If you're just referring to a few inches depth of decorative material, it doesn't make any difference what it is.

Do you have a basement?
Do you have water issues in the basement?
Do you know if there is perimeter drainage outside at the bottom of the footings?
How old is your house?
Is there good slope draining surface water away from the house?

 

I don't have a basement and no drainage. My lot is flat as a pancake so not really any chance for French drains etc. Every time it rains, I get water in my crawlspace, but I have been told it is from the water table coming up, not water coming in. Not really sure how to tell. I saw a video where they show water pretty much running straight through gravel, so I thought maybe that is part of my problem? I guess that is the other question. If you have no slope, how do you get rid of the water without some major cost?

 

Do you have a septic tank system?
How deep is the crawlspace inside compared to outside?

 

There are lots of guys here who can give some input on how to solve the issue with water in your crawlspace. To help us it would be useful to have:

• an idea of where approximately you're located and how old your house is. For example, if it was built in the last five years in Michigan we'd have a fairly good idea how deep the footings would be.
• some photos showing the interior of the crawlspace so that we know what the foundation is constructed from and see what the crawlspace floor looks like.

How do you know that there is no perimeter drainage at the bottom of the footings?

 

I appreciate any help. Our house was built in 82 in st Louis. There is no floor in the crawlspace, just dirt. I know there is no drainage because my parents built this house. I still have the blueprints somewhere! That is the only reason I wouldn't just sell and move on. My mom had a vapor barrier put down under there, and it did seem to help, but I still get some water especially when it rains hard. Any ideas would be great

 

Without a way to remove the water you won’t have success – you can’t just prevent it from moving where gravity is moving it. If your house foundation was sitting in a huge underground plastic box, there would still be a few leaks and water would find its way inside the box. You either need a way to drain the water that starts to accumulate outside the box (perimeter drains that slope away to somewhere) or something that pumps the water away that makes it inside.

 

I don't think you said how far out the decorative stone/gravel goes from the house. Some people just have a little 10" wide drip strip there while others have a big six feet of stone extending out from the house. The narrower it is, of course the less it matters.

When it's not easy to just slope the ground away from the house ... pretend the gravel isn't there for a moment... I'll slope the ground away from the house to where the gravel area will end, add thick weed fabric there to help the rain move away from the home, and then fill the area with decorative stone.

The stone will look flat and even, but underneath the ground is sloping away from the house for however wide the stone area is. It's not ideal, but having rain water flow three feet away is still better than it sitting there.

And then at the end of the stone area, if the yard is flat there and the water would still pool, hopefully can add a trench under the stone and slope it sideways to send the water to a corner of the house where maybe I can find some more yard slope there.

Just some ideas for you.

18" isn't very deep, so unless the water table at your house is quite high, I would suspect and hope the water is coming in from outside only a bit below the surface and traveling under there.

Someone's going to say it... if your rain gutters aren't sending your roof water at least eight or so feet away, that's probably your problem right there.

 

Thanks for the info. I like your idea of building up the ground close to the house. I guess that is what I was trying to convey. I really don't have that much water entering. I just thought if I could get that last little bit by landscaping, it would be nice. The rock is maybe 2 feet wide and I could remove it and build up the ground. I was wondering if maybe impermeable plastic, bentonite or something else would be a good base to just move that water a few feet away as you mentioned?

 

Maybe I missed it.... Do you have gutters and downspouts on the house?
That would be my #1 but there are many people who don't and that could be fine.

Under the gravel, is there drain pipe? Like a french drain to move water to a down hill location?

Others here know specifics if Im incorrect, you need to keep a 6" gap from the bottom of your siding to the top of the landscaping.

Yes, you could use plastic, a thick mil, but you would have to pull back the rocks, lay plastic, put rocks back. A job I would not do.

The rock is maybe 2 feet wide and I could remove it and build up the ground.

This is what I would do.

Good luck...Don.

 

I know people that have no gutters/downspouts. They have gravel about 2' out from the house. There is a pipe for drainage, to a low spot, that directs runoff away from the house. A french drain. FWIW...I have the same around 2 pole barns. Dirt floor in both pole barns stays dry.

Forever home. No gutters/d-spouts. Had an improper slope to the landscaping that caused big puddles in 1 specific area. This trouble spot was uphill of a pre-poured concrete stoop which acted like a dam. In the same area was a small crack in the poured concrete foundation.

Installed gutters & 4" d-spouts.

I never once though of using anything but dirt, proper slope of the land, to resolve the issue. I ended up putting drain pipe in the 2 window wells to direct water away from the house. Did a lot of landscaping in that area, in the surround areas of the front, due to prior owner neglect.

HTH...Don.