Sump Pumps and Crawl Spaces in Winston-Salem Area Homes

Do you have a water problem or a humidity problem?

Those are different fixes, and mixing them up wastes money. Put on old clothes, take a flashlight and look after a soaking rain:

• Standing water or mud in low spots, water lines on the foundation walls or piers, or a liner that holds puddles: that is bulk water, and drainage or a pump is on the table.
• Damp air, sweating ducts, musty smell, mold on joists but a dry floor: that is mostly humidity, and a vapor barrier, sealing and dehumidification matter more than a pump.
• A wet spot in one place, rain or shine: that is probably a plumbing leak, not groundwater. A supply line, drain or water heater dripping into the crawl space needs a leak search, not a sump.

Many Winston-Salem area houses sit over crawl spaces, and the housing stock is older than people expect: about 43% of homes in the city were built before 1980. Block foundations from those decades were rarely built with today's drainage details, and decades of added patios, driveways and additions often send runoff toward the house.

What should you fix before buying a pump?

The U.S. Department of Energy's Building America guidance for existing crawl spaces starts outside. Slope the soil away from the foundation, make sure patios, walks and driveways also slope away (or add drains where they do not), and fix gutters and downspouts so roof water leaves the foundation. Where water still gets in, it recommends footing drains that discharge to daylight or a drywell.

These steps cost less than most pump installs and solve a surprising share of wet crawl spaces in the Piedmont's clay soils. Run a hose test on a suspect downspout, or watch where water goes during a storm, before committing to equipment.

How is a crawl space sump set up?

When outside fixes are not enough, the same DOE guidance describes the basic setup: a plastic pit about 2 to 3 feet deep, with holes drilled in the bottom, set in a low spot of the crawl space floor and covered with a tight, gasketed lid. A submersible pump in the pit pushes water out through a discharge pipe with a check valve.

Parts that tend to fail

This Old House describes why the check valve matters: water pushed through 30 to 50 feet of discharge pipe will flow back into the pit without one, restarting the pump repeatedly and eventually burning it out. When reinstalling a valve, the arrow should point in the direction of flow.

Where the water goes matters too. The discharge should end well away from the house where it can soak in or drain, not against the foundation, onto a neighbor's lot or into a cleanout or sewer connection. Sanitary sewer lines are built for wastewater, not groundwater.

How long do sump pumps last, and how do you test one?

InterNACHI's life-expectancy chart puts a sump pump at about 7 years, and This Old House flags pumps older than 7 to 10 years as candidates for replacement. Crawl space pumps often go months without running, so the first sign of failure can be a flooded crawl space.

A simple check before storm season:

1. Press Test on the GFCI outlet, which should cut power, then Reset.
2. Pour a few gallons of water into the pit. The pump should start, empty it and shut off on its own.
3. Listen after it stops. A rush of water back into the pit means the check valve is not holding.
4. Walk the discharge line outside and make sure it is clear and draining away from the house.
5. If you have a battery backup, test it with the main power off. This Old House suggests replacing backup batteries every 2 to 3 years or per the maker.

If the pump fails any step, a plumber who works on sump pumps in Winston-Salem can usually tell quickly whether it is a switch, a valve or a pump that needs replacing.

Sump pumps, vapor barriers and closed crawl spaces

A pump handles liquid water. Moisture from the soil and humid summer air still needs to be controlled. DOE guidance calls for 6-mil or thicker polyethylene over the entire floor, run 8 to 12 inches up the walls and piers (or up to outside ground level), with seams overlapped 6 to 12 inches and taped. The sump lid should seal to that liner so the pit does not become a humidity source.

Many owners go further and close the crawl space. North Carolina's residential code (Section R409.5, summarized by the Office of State Fire Marshal) requires closed crawl spaces to have at least one mechanical drying method: a permanently installed dehumidifier of at least 15 pints per day with its condensate drained to daylight or a pump, conditioned supply air, house air pushed in by a fan, or an exhaust fan. The supply air option ties into the HVAC system and requires a heating contractor, so a closed crawl space is often a joint job.

What if the crawl space has already flooded?

Get the water out as soon as you safely can, then dry the space. The EPA says water-damaged areas and items should be dried within 24 to 48 hours to prevent mold growth. NC State Extension's flood guidance adds that wet insulation in crawl spaces should be removed and replaced, that wood decay fungi do not grow below roughly 28 to 30% wood moisture, and that you should not close things up until wood moisture is 19% or lower, checked with a moisture meter.

If water came from a broken pipe rather than rain, shut off the main first and treat it like any burst pipe situation; a frozen line in a vented crawl space is a common winter cause, and our guide to keeping pipes from freezing covers prevention. A plumber can handle burst pipe repair once the water is off.

What drives the price of a sump job?

Crawl space work is priced mostly by access and scope rather than by the pump itself. Expect a plumber to ask, or to look at, several things before quoting:

• Whether you need a new pit dug and lined or just a pump swapped in an existing one
• How low and tight the crawl space is, and how far the crew has to crawl to reach the low spot
• Length and route of the discharge pipe, including any trenching outside
• Whether a circuit and GFCI outlet already exist near the pit or need an electrician
• Battery or water-powered backup, an alarm, or a second pump for heavy inflow
• Coordination with vapor barrier, drainage or dehumidifier work done by other trades

Ask for the diagnosis and a written scope before work starts, and ask who is responsible for sealing the lid to the liner if another contractor installs the barrier.

Homes outside the city

Rural parts of Forsyth, Davie and Rowan counties add a wrinkle: many homes there use a private well and a private onsite wastewater system. Keep sump discharge away from the wellhead and the drain field. Plumbers serving Tobaccoville, sump pump jobs in Advance and the rest of the area can help site the discharge correctly. If you are unsure whether you need a pump at all, a plumbing inspection can rule out leaks under the house first.