Is there a way to measure the water table level under my yard without digging a deep hole? Perhaps some sort of radar or sonic equipment?
I'm trying to figure out if my damp crawlspace is caused by high water table or some other reasons.
Are there any professionals who can do this? I don't know who to call. I don't want to call just any crawlspace waterproofing contractors because they are usually interested in selling a service than fully understanding the problem.
Perhaps a well digger would know at least if the general area has high or low water, but there are always exceptions. I don't think that is going to solve your problem or give you the proper answer.
Soil type, climate, drainage also enter into this. Unless you live in the Mojave, there is moisture in the ground that can affect your crawlspace. Rather than calling a contractor, I'd do some investigating as to what is normally done to correct the problem. Perhaps just some ventilation and sheets of plastic over the soil will be enough to keep it dry.
Hi, Professional engineers who specialize in the matter. My son is a civil engineer with water specialty. His consulting company deals with this sort of things all the time. They check water tables, flood mitigation strategy, drainage, recycling, etc. all the time.
It would seem the water table level is only an issue if it's near the level of the crawlspace, ie we're trying to determine if it's 2 ft or 8 ft etc, not if it's at 30ft ft.
In that case, just get a post hole digger. The screw type have pipe extension handles and I've used them to actually go down like 20 ft or so.
I'm far from a pro, but if the water table is high enough to make your crawlspace damp, I think it has to be pretty near the surface. Dig a hole about 1 foot down with hand tools. If it fills with water that's the problem.
My guess is water table 2 feet down should not be a problem.
Is there any kind of air circulation in the crawl space?
Does it have a floor? A fairly waterproof floor. Ours didn't. Just earth, which would have been fine if it had always been dry.
Our crawlspace ranged from soaking wed to muddy wet, depending on the season. Sometimes the mud even clumped up, but it never got dry.
In Indiana, we had all the vents open during the half year they said to keep them open. I forget what season that was. Summer? There were iirc only about 6 vents for a house about 80 feet wide by 30 feet deep.
There was a trap door in the closet in the den. We attached hinges, to use as handles. But after the first two abortive tries, we never went in the crawl space again (and in 9 years, never had to either, although it would have been nice to look under the house at least once. It just got too much mud on my shoes and socks and legs, and it was hard to get the shoes to the outside without getting mud on the floor.) The wet crawlspace never caused any problems in the house. No bugs, no need for poison, no mold. If it increased humidity, I don't know. We had no air conditioning, and summer was hot. It was humid but it was humid outside and everywhere.. We used fans.
In the middle of this, I noted that the street map of Indianapolis and suburbs showed a stream a little bit south of us, though there was no park or anything, no culvert under the road afaicr. I walked down via the back yards 200 or 300 feet and I found a back yard that was soaking wet. The crawl spaces were about 3 or 4 feet below the backyards, so they could probably go swimming in his crawl space. I'm thinking maybe the builder sold the house in August, because as the song says, it doesn't rain in Indianapoilis in the summertime. Maybe their yard was dry for a month or two.
I didnt' check the guy's front yard, and I didn't check across the street. Across the street was a country club. It had 8 foot high bushes that were like a wall. I was never curious if the stream turned into a real stream there, until just now.
So if your crawlspace can't be saved, be happy that you have your yard.
The gorund in ours is often a bit damp. Unprotected iron would start rusting pretty quickly. I put down 8mil plastic sheeting all the way to the edges and that reduced the humidity considerably.
How do I find such engineers in my area (seattle)?
Is there some sort of professional associations I can request referrals from?
In answer to other replies, I have already tried all the normal stuff. Now I'm ready to try the less normal stuff.
One of the things people fail to consider when they ask a question is, "what am I gonna do with the answer when I get it?"
Draw a chart with various possible depths of water table. Next to each, write what you're gonna do if the answer is "that one". If all the answers are the same, answering the question won't help you.
Think of a different question where your ACTIONS tomorrow depend on the answer.
If your answer changes at a given depth, all you need to do is determine whether it's higher or lower than that critical depth. That might be considerably easier than determining the actual depth.
A general solution is not always the optimal one.
I once made that decision about amniocentesis ...
But one question for the OP: Do you have a well?
If so, there are ways to tell the water level.
That certainly depends on the question you're trying to answer. BTW, you've had amniocentesis, Alex?
I think he wants one.
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