Port Orchard: Water Pools Against My Foundation Every Time It Rains

Why this happens in Port Orchard

Grading: the ground slopes toward the house in the first few feet. In Port Orchard that usually means PEX at insert fittings in McCormick Woods near Mile Hill Drive, and the ground, clay that moves on the Bay Street slopes, decides how far the water travels before you see it.

The second thing we rule in or out is runoff and groundwater from uphill. On sloped lots, a curtain drain uphill of the house intercepts it before it reaches the backfill. It's common enough on newer McCormick Woods lots with buried irrigation that we never skip it.

Don't overlook a dead footing drain. Silted corrugated pipe or a buried outlet. On Port Orchard properties from a century of building, from the 1900s waterfront to the newest subdivisions it comes up more than you'd think.

Before you call

The Kitsap Formation clay on Port Orchard's hillsides holds water and moves, and that combination crushes rigid drain lines and separates joints.

What you can check yourself on long rural driveways toward Sunnyslope: find the footing drain outlet and see if it flows. Note which wall gets wet and what's uphill of it. If you get that far, we'll pick it up from there with downspout adapters and cleanouts and solid PVC and HDPE.

What happens next

In Port Orchard the work that follows the diagnosis is downspout drain line repair, and it runs in order: excavate, backfill and restore, replace. Copper running uphill from Bay Street meters in slick Kitsap Formation clay on the hillsides sets the pace on steep lots climbing from Sinclair Inlet; the sequence doesn't change.

Our Port Orchard coverage for water at the foundation runs Sunnyslope, McCormick Woods, Retsil, Sedgwick Road and everything between. We're based in Central Kitsap, a quick run across the Sinclair Inlet bridge, with downspout adapters and cleanouts and pumps on the truck.