Bremerton: Why Is My Crawlspace Wet Every Winter?

Why this happens in Bremerton

Start with groundwater from uphill. On sloped lots in Port Orchard, Manchester, Enetai, Tracyton and Bainbridge, water perched on the hardpan moves downhill toward the house all winter. Around Jackson Park and Illahee the housing dates from the shipyard boom of the 1940s, which makes this the likeliest answer to wet crawlspace.

Then a leaking water service line. If the crawlspace is wet with no rain, or wet in August, or wet on the side facing the meter, do the meter test. We've seen it near Illahee more than once, usually on early poly on the Kitsap Lake lots.

Don't overlook grading that slopes toward the house. Decades of landscaping and settled backfill often reverse the slope in the first few feet around the foundation. On Bremerton properties from the shipyard boom of the 1940s it comes up more than you'd think.

Before you call

We see footing drains that were never connected to any outlet, downspout lines that end in the crawlspace, and side-yard drains crushed by decades of parked cars.

First steps for wet crawlspace near Pacific Avenue: walk the house in a hard rain and watch every downspout. Do the five-minute meter test to rule the water line in or out. Note which side of the crawlspace the water enters from. Then call; the rest is a locate through thin topsoil over compacted till, not guesswork.

What happens next

When it's the buried line, the fix in Bremerton is footing drain repair: we outlet, excavate the foundation through wet clay seams on the Narrows side at the marked spot on narrow Charleston and Manette grid lots, and restore. Cleanouts and outlet structures and the mini excavator ride on the first trip so it's finished the same visit.

Manette, Pacific Avenue, Kitsap Lake: near any of them, wet crawlspace gets the same crew and the same equipment. A few minutes from our base, day or night, with the mini excavator on the trailer for sloped lots above the Narrows.