All Forum Posts by: Aaron Z.

Aaron Z. Wow, this takes me back 35 years ago when I was in High School. One of my dad's old rental houses in Northern CA - Eureka. did not even have enough space to crawl under. It was a small home maybe 1,000 sq ft or so. He and I dug the whole thing out using a 5 gallon bucket and pulling it out with a rope one bucket at a time! Took 6-7 large truckloads out. Jacked up the house, poured new piers and leveled the house out. Strung up some batt insulation and called it a day. Or I should say maybe a month or so! I'll never forget that one! Everything turned out great when we were finished. Never something I would do if it was up to me though.

Not sure about Virginia but in California many foundations only go down about a foot. As @John Wanberg said don't dig right next to a foundation or post. Also, you might have sewer lines resting on the dirt which will need to be supported after you remove the dirt.

If your water table is only a foot beneath the grade level you would probably either have rotting wood or very good crawl space ventilation.

I can't imagine how removing a foot of dirt from beneath you house would have any affect on surface runoff. If your dirt is almost impervious to water, removing dirt from beneath your house won't change that. If the dirt is as porous as sand, the water sits at the water table height.