For some San Diego area homeowners, depending on the environmental conditions, location, and even budget allocated for a home’s construction, it can make more sense to have a crawlspace built for a residence instead of a basement. In some cases, digging a full-sized basement isn’t feasible with the type of soil and environment the home will be in. However, it is also a cheaper alternative that still serves the same functionality.
Crawlspaces are designed to provide an area for plumbing, wiring, and even ventilation to go without necessarily paying the expense for a full excavation that would result in a basement. Crawlspaces are often used in older homes, locations where digging a basement isn’t advisable, or even new additions or expansions to a home where it makes no sense to enlarge the basement for the sizable cost involved.
The Crawl Space Issue
The challenge with a crawl space, especially where flooding with potential sewage contamination is involved, is that there is a factor with soil. A basement, even an unfinished one, has a concrete base, laying the groundwork for the entire home’s foundation. A crawl space saves on costs by not using concrete and relying on existing soil.
This means if there’s a burst water pipe or, worse yet, a break in the drainage pipe, and sewage is spilling out; this presents a complex contamination problem. Sewage water is considered “black water,” representing a potential health hazard. While there is certainly a health risk from accidentally swallowing black water, even physical contact or inhaling fumes can lead to illness depending on the type of black water present and its toxicity level.
This is a serious problem with a basement and concrete flooring, but it becomes even more challenging in a crawl space because of the soil. Unlike concrete, which is inert and solid, the soil is organic and can be a potential breeding ground for all types of bacteria. So it’s not enough, as it might be with a flooded basement, to remove the black water.
What To Do
Restoring a crawl space is something that should be left to restoration professionals. If you don’t have suitable protective equipment, you should not attempt to clean up a crawl space yourself. In addition, there is the question of what to do with the soil. It’s not enough to remove the water, as the soil may be contaminated and continue to fester additional contaminants.
The best solutions, in this case, are to either remove the soil and replace it with fresh soil or dry out the space. In either case, this will require professional equipment to get done efficiently and safely. There is also the issue of locating the cause of the flooding and dealing with it. If the flooding happened due to a break in a pipe, this is a straightforward problem to address. However, if the issue came from groundwater seeping in, or other foundation issues, this will require a more elaborate solution.
A crawl space is often an efficient solution for some residential needs, but in a flooding situation, fixing the problem should be approached with professional care.