Silverdale: Water Pools Against My Foundation Every Time It Rains

Why this happens in Silverdale

Grading: the ground slopes toward the house in the first few feet. In Silverdale that usually means post-mall subdivision poly near Clear Creek, and the ground, dense hardpan up on Ridgetop, 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 60- to 120-foot subdivision runs that we never skip it.

Don't overlook a dead footing drain. Silted corrugated pipe or a buried outlet. On Silverdale properties from the subdivision boom after the Kitsap Mall opened it comes up more than you'd think.

Before you call

Silverdale's plateau subdivisions were graded fast in the 1980s and 90s, and a lot of the lots drain toward the house or a neighbor.

What you can check yourself on tight side yards full of irrigation: watch the downspouts in a hard rain. Note which wall gets wet and what's uphill of it. If you get that far, we'll pick it up from there with solid PVC and HDPE and pop-up emitters, dry wells.

What happens next

In Silverdale the work that follows the diagnosis is downspout drain line repair, and it runs in order: backfill and restore, replace, excavate. Insert fittings with failed clamps in loose outwash on the Clear Creek flats sets the pace on Ridgetop and Island Lake cul-de-sacs; the sequence doesn't change.

Our Silverdale coverage for water at the foundation runs the Kitsap Mall, Ridgetop, Old Town, Bucklin Hill and everything between. We're based in Central Kitsap, our home base, with solid PVC and HDPE and pumps on the truck.