundwater being forced downward along the foundation walls.
p>It takes awhile for saturated areas to dry out. Foundation walls can also become saturated during the summers sprinkler schedule too. Just like hard rains saturate the soil.
If homeowners choose to wait until wet weather has saturated the soil around their foundation, and then have started looking for relief from groundwater problems to their home, I suggest that those homeowners be patient with contractors and themselves, when groundwater entry continues to happen for awhile, in smaller form, even after the installation of hand excavated french drains. Not every time, but often, when the ground has already turned to mush.
The home drainage problems were not caused over night, and cannot be solved for good in a short time. Once the area is saturated to the max, patience is required during the healing process, even after the operation. No co-pay or prescription drugs required for homeowners to remain sane during it all.
Some groundwater entry, at a much lower level, is common during the first wet winter after installation, if the groundwater problem is severe.
It takes a lot of wind, fans, and dry weather and to dry out a foundation wall down to the basement floor 8 feet down, or a wet area in the homeowners crawl space, located in the cool darkness of the homes foot print.
Foundation vents should be opened in summer, with fans circulating the air and speeding the drying process. Moisture barrier plastic, 6 mil. is pulled away from the soil to allow air to dry out the crawl space, and then replaced again when dry. Close foundation vents and shut off and remove fans in winter.
The time to install your hand excavated french drains is before it rains hard in the fall, not during the hard winter rains. Installing hand excavated french drains in anticipation of the rain will keep the groundwater out of your basement or craw space. Once the homeowners are saturated, hand excavated french drains is the only answer anyway, as stopping the groundwater entry is about stopping the groundwater from saturating in the top 18″ of the soil along the homes foundation wall.
For all you readers in the southern hemisphere, enjoying summer right now, that can hip you to staying ahead of next winters hard rains. Get out there and get that drainage done right now. When the monsoons come, you will be ready.
If you wait until groundwater saturation has set in, you get results right away, and your installation is a success in the present, as well as the future.
If your home drainage system is designed and engineered correctly, you start removing groundwater right away. That starts removing weight of the water right away, and that stops the hydrostatic pressure.
When hand excavated french drains are installed during dry weather, the prevention of the saturation of next years rains is assured.
Homeowners must pay it forward, to get the maximum results from home drainage with hand excavated french drains.
Some people say, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Other homeowners have the insight and experience to acknowledge all present and former groundwater problems, identify where they are originating, and fix them so they don’t happen again. This is just clean real estate logic, if not a homeowners way of staying in tune with State of Oregon home disclosure laws, where homeowners are required to submit information to new home buyers, concerning any knowledge the home sellers may have with respect to home drainage issues, as they affect the subject property.
Oregon now requires all builders of new homes to offer the new home buyers a home maintenance disclosure, where in the home buyers are told that the property may need additional home drainage work to prevent groundwater in basements and crawl spaces.
While many home sellers lie about the homes history, the truth of past or present groundwater problems is easy to read for a trained professional, or for diligent home drainage student home buyers.