Orchards is an unincorporated neighborhood on Vancouver's east side. It was once known as Fourth Plain, and in 1904 residents voted to rename it Orchards, after the fruit trees that covered the area. It has never been an incorporated town, though many people assume it was. Vancouver Waterproofing LLC works with Orchards homeowners on wet basements, damp crawl spaces and water that collects around the foundation.
From fruit farms to a full neighborhood
As farmland gave way to housing, Orchards filled in with homes built across many different decades. Differences in age mean differences in foundations, ground cover, drainage and past repairs. A home with a basement needs a different plan from one with a crawl space, and a house that has been added onto over the years may have both. We look at the structure you actually have, not an average Orchards house.
What keeps Orchards homes wet
Winters here are cool and wet, and most of the year's rain, roughly 42 inches in an average year, falls between late fall and early spring. When the ground stays saturated for that long, water looks for a way in. The usual routes are easy to check:
- Gutters and downspouts that empty next to the foundation
- Ground that slopes toward the house instead of away from it
- Cracks and gaps in foundation walls and floors
- Bare soil in a crawl space, which lets ground moisture rise into the home
- A sump pump that is undersized, failing or missing
Common basement and crawl space problems
- Water or dampness along the base of basement walls after long stretches of rain
- A musty smell that gets worse in winter
- Wet or compacted insulation hanging down from the floor above a crawl space
- Efflorescence, the white powdery deposit that moisture leaves on masonry
- Mold or mildew on framing, stored items or the underside of the subfloor
Fixes that match the cause
- Exterior drainage systems correct grading, downspouts and perimeter drainage so water stays away from the foundation
- Interior waterproofing solutions collect water that reaches the foundation and send it to a sump
- Crawl space waterproofing controls ground moisture with a sealed cover and drainage where water collects
- Foundation waterproofing seals cracks and other entry points
- Sump pump installation gives collected water somewhere to go
Where to start
Contact Vancouver Waterproofing LLC and describe where in the house you see water or smell dampness. We will inspect, find the source and explain the options before any work begins.
Related services and guides
- Services: basement waterproofing, crawl space waterproofing, foundation waterproofing, sump pump installation, exterior drainage systems and interior waterproofing solutions
- Guides: signs of moisture problems after heavy rain, how to check crawl space humidity and soil, groundwater and drainage near the Columbia River
- Nearby areas: Hazel Dell, Felida, Uptown Village and Downtown Vancouver
Not sure where to start? Contact us and describe what you see.
Around Orchards
We regularly work near:
- 📍Fourth Plain Boulevard
Waterproofing Vancouver in Orchards — Local Notes
- •Orchards was named in 1904, when residents voted to replace the name Fourth Plain with Orchards, after the area's fruit trees.
- •Orchards is unincorporated, so it is part of Clark County and not a separate city.
- •Vancouver's rain falls mostly from late fall through winter, and July and August are the driest months.
- •Homes here were built across many decades, so basements, crawl spaces and ground cover vary from one street to the next.