A babbling brook! What more could you ask for?

The post previous to this one talked about an abused house with a couple of barely functional bathrooms.  I said the story would continue regarding where the water from the bathrooms was actually going. 

So here goes.

While the vast majority of the water was still going down the drains, some of the water was leaking into the crawl space due to the condition of the shower walls and leaking at other undetermined locations. 

Water was clearly running into the crawl space and had been doing so for quite some time as evidenced in the following picture of the area immediately under the tub/shower.

Here is the picture of that shower if you were fortunate enough to have forgotten it.

Unfortunately this was but the tip of the iceberg regarding the water issues in the crawl space.  There was considerable evidence that the crawl space had been flooding with at least 15 inches of water seasonally---and has likely been doing so for the last 50 years.  The “quality” of the staining on the walls, the degree of rot in the majority of support posts, the fact that ALL of the form ties were completely rotted away, and the presently saturated ground condition throughout the crawl space---at the driest time of the year, were all testament to a very long standing water intrusion issue.  Here is a picture of the obvious high-water line on the foundation and support post.

The fact that the entire space was not infested with Anobiid Beetles was remarkable---but perhaps it was too wet for them.  The wood frame of the access door was in fact riddled with Anobiid Beetles---with very recent kick-out of frass present.

To complicate repairs to this situation is the presence of a very cute little brook (a listing perk no doubt) running across the back of the property---less than 30 feet from the house. 

This stream, as near as I could tell, appears to be higher than the floor of the crawl space, thereby eliminating any possibility of draining the space by gravity.  A sump pump system will likely be necessary---and has been necessary for a very long time.

I think a logical question to ask is: why was anyone allowed to build a house with a crawl space on this site in the first place?  Part of the answer is that when the home was built there were likely no regulations that would have prevented it.

….and now I am babbling----just like the brook.

By Charles Buell, Real Estate Inspections in Seattle