We are looking at a home under construction. Basement has been poured, walls are up, roof on, electrical and plumbing and most exterior doors/windows in. Drywalling to start this week or next.
There was a bit of moisture in the basement. Not a lake or anything, but in one corner it was a puddle, more than just dampness. The builder pointed out a place where there was a crack in the poured wall. Made no attempt to hide it. Assured us that it would be sealed with epoxy and would be no problem. Walked us through a finished house that had the exact same situation. Said the rest of the moisture was from the rain/heat/plague of lousts - whatever conditions. In short, said it was nothing we needed to be worried about, was not outside the acceptable range of normal, and assured that there would be no moisture problems down the line. There is a sump pump, and drainage tile was laid. The lot as a whole will be graded to drain very well away from the house.
These builders have a very good reputation, and impress us as being very honest and open. We have walked through several of their homes. We have spoken to several owners of their homes, incuding in this subdivision, and it is almost ridiculous how highly these homeowners speak of every aspect of the building experience and their satifaction with their homes.
I am really ignorant about many aspects of construction. Anyone with experience of concrete have any thoughts as to how I could ascertain whether or not this builder is selling me a bill of goods?
The theory is that the excavation outside the wall should be filled with gavel or such, so water drains. along the base should be the weeping tile (What I see nowadays is a perforated plastic hose about 5 inches diameter, not clay tile any more.) The weping tile/hose should drain to a sump or such. The latest and treates is to wrap the house in dimpled plastic to provide even more path for drainage although this is an extra $2000 or so and the contractor may skip it. The outside of the wall is often tarred (or similar coating) to help with waterproofing
Unless you’ve had a massive rain driving agains the wall of the house, it should not be leaking at this point. Older houses might have clogged weeping tile, clay/dirt fill so the water table runs against the house, water runs against the wall, etc. The question is why there is enough water to cause a puddle? It’s kind of late when the outside is already filled in; I assume then the crack is a careless loader operator who put too much pressure on the dirt outside the wall or drove too close on soft ground? Either way, I thnk I’d be more confident if they dug up and fixed the crack (epoxy, whatever) from the outside and put grave down when re-filling.
Is this a place like Arizona, where ground water is rare, or New England, where it rains enough you want your basement prepared to handle moisture?
NW Indiana. We’ve had some big rains the past month, and I’m sure there will be many more to follow. I think they said something along the lines of it being good that it has rained since the pour, as that was compacting the soil around the foundation. There was one spot where water was standing on the surface, and they said that would not occur when the site was graded and the house guttered.
It really is so difficult, when you get so much information, so quickly, about something you know very little about. You’re trying to figure out what is and what is not a big deal, and whether any one factor is enough to call off the deal.
Seriously, this is the ONLY thing that is less than great about the potential transaction. I’m trying to figure out whether - by itself - it is a dealbreaker.
But then it sounds like either they expect any water buildup to draing into the ground, or maybe they have not gotten a sump pump hooked up. (That would be a “flooded” basement, not leaks in the wall.)
Compacting around the foundation??? The foundation (footing) should be on undisturbed ground. Compacting should really not be necessary. Compacting around the basement walls? As I said, the fill should be a foot or more of gravel alongside the wall, so that it drains instead of water pooling against the wall. (Drains to the weeping tile, that carries it to the storm sewer or the sump pump).
I’ve read about problems in some areas of Canada where the soils are primarily clay (that light gray gumbo that sticks to your boot about 3 inches thick when it’s really wet). That stuff shrinks as it dries, then swells as it gets wet. With a really dry spell, the ground subsides - then in the following very wet spell, it swells enough to crack long flat basement walls. Another reason to have a foot or two of gravel along the outsides.
The real questions are:
-Will they fix the crack from the outside? Now’s the time, not 10 years later when the next big rain ruins your finished basement. If it was pressure, or heavy equipment too close, digging might also relieve the pressure.
-Did they fill around the basement walls with something like gravel or aggregate that drains better than soils?
-How is the footing drained? What is the weeping tile arrangement? Sump pump?
There is a sump pump, tho the electricity is not on yet.
I just looked at their standard features, and they say they have a 10-yr guarantee on the foundation, a they stress drainage/gutters away from the foundation - which suggests to me they are sensitive to water issues.
I’ll check with them whether the repair will be from inside or out. I’ll also ask what fill was used and how the weeping tile was designed/installed. They are starting to dig next door this week, so I will have an opportunity to see how they conduct this phase of things.
Sorry if I used the word foundation instead of basement walls.
Can you describe the crack in more detail? Starts at the top of the concrete (solid/poured or block) wall? and where in reference to the earth on the outside? I worked in vertical concrete construction (mostly basements and foundations) for three years and the only cracks I ever saw were from backfilling too early or not carefully. And why would water be coming in the crack? Could you see the water flow track down the wall below the crack?
Something isn’t adding up here, and I think it is the builders. Aiming gutters and drainage away from the house is standard- there should also be a slope away from the house.
When a basement is first poured, there’s no cover, since there’s no roof or even house yet. If it rains, it fills with some water. With no sump pump working yet, the water will stay there. Even without rain, without a pump water can come in from the ground. I wouldn’t worry about the puddle at this point.
What kind of soil do you have? We have clay soil, and even with footing drains, a sump with a working sump pump, and no cracks in the walls, we still had* water coming through the walls, through the holes that held the ties, that held the wall forms together when they were formed. The water can’t drain to the footing fast enough. If you have clay soil, crack or no, you’ll need to make sure the soil slopes away from the house. Then check it again in a couple years, since the soil near the house will compact over time, changing the slope.
I’d believe a crack could be adequately filled, but I have no experience with that or what it would take.
(I do wish I had a second pump with a battery backup, in case of power failure or pump failure. I’ve been meaning to add one for ten years now, and my pump must be fifteen years old. A wet soggy basement waiting to happen.)
I plugged them since, and that seems to be holding.
Epoxy injection will seal it up tight. I would have the exterior of the foundation wall painted with a bitumen or other moisture sealant also. A crack should not affect the structural integrity of the wall. The rebar is what is providing much of the strength, although the compression strength of concrete is substantial. You main concern is to keep the water out and the epoxy will take care of that.
As a few posters have touched on, there are a few factors that will help determine whether this is a big deal or not. This is not an “each on it’'s own” scenario, but we need to know the whole story.
What is the foundation wall assembly (from the outside in)?
-backfill material?
-drainage layer (tuff’ndri, platon, delta MS)?
-bituminous dampproofing?
-MPa of the concrete?
-is there rebar?
Also, what is the bearing surface (type of soil, engineered fill)? Where is the water table? Is there enough crushed stone to protect the weeping tile?
I see small cracks in foundation walls ALL the time. My own house has a crack. The new home warranty doesn’t require crack repair until it reaches 2 mm. I have no concerns about that crack because of the system in place to protect my foundation from moisture and the reinforcing steel.
Round these parts, most foundation wall cracks are caused by differential settlement, and are most common at the inside corner of the garage (a backfilled garage weighs more than an empty basement - whodathought?) We also deal mostly with the clay described upthread.
The houses I’ve seen built in Canada… they pour the footings (or drill and pour pilings in soft soil) and then pour the basement walls. The structure is built above, and the basement cement floor is not poured until the roof is on and shingled (put the cement spout in a basement window).
If you have a puddle on the cement basement floor, you have some interesting problems or you had a lot of rain and no sump pump - in which case it’s a flood not a puddle.