Indianola: Why Is My Crawlspace Wet Every Winter?

Why this happens in Indianola

Downspouts dumping at the foundation: a 2,000-square-foot roof sheds over a thousand gallons in an inch of rain. In Indianola that usually means lines run across neighbors on easements near the beach, and the ground, bluff clay above Port Madison, decides how far the water travels before you see it.

The second thing we rule in or out is a silted or outlet-less footing drain. Corrugated pipe laid in native soil without fabric silts shut in a few decades, and the daylight outlet is usually buried or crushed. It's common enough on bluff lots facing Port Madison that we never skip it.

Don't overlook 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. On Indianola properties from a 1920s summer colony turned year-round village it comes up more than you'd think.

Before you call

Footing drains on the remodeled cabins are often missing or crushed, and downspout lines commonly end at the foundation.

What you can check yourself on narrow village lanes near the dock: check the slope of the ground against the foundation on all sides. Find the footing drain outlet and see whether it's flowing. If you get that far, we'll pick it up from there with filter fabric and clean and cleanouts and outlet structures.

What happens next

In Indianola the work that follows the diagnosis is footing drain repair, and it runs in order: outlet, excavate the foundation, remove and replace. Poly on the outlying wooded lots in till on the Indianola Road parcels sets the pace on wooded parcels along Miller Bay Road; the sequence doesn't change.

Our Indianola coverage for wet crawlspace runs Indianola Road, the Country Store, Port Madison, Kitsap Memorial and everything between. We're based in Central Kitsap, about half an hour off Miller Bay Road, with filter fabric and clean and pumps on the truck.