Water in Crawlspace

[RewardTraveler]

I was down in my crawlspace this weekend and noticed the ground seemed a little spongy in certain spots and there were a few areas where water puddles had formed.  Is this normal?  We received a pretty heavy rain late Wednesday / early Thursday and constant rain most of Thursday.

TIA

[adesertsky]

It may be "normal" depending where you live.  I am in the Chicago area and I think we are talking about the same deluge.  Anytime the watertable rises that quickly around me, we get puddling that seeps up from our basement.  We just sweep the water into the sump pump (it isn't graded propoerly) and then dry any small puddles using puppy pee pads.  Then they have these weird buckets that absorb all the moisture in the air that you can put down there to further dry things out.

[Psychstache]

In Texas we just ran into a problem with water in the crawlspace.

We were looking to buy a house. Did our inspection during the option period and found standing water in the crawlspace caused by a previous leak under the kitchen. They fixed the leak months before but didn't dry out the standing water.  Well, three months after they 'fixed it', our inspection showed mold and rats all up in the crawlspace.

I would listen to ADS and get it remedied soon.

[Norman Johnson]

We have had water in a crawlspace a few times. Once, it was from a leak in plumbing. The rest is from improper drainage in our yard. It will be fixed this summer.

[James]

I was down in my crawlspace this weekend and noticed the ground seemed a little spongy in certain spots and there were a few areas where water puddles had formed.  Is this normal?  We received a pretty heavy rain late Wednesday / early Thursday and constant rain most of Thursday.

TIA

Sounds pretty normal, as long as it drains and dries out pretty quickly the spongy spots and puddles probably wouldn't bother me.  The answer really varies, since it could be normal for some places and abnormal for others. Check for any issues with water drainage around your house.  If you have gutters is the water getting dumped far enough away from the house to avoid going back under it? Is there proper grading to get water running the right direction? I would also check after some dry weather just to make sure things dry out very well between the wet times.  If it's always wet and damp then it might be more of a problem.

[RewardTraveler]

Thanks for all the responses.  I'll check throughout the week to see how long it takes to dry out (if it does).

[Nords]

Thanks for all the responses.  I'll check throughout the week to see how long it takes to dry out (if it does).

I have a contrarian view.

If you're living in a cave, then this might be "normal".

Instead, today's humans have all this wonderful technology for excavation, landscaping, and waterproofing.  Water in a crawlspace is a sign that something's screwed up.  You either have a leaky pipe going into your home, or a leaky drain coming out of it, or water draining toward your foundation instead of away from it.  From the description you provide, if it dries out in a few days then it's the third one-- and you need to fix the landscaping around the house.

Fixing it now might be painful, but fixing it later will be even more expensive.  And if you live in a climate where the water at that location can freeze, then you're going to have foundation damage.