03/29/2023
Keeping your crawl space dry is one of the most important aspects of home ownership. It’s been a very wet year.
Rental world:
When my company, A Sterling Approach Property Management, takes on or turns over a rental, we always check the crawl space, if there is one. Since the beginning of 2023, our contractor has discovered 8 homes (1 home in Southwest Boise, 6 in Meridian & 1 in Kuna) with a significant amount of water in the crawl space.
All of the homes in question are new or newer builds by CBH & Hayden Homes.
These production builders often don’t install gutters, they place foundation vents in frustrating areas and they almost never install landscaping so water will flow away from the house. They also did not place sump pumps or drains in or outside of the crawl spaces. They had to know how wet this old farmland was/is. They added no prevention whatsoever.
I know Coleman Homes will add a sump pump when it’s needed. I know this because my son’s first real estate purchase was a 3 year old Coleman home in Meridian and it had a sump pump in the crawl, as did at least one other Coleman home in his neighborhood. I remember how saturated his back yard was all the time.
So far, Hayden Homes is doing the right thing by cleaning up the water in a professional way and installing pumps and drains. We haven’t heard the response from
CBH yet.
However, CBH was contacted
Regarding a 3 year old home of theirs and they were unwilling to do anything since the home was no longer under warranty. We can only approach the builders within 1 year.
Agents: if you’ve sold homes by one of the large-volume builders within the last 1-5 years, you might want to advise your clients to check their crawl. I can think of at least 3 buyers I need to contact!
Consumers: if you have a newer home, with no gutters and only basic landscaping, you should check your crawl space.
All Renters and home owners: If you haven’t peeked into your crawl space for more than a year, it’s time to check it.
We are continuing to check crawl spaces so I can update this story if anyone is interested in how many more we find and if all of them turn out to be newer and from the same builders.
If you have anything to add regarding this issue, I would love to hear from you.
Photo below is of the crawl space in a 3 year old CBH home at Chinden & Ten Mile.
A STERLING APPROACH PROPERTY MANAGEMENT