Posted: January 26th, 2010
Let’s look at a textbook case of water damage to the basement of a home.
My client and I were inspecting the home and noticed the huge bushes right away as a sign of neglect. The overgrown foliage traps moisture against the foundation and is an attractive home for bugs of all sorts.
Moving inside, the block wall foundation had signs of water creep at the junction of the slab concrete floor of the basement. This is common among homes with block wall foundations, especially for homes built between 1950 and 1990 when poured walls came into vogue. See an article I published last spring about waterproofing your home.
The partially-finished basement had one “bedroom” constructed nearby in the front corner of the foundation. Here’s what we found:
The drywall was toast! The carpet had been pulled back by someone, and the water damage required complete replacement of the finish work. Note the vertical nature of the staining in the corner…
…and when we walked around to the outside here’s what we found. Notice the disconnected downspout and the amount of moisture saturating the foundation at this point. It hadn’t just stopped raining…also note the slope to the left of the photo – the corner of the home is in a hollow that nicely traps the rainwater. Even if the downspout was connected, there would still be a water problem.
One more photo – the back of the house nearby had water collecting at the bilco door and against the foundation.
Conclusion – the number one cause of water damage in the basement of a home is from poor water management around the exterior foundation. So…
- Be sure that the dirt is graded properly away from your foundation – so the rainwater can travel away from the wall without impediment.
- Check that your gutter and downspouts are in good condition and slope properly so that water flows.
- Get the downspout water as far away as possible from the home – use black piping available at any store. Buried is the best, but make sure the water exits at least 6 feet from the foundation.
- Don’t forget to trim those bushes back or rip them out altogether – don’t let things grow against your house. The air needs to get at your foundation.
Follow these simple steps and you’ll have little trouble with water in your foundation under normal circumstances. For more information feel free to give me a call at 717-799-0851.
Jeff,
Its amazing how simple fixes that cost little or nothing can prevent thousands of dollars of damage. Great use of photos!
Great post! This covers most of the problems that we see with water damage at the basement level. A few simple inexpensive fixes like this can save thousands of dollars in damage repair. Another item to look at is flashing around any windows, doors or other penetrations through the basement walls.
Thanks again.
Great article Jeff! I run into this a lot with my job at Tomlinson Bomberger. There are a few additional recommendations I would make. Make sure your house has enough downspouts. I see houses sometimes that have too much roof for too little downspouts. this is the case a lot of times when people put additions on. I also always recommend using pop-… See Moreup drains. Basically, the spout is permanently re-routed through a 4″ PVC pipe, underground, where it emits out of a pop-up drain emitter, at least 10 ft. away from the foundation. People really should get an umbrella, and go outside and watch during a downpour to see what is going on. Here is a link to the pic of a pop-up drain. The flat green cap sits at ground level. When it rains, the water force “pops up” the center spring loaded cap. You can also take it off to clean the leaves out if needed. You can buy these at Home Depot and Lowes http://www.mclendons.com/img/products/10/10291645.jpg