We need about a 6 months to save enough to do the repair

What is the repair?

Where is the water coming from?

The repair is to install a new sump pump, install a vapour barrier, repair a foundation crack and brace floor joists. The water is groundwater, it’s a dirt floor as well.

If it were me, in need of cash like this, I'd look on my local Nextdoor for a contractor.

I mean, I'd rather live without proper flooring than have water sitting on top of a vapor barrier. A handyman can pull up your flooring and set it aside for now.

You can throw down a carpet remnant or something, after the water situation is fixed, but you don't want mold.

Is the damage so much that you'd want your homeowner's insurance to be involved? But barring that avenue (which I would try to avoid so as not to get cancelled after the repair and/or get my rates bumped up), just call in one professional to open up the floor and get the water situation under control.

How long ago did you buy the house? Do you have a complaint against the previous homeowners or has it been too long for that?

That’s a good idea, that might be the route we go with, the water is the main concern. I have contacted the insurance company and since there’s no damage to property they won’t cover the repair. We bought the house just under a year ago, I’m not sure if that’s too long to go after the previous owners or not, it’s something for me to look into though. I also can’t believe my home inspection didn’t notify me that the access wasn’t up to code, he didn’t note any problems with the crawlspace in the report so I also can’t be sure if this is a problem that began during our ownership or if it was during the previous homeowners. Thank you for the advice, it’s helpful to have someone on the outside looking in with a broader view for solutions :)

Cutting into your floors is pretty drastic- is there no option to address the grading and enlarge the access hole?

That’s actually a good point, I should call a contractor to find out. The access is point is inside the house under a small, 3 step, removable staircase. See pictures. The previous owners kind of ‘jimmied’ it all together, it’s a terrible setup. I also wouldn’t be opposed to sealing up the current access and creating an access from a small space in the floors, I’m just not sure if that would be a good idea or not?

We have a crawl space that basically is about 1/2 size of our home/with a sump pump. Due to some grading that took place next to the house, we know the previous owners did everything you mentioned, with the exception of outside.

After a flooding incident, we installed a stronger sump pump (helped). The vapor barrier is pretty useless when there is extreme rain and water table is very high. We were advised the best option is to address the outside, as no matter what is done on the inside the problem will remain.

Suggest when you save enough, address the foundation crack/whatever issues are noted outside (the sooner the better) and tackle inside repairs in phase two - if even needed. Hope this helps.

Regarding your question, even though we have a dehumidifier on our furnace, we added a portable one in the basement. It was shocking as every 2-3 days there is 3 inches or so of water in the receptacle. Highly suggest trying one. Good luck.

Since your inspector didnt notice it, have you had a whole lot of rain, that would account for it showing up now? Or are your water lines under the house, and you have a line leaking.

@Maureen thank you for the insight, I was wondering what the repercussions would be if we didn’t address the exterior too, I think a new and better sump pump will also be helpful to get rid of the pooling water. We do have a small dehumidifier going around the access to the crawlspace but I think we should invest in a better and stronger one for the time being, the one we have also fills quite quick!

@cat_ky we’ve had a significant amount of rain this season, we do also have water lines running under the house but I’m not sure if there’s a leak. Since the basement repair company didn’t actually go under the house I’m not sure how they were able to determine its groundwater, however that’s what the estimator had told us. The previous homeowners did a lot of DIY repairs and renos so I wouldn’t be surprised if there was also a line leaking

Our experience with water damage is that the lowest cinderblocks can get damp to touch but with very severe rain, water pooling did occur once.

Do you have a water meter on your property (like city or county water?). If so, check that meter, when you have no water running in your house, and see if it is still moving. If so, you have a line that is leaking or something in the house that is leaking. If you dont find anything in the house, then the water in your crawl space is from a line leak. You need to determine all this, before you tear the house apart and spend a ton of money, and find out, you are fixing the wrong thing.