We've installed a French Drain around the crawlspace

After the crawlspace was all insulated we found we had a little leakage into it from rain. It wasn't bad, but over time that could cause mold and other problems, so the best option was a French Drain. This also solves our roof's rainwater runoff, as the gutters can be piped directly into the French drain and it can all be directed away from the house's foundation. We started by renting a track hoe, and it was a pretty cool little tool...although expensive to rent. About $200 for 24 hours. We got a LOT done with it though.

While we had it to dig out the French drain we decided it would be a good idea to dig up a small section of our septic that we thought MIGHT not be working right (when you have a nice green patch of grass and all the rest is dead around it from a summer with no rain...you might have a leak!). Yep, the septic line had been installed directly on top of a BIG rock, and over time that rock had broken the septic line in that spot...and I should also mention that this particular spot in the system runs UP hill (UGH!). While it will need to be addressed eventually, the best we could do right now, with the limited resources at hand, was to replace the broken section and we added a clean-out, so if the up-hill problem causes a clog, at least we can clean it quickly.

The next weekend we asked a neighbor (who had offered before) if we would borrow his tractor with a front-end loader to haul the gravel around and back-fill the French drain. We had it the whole weekend and got more done with it in 2 days than we could've gotten done in 2 WEEKS by hand (shovel & wheelbarrow). Here are pictures of the new drainage pipe going into the ditches dug for the French drain and the gravel fill used to help with drainage. We need one more load of gravel to go all the way around the foundation, but we'll have that delivered and spread AFTER we get the foundation covered with the stucco-like product we're using to seal it.