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

What usually causes wet crawlspace in Port Townsend

The most common cause we find in Port Townsend is 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 mid-century grid lots on Sheridan Street with till toward Discovery Bay underneath, that's where we look first.

We also check groundwater from uphill, because in Port Townsend it explains a real share of wet crawlspace calls. On sloped lots in Port Orchard, Manchester, Enetai, Tracyton and Bainbridge, water perched on the hardpan moves downhill toward the house all winter.

And 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. Less common on acreage toward Cape George, but we've found it near Sheridan Street.

First steps on a Port Townsend property

Downspout lines on the historic homes often end at the foundation.

Before we arrive in Port Townsend, three things you can do: walk the house in a hard rain and watch every downspout. Find the footing drain outlet and see whether it's flowing. Check the slope of the ground against the foundation on all sides. None of it requires tools, and all of it helps us outlet faster on acreage toward Cape George.

How we fix it

Fixing wet crawlspace here usually ends with footing drain repair near Water Street: outlet with filter fabric and clean, excavate the foundation on small Victorian lots in Uptown, restore. One crew, one visit, outwash sand under the historic districts put back the way it was.

We've handled wet crawlspace near Sheridan Street where the cause was poly on the Cape George parcels, and near Uptown where clay seams in the uplands was hiding a drain failure. A dedicated trip across the Hood Canal Bridge; we schedule Port Townsend so you aren't waiting a whole day.