Drainage Under House
#1
03-17-22, 08:19 PM
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: United States
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Drainage Under House
I noticed under my house that there is a ditch is around the foundation. Should I leave it or fill it in? The house has a plastic barrier on the ground, but the plastic doesn't cover the ditch all the way to the wall. Shouldn't the plastic cover the ditch too?
#2
03-18-22, 04:43 AM
Group Moderator
We can't see your ditch. Looking at the ditch what does it tell you? Does it look like it's had water flowing through it? Does it look like it was dug for an insect treatment? Is it just un-backfilled from when the house was constructed?
The general thought on vapor barriers in crawl spaces has changed over the decades. Long ago it was believed that you should not let a house dry out too much. Crawl spaces, when covered in plastic, were only covered about 80% to allow some moisture to get to the house and prevent the wood from drying and shrinking too much. Modern thinking is that any moisture under the house is bad so the entire floor of the crawl space gets covered, wall to wall. I follow the modern, cover it all practice.
The general thought on vapor barriers in crawl spaces has changed over the decades. Long ago it was believed that you should not let a house dry out too much. Crawl spaces, when covered in plastic, were only covered about 80% to allow some moisture to get to the house and prevent the wood from drying and shrinking too much. Modern thinking is that any moisture under the house is bad so the entire floor of the crawl space gets covered, wall to wall. I follow the modern, cover it all practice.
