On Thu, 05 Apr 2007 20:13:04 GMT, (Malcolm Hoar)
wrote:

In article .com, wrote:

It only happens when we have more then an inch or two of rain in a
short period of time . I doubt it happens more then 5 or 6 times a
year. Thanks for the quick response. Any recommendation on how large
of a diameter of pipe I should use?

2 or 3 inch will drain a lot of water.

Smaller may handle the water but it's going to be more
susceptable to blockages. 2 or 3 inch will be easy to
clear if it does become blocked or partially blocked.
e.g. just ram a garden hose through it.

The hardest part of all this is likely to be making sure
the water drains well away from the house.

Your other option would be to create a sump to the
collect the water and install a water-level activated
pump (i.e. sump pump). I'd probably make that decision
based on the amount/frequency of the water and the risk
of that water causing damage to timber/drywall/whatever.
How much you're willing to spend on keeping the crawl
space dry is also going to be a factor, of course.

With a sump pump you'll need to be even more careful
to ensure the water is pumped well away from the house
and in compliance with local codes. This may require
pulling permits and may force more "disclosure" than
you want if and when you sell the property.

You might also try getting some builders/contractors
around. With luck you'll get some good recommendations
and prices for a range of options to improve the
crawl space water situation. That should make it a lot
easier to make a decision. However, in some areas, it
may be difficult to find any contractors interested in
a job like that.

I have a trailer house in the country and I always get water running
under it when we get heavy rains. The front of the house is about 2
feet higher than the rear. I finally dug a trench from the front to
the rear and put a 4" PVC under it, from the lowest point in the front
to the lowest point in the rear. That took care of the major part of
the water, but there is still some water that seeps under the
skirting, even though I have solid steel barn siding for skirting.
So, I also put another 4" pvc pipe under the skirting just to the
inside of the skirting. The problem is that that short piece allowed
rodents to get under the house. I then took some 3/8 or 1/2" hardware
cloth mesh, wrapped it around the exterior part of the pipe and poured
some concrete around the mesh to keep it in place, but kept the end of
the pipe open. That solved the rodent problem, but I notice the pipe
gets some mud and I cant clean it since the mesh is permanent. SO far
I just blast it with the hose, but if I really want to clean it I will
have to remove a section of the skirting. Maybe I should have used a
huge hose clamp instead of the concrete?