I just bought a home built in 2000 and in the midwest. We just got hit with the worst snow storm in a decade, but then the weather turned warm and all that snow melted. Plus, it’s been raining pretty steadily for nearly a week.
Well, my basement’s been dry during this time. But today I went downstairs and saw dark, wet stains here and there–not many, but enough to take notice. Most of the stains are about five feet up, on the side of the house closest to a small creek that runs through the property (about 20 feet away at its closest point). There are a couple of stains at the base of one perpendicular wall, too.
The stains are wet to the touch and the basement feels damp. Water is not “seeping” in, but clearly is coming through the cinder block walls, albeit slowly. Outside, the property, which slopes gently toward the stream, is spongy just about everywhere.
The house has a sump pump and a radon abatement system, which both work. (It tested reasonably low, but radon is a big problem in the state, so I had it installed; I was told the abatement system would also help keep the basement dry, and until now, it has felt so. For that reason, I did not purchase a dehumidifier.)
No, though it looks to be originating at the mortar and not at the actual cinder block. I did go online and discover a way to tell, which is to put a piece of plastic on the wall and check back in a day to see which side is wet. I did notice some whitish stains on the wall, too, which I’m assuming is efflerence (sp?) mentioned on some of the sights. Sigh, one of the other problems with the area is that most of the people here have problems keeping basements dry.
The whole yard is about half an acre–would I just need to address an area nearest the foundation or the whole yard? What might the cost be? (The house is about 2,700 square feet and two stories tall . . . off the top of my head, I’m guessing the footprint is about 1,700 square feet.)
Without knowing much more, a prescriptive solution cannot be offered. I’ve done many basement waterproofing projects, but can’t intelligently comment without seeing your situation.
Radon abatement typically creates negative pressure beneath the basement slab, but won’t do a whole lot to reduce basement humidity.
If you have water near the base of a foundation wall, you might want to check to make sure the foundation drain outside the house is clear. We had a problem last fall with water seeping in around the base of the foundation wall after several days of heavy rain. (Our house is about seven years old.) We had someone come out and take a look, and they explained that there is a perforated drain pipe that sits on top of the foundation footing along the outside wall and is supposed to collect and drain water away from the foundation. He said there should be two outlets around the back corner of the house (the lowest point) but we could only find one. Apparently when the builder did the final grading of the property before we moved in, he inadvertently covered up the end of this pipe on that one side of the house, and there was nowhere for the water to drain out, except under the foundation wall and into the basement.
Some things you may want to look into as a solution:
First let me preface that I am not a professional. These are things I would do, and the previous owners of my house did when they had a similar problem (which is now corrected)
You may need to bring in some dirt and raise the level of your landscaping around the house. Just make sure you keep it two inches shy of your siding. You don’t want the siding to wick moisture from the soil. Also, I would look into waterproofing your cinderblock with something like Dri-Lock or a similar water-proofing compound. Yes, they do work like a charm. You can have it water-proofed professionaly or do it yourself. One thing to keep in mind. Spending the time and money now to fix it will be worth it in the long run. Continued water damage is very costly. Oh yeah and you may want to extend the drain spouts off of your gutter. If they are only a few feet from the house, the water may just be running back toward the foundation. Run them out a few more feet.
If your problems are only evident after prolonged rain and ground saturation, then you might get by with minor remediation. This can include application of UGL Drylok or Thoroseal on the inside walls and ensuring that gutters are clear, with discharge at least 5’ away from the dwelling.
Should that prove insufficient, you’re looking at excavation, cleaning and sealing of the exterior basement walls together with installation of a poly barrier, foam insulation, perforated pipe in a gravel bed leading to a discharge at grade or collection/perk in a dry well. This is significantly more expensive, but it works.
I bought a house new from the builder. Leaking in the basement is a normal occurance in a new home. We were supposed to keep track of the leaky spots, then have them fixed towards the end of the 1-year warranty, rather than call them out several times. My basement walls are poured concrete, and when they fixed the leaky spots, they picked out a little of the concrete near the leaky spot, then filled it in with, ummm, somthing. Even so, this past summer it rained hard enough that the water table got high enough so a couple more spots leaked for the first time (only for a day or two). My house has footing drainage with tubes leading to the sump, so the basement itself never got wet apart from these two spots. The previous repairs in other spots all held up. I don’t know if cinder blocks can be repaired the same way as poured concrete, but I suspect there’s some way to make a solid repair, if it’s just a couple of spots.