flapbreaker

I'm still trying to arrange an appointment with Ability plus. I'm curious as to what they will say so I will continue to wait.

So I had John's waterproofing come out and give me a quote. They seem to have their own phylosophy on waterproofing a crawlspace. Not sure how much of it is necessary but here's the low down. They will trench 6-8 inches around the inside perimeter of the foundation. Then they lay the cloth cover flex pipe. They don't fill in the trench, they leave it open. Then they install something called a "cleanspace" liner. It's basically a very thick plastic liner. I'm not sure that leaving the trench open is a good idea but I'm not an expert. Any thoughts???

Update: I had a general contractor (Denali construction) come out and take a look at my support pads. He agreed that the best solution would be to remove the posts and dig down to the same level of the cut. I thinks he can re-use the concrete pads and just put new posts up. Sounds good to me but I'm no engineer. He said he could lower the low point drain to an appropriate height. Any problems with re-using the concrete pads?

Jim, The builder was Vista northwest. Not sure if you've ever heard of them. I doubt that after 10 years I could get them to fix anything but you never know huh? I'll give agility a call. I also have someone from Denali construction coming out to assess the situation. It will be interesting to see what they want to charge for revising the supports. I suppose if I was brave enough I could do it myself. My only consern would be making sure that I provided adequate support while I remove the posts. I'll try the guy you suggested as well.

Jim, I really appreciate your thurough reply and suggestions. My idea of backfilling the cliff with gravel actually came from an inspector that I had come do a "structural" inspection. In retrospect it does seem silly. I like the excavating idea. Is it safe to just remove a support while you dig out or do you have to brace things first? Also, what type of contractor would do this type of work and who would you recommend? The drainage company is Larson's plumbing. A nice guy named Egon came out. I'm not dead set on using him. I actually have tried to get Ability plus drainage out but so far they have been too busy to come out. I didn't think it would pass inspection even with dry clay. Funny how sometimes your gut feeling is right. Thanks again for any insight.

The concrete pads just set on the ground. They are not burried. It inside drain I was refering to was a french drainage system that goes around the inside perimeter of the foundation and then drains out that drain that is in the picture. They would lower the drain valve as it is too high. Also they would add gravel in that area too.

Ok, it appears that I need to have a perimeter french drain installed on the inside of my foundation. THis is according to an inspection from a drainage company I had come out to see if they could help me with adding some gravel to help support some support pads that were placed right on a drop off. I thought that if I could get a company to put tons of gravel to "shore" up the "cliff" these are placed on that I'd be good to go. Well, the drain guy said water is just oozing out of these drop offs and that a inside perimeter drain would dry up and stabilize the clay. And that I wouldn't need to add any gravel to shore up the drop off. I'll attach some pictures to help explain what I'm talking about. Concrete pads with the gap I'd like to fill with gravel. Download Attachment: pads.jpg 122.2 KB This is a low point drain that's about 10" above the base of the foundation. In the wet months there will be about 10" of water there. THis is a 4'x6' nook area so that would be the surface area. The rest of the crawlspace has moisture under the bearier. It's kinda squishy. Download Attachment: drain.jpg 100.32 KB I guess my question would be if I do the drain, would those support pads pass inspection just because they clay will be dry? I still feel like something should be done about this. Any ideas? (house is 9 years old, flag lot with neighbors graded toward our property).