My parents from TX bought a house here 2 years ago in TN with the intent to retire and move closer to the grandkids. The original part of the house is approx 50 years old, brick ext with a full basement that "walks out" on the side to a carport. About 30 years ago, the owners extended on to the front of the house (which has a crawl space) and also added a master BR/bath wing off to the left of the house which was apparently on a poured slab dug in to the sloped sight on which it sits.

They weren't ready to move at the time so did an 18 month lease to a couple who got to "test drive" the house for them. Guess what? They bought "the money pit" without knowing. All kinds of problems became apparent during their occupancy, including a horribly unreliable sewer line that ultimately took a slew of plumbers and the city engineer about 6 months to finally fix. But the worst of it is a basement that leaks horribly when any significant amount of rain falls in many places. The previous owners (who did not disclose any of these problems) had coated the entire basement with Drylock (?) that white supposed sealant that pretends to keep water out. Ha! I read the long informative posting by ProfessionalWaterproofer (?) about what works and what doesn't and this house could probably be the model for everything he says.
The renters let us know early on about the basement and also an ongoing problem with the MB closet carpet almost always staying damp near the back of the wall. They have since moved out and in an effort to get the house ready for the P's to move into, we started to prep the interior floors to prepare to lay Pergo in the bulk of it. When we pulled back the carpeting in the closet, there was a thick sheet of plastic between it and the slab and of course the slab was wet. Plus, in the outside corner of the closet, an exterior wall, it looks like a small chunk of the slab was chipped off- maybe a 2" square. My husband hoped to removesections of the sheetrock down to the slab on both sides of of the corner and hope he could fix/seal that area of the slab with Hydrolic cement. The water seepage actually appeared to be coming in further to the right of that area, where the slope of the hill behind that portion of the brick wall would have sat about 12-18 inches higher than the top of the slab. We hire a plumber who dug out a pretty deep trench, below the slab line, coated everything with "blackjack"? tar stuff, put plastic up against it, put in a French drain , filled with gravel and backfilled with top soil. It appeared to work until the other day when the torrential rain fallout from Katrina hit town and we had more water in the closet (minimal, but enough to stop the thought of laying the flooring) Additionally, as we began to pull the carpet from the master bedroom, right in the middle of the room coming from the outside wall was another 6 x 10 sheet of heavy plastic under which was Water! But weirdest of all, it at first looked like little mud spots were oozing back thru the foundation sporadically. Closer observation made my husband think it was rust- doesn't smear or disolve so much as flake off. Could this be rebar? Most of the spots were maybe the size of a nailhead. Why would they be right at the surface and vertical? What in the world do we do to fix it? And what kind of professional am I looking for to fix it? AAack!

Sorry to hear about the water/other problems in Parents retirement home. Unfortunately i hear-see first hand many bsmt leakage problems from all kinds,incl`g people who just bought a home and these problems were either'supposedly' fixed correctly and/or Not Disclosed at all. Even to the extent of the sellers concealing/hiding bsmt walls `n cracks in walls with just about anything you can think of.

When the renters brought up the leakge/seepage problems, did anyone try `n contact the sellers,the realtor etc to see why these problems werent disclosed and to see if they were willing to pay for the problem % damage caused by the water? And if not did anyone call a lawyer to get the ball rolling for lawsuit on misrepesentation-failure to disclose? If again not, i would still try.

Yes, first any & all problem areas must be defined/located correctly....not assumed or guessing on what may help,it can be costly & add up.

What was the actual problem with the sewer line--what exactly was done? Did they have to work around and/or break out ANY-Part of the bsmt wall, or bsmt floor? If so...did they completely seal around any new line thoroughly `n backfill around where the line comes through the bsmt wall w/peastone? Did any of the plumbers--contractors bust up--create cracks in the bsmt floor? This can be/create a problem.

Block bsmt walls....correct? Drylok imo is bs...and so is the way it is advertised,meaning the claims so many businesses make/put in print/put on in-store videos/commercials etc makes me sick `n angry. The amount of crap so many of us everyday folks have to wade through is astounding, and what happened to the laws in this country that were suppose to help the usually-unknowing consumer agst companies who make bogus claims about their products? Sorry...i`m beginning to drift here, but it just pisses me off immensely.

Again, any kind of paint on the inside of walls will do nothing to stop-prevent water from entering through cracks `n other outside openings in walls(block walls and poured walls are differnet,block walls can have hairline--2"+ crack on the outside and look fine, not visble from the inside)...and so many homeowners are bs`d into inside method which does NOT stop water from still entering the wall, it only at best will divert the water that is still going to enter the wall, under the bsmt floor, and since water is still entering...mold/mildew/wall discolorment/radon gas etc etc etc is still going to enter,still going to grow & eventually get worse. I wont even get into the lateral & hydrostatic pressures again here.

You probably know but if not, sometimes dampness can exist from high humidity levels.There have been times when homeowners have pulled off scetions of drywall-paneling and there was Plastic agst the walls, condensation-wetness on walls existed, of course this has nothing to do w/cracks & other direct-outside-openings, many times a basement/homeowner will have 2 or 3 different problems--reasons as to why & how they have water,dampness,mold etc. Do I have this right,(i am NOT a floor covering expert!) that platic was inbetween the concrete slab and carpet? The plastic 'could' create dampness/enough moisture to soak part of padding/carpet,its possible. I have a buddy in floor covering and used ta help him in Winter months years ago and i do not EVER r`member using any kind of plastic in a closet,in a basement etc...never.

Any cracks/openings in a slab under the carpet--basement floor etc can allow water to rise up & enter through these openings. And the only way to find out is to pull-rip out the carpet. For some homeowners, the floor drain(s)in bsmt floor have been covered up/plugged up to lay floor tile or carpet on floor a bit more even, not a good idea!

Pic`s would help alot!!! Is the grade--the soil raised up against unsealed bricks? This can be 1 of a variety of ways water can enetr....through porous/cracked bricks & mortar joints that are not sealed. Another direct opening is where the first course of bricks sit/lay on the footing-brick ledge, many times this area is poorly sealed if at all! Water can easily enter a basement wall at this point--or under a slab and accumulate and eventually rise up under the slab and enter. need pics or more info on what exactly the plumber did for you, did he trench around the basement,or did he only trench around the crawl etc?

MB....again, w/ the plastic comes the possibilty of condensation occuring--and/or a crack/opening in the slab itself...under the carpet,under the plastic. Here to help if-when possible.