Why Is My Crawlspace Wet Every Winter? (Enetai, WA)

What usually causes wet crawlspace in Enetai

Start with 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. Around Trenton Avenue and Perry Avenue the housing dates from 1950s-to-1970s ranch and split-level homes, which makes this the likeliest answer to wet crawlspace.

Then downspouts dumping at the foundation. A 2,000-square-foot roof sheds over a thousand gallons in an inch of rain. We've seen it near Perry Avenue more than once, usually on galvanized on a few waterfront cottages.

And grading that slopes toward the house: decades of landscaping and settled backfill often reverse the slope in the first few feet around the foundation. Less common on waterfront on Enetai Beach Road, but we've found it near Enetai Beach.

First steps on a Enetai property

Footing drains, curtain drains and properly outleted downspout lines are the standard package for an Enetai crawlspace that's wet every winter.

First steps for wet crawlspace near Pine Road: find the footing drain outlet and see whether it's flowing. Note which side of the crawlspace the water enters from. Do the five-minute meter test to rule the water line in or out. Then call; the rest is a locate through steep till lots facing Bainbridge, not guesswork.

How we fix it

When it's the buried line, the fix in Enetai is footing drain repair: we remove and replace, outlet through bluff clay above Port Orchard Bay at the marked spot on sloped lots on Trenton Avenue, and restore. Filter fabric and clean and the mini excavator ride on the first trip so it's finished the same visit.

Enetai Beach, Pine Road, Illahee State Park: near any of them, wet crawlspace gets the same crew and the same equipment. A few minutes away in East Bremerton, day or night, with the mini excavator on the trailer for conventional East Bremerton lots.