Can anyone shed some light as to whether the photo above is the proper way to waterproof a basement? We removed the studs from the wall that had been built here this afternoon and discovered yet another problem with the house...
More house problems...
Sunday, July 13, 2008
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But wait, there's more!
It kind of depends on whether the water problem is from water pressing in against the foundation or is rising up through the floor from an elevated water table.
Usually, the water coming in through the walls is seen in cinder-block foundations or if there are cracks in the walls of a poured-concrete foundation.
It looks like the job done to your house was to fix a water-table problem, although I can't tell for sure due to the difficulty of getting good quality photographs in a basement.
The idea is that water leeches in between the basement foor and walls (in a poured-concrete foundation, the floor is not attached to the walls so it can "float"). The water runs through tubing (sometimes called drain tiles)flows into a low spot (the "sump" where the pump is located) and then pumped out of the house. At least, that's how it's supposed to work.
The whole system has gotten a real workout this Spring since we've had record rainfall and the water table for several weeks was reported to be almost to the soil surface!
One other point. Your house does not have drain tile all the way around the perimeter of the basement.
I was babysitting the house one time and Gimlet had the Orkin guys in to treat for termites. He saw the basement floor and needed to know if the waterproofing went all the way around the basement floor. He didn't want to drill holes for the termite treatment in the wrong place and let water leak in.
In the stack of paperwork/manuals/etc/etc that the Whitneys left in the house, I found the graph from the waterproofers that showed they had only had to dig out 90', so you won't see the patchwork all the way around the basement.
It's hard to tell from the picture, but what we discovered was that the waterproofing has been uncovered for some reason, exposing gravel. It looks like it was covered with concrete, then hammered out, and then someone did a really half-assed job of concreting it back in, and then put some framing over it. All this and more after a few words from our sponsors!
From the way the previous owners approached home repair/remodeling, I wouldn't doubt that when they were originally trying to set the stud wall in the basement, they hammered on the sill or tried to shoot nails into the floor to anchor the wall, found they'd busted the concrete, then tried a "Whitney Fix" to the broken cement topping.
I think these are the same kinds of reasons why my husband has flip-flopped from his initial stance and now would prefer we buy a newer house this time around! And one where the previous owners weren't big DIYers :)
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