I'm just a frustrated home owner who can really use some good advice - and fast. We had water penetrating through the basement wall on the front of our house. We paid a well known local company to waterproof the front wall of the house as well as waterproof an additional 40 feet from the front along the east and west side walls of house - about 129 feet in total. When they finished they installed new weeping tile and they graded it slightly with the high point being located at the center of the front of the house. Our home was built in 1952 and has exterior weeping tile located beside footing (footing is 10 inches high and about 27 inches deep. Our basement floor is not ontop of footing but rather rests within the footing). When the foreman first saw that tile was beside footing he kept going on about how he had never seen this before and how it was done the wrong way and how poorly my house was constructed. He even consulted with someone above him in company before laying new tile. Anyways, after new tile was put in, the foreman on job only flushed (tested) the new line within a few feet of where the new permimeter line met up with existing tiles under house. We have two drain lines running to catch basin in basement - one from east wall and one from west wall of house, both located about 40 feet back from front of house. When they tested we had water running into catch basin in basement so they declared it a success and backfilled excavated area with gravel up until 1 foot from grade. They then put down landscape cloth and added 1 foot of topsoil. Before I paid them I wanted to test the water proofing so I stuck my hose in ground next to house at several points and let some water run. We found that we had wet spots ontop of our footing in basement in two areas - both were along the front wall of house and were both located at the point where footing meets basement wall (remember our floor rests inside the footing and not ontop). Anyways, company says that the concrete is wicking water from a void under house (they found a void under footing at front of house which they said they filled) and there's nothing they can do except Zybex where footing meets wall from interior. I told them that I suspectd there was a pinhole leak or two because in one area the footing started to appear wet within 12 minutes of my water test in that area. I know concrete can wick moisture but I didn't think that quickly. The company agreed to re-excavate two sections of front wall and re-waterproof. I tested again when they finised. The area that was wet within 12 minutes last time remained dry after about 45 minutes of watering. The footing in the second area was once again wet but moisture took a couple of hours to appear. This time I notice something very strange. The water that I was pouring into ground in this wet area should have been draining into my East weeping tile line but after 1 1/2 hours of watering not a drop made it into the catch basin (by comparison when I run water at the front of the house just west to the high point in the tile it takes about 10 minutes or less for water to make its way through the west tile into the catch basin. I suspected that tile on East wall is not graded properly so water has nowhere to go but eventually down into the clay. From there I suspect it builds in the void under house and perhaps it is wicking up through concrete onto my footing. The company tells me that because of this void under house my tile on East side will NEVER drain - water will always travel straight down into void. I questioned this as the tile on west side of house functions and secondly the void is under house and not under weeping tile. The tile has clay beneath it. Once the clay starts to saturate water should start to slowly build on top of it and this water should be draining into my East tile. After my constant questions about why East tile not working the foreman said "The water is not building up ontop of the clay because the clay around your house is too sandy. This whole neighbourhood is probably like this because you're close to the river". I was quite upset to learn that they installed the tile on the sandy clay even though they suspected it would not work - perhaps this explains why they did not test the entire line before backfilling. Well, now I have many more questions. How should tile be installed when the clay beneath it is very sandy? Is it even true that weeping tile will not work when clay is sandy? Should a company test the entire tile line before back-filling? The foreman has told me that there is no other way to do things except the way they did it. They have also told me that the only way to prevent water from running into this void under house is to install sump-pit in this area. This job started July 8th and, well, it's September now and we are exhaused. Does anyone have any answers? Does is sound like they did it by the book?
Thank you to all who take the time to read this and to those who can respond.
To much east and west but here goes anyway..Several of the things you discribed in this post is quite disturbing. The interior floor should not be even with the footing. The bottom of the slab should be on top of the footing at best. You keep refering to wicking water into the cement. Did they (after fixing cracks with hydrolic cement) seal the walls with asphalt or another coating? Also did they place heavy plastic or sheet material over the asphalt to protect it? If they did No amount of water should Wick through the cement as the cement walls should never see the moisture. As far as the drainage going to catch basins, Several things are happening. One being that the pipes they ran may have drainage holes in the pipe thus allowing the ground water to absorbe the water before it gets to the basin. Another is the word clay, it has me concerned as well. Clay will expand. There should be NO clay against the house sandy or not. Clay will expand and even with the best drainage system cause cracking of walls and failures of drainage systems. Are you sure Clay or sandy clay is the correct type of soil around the home? Also you said he laid the tile directly onto the sandy clay. Did they place gravel under it? If the soil is sandy how did they protect the tile from filing with the sandy material once the water begins to flow into the pipes? Did you check the BBB to see what complaints they had. Many of these larger companies are franchises and owners do not have the experiance required to do the job properly. When you say the water is coming up from the footing that means that the water is not being caught by the drainage tile installed and drawn away from the footing or wall. Something he did was wrong.
To answer your question. You paid an experianced water proofing contractor to stop the water from coming into the house. If he was experianced like he said, he would have addressed these issues before he completed the job. Not give you reasons why his system will not work with the conditions he observed. He should have stopped the job and discussed the pitfalls before he completed his task or even started the job if he though the floor was not installed properly. Not come up with excuses why his Perfect job does not work. Why if he did it right the first time did he RE-waterproof what he did. Perhaps he is just going through the paces not undertanding what he is really doing.
Clay sand, by the footing? Something is wrong with this picture. The footing should have been placed on soild undisturbed soil. Not clay and not sand. If it was sandy once the water begins to drain it will undermine the footing and cause foundation failure. Clay will expand and cause the footing to lift and fall with the moisture content.
If you have not paid him, Do not. Also get the contract to your attorny for review as if its like most of them there is a ton of small print that gets the contractor out of trouble. It sound like this one is going to get ugly.
Posts: 1115 | Location: New Jersey | Registered: 31 January 2006
Thank you for the quick reply. I will clarify what I can.
- Floor slab within footing (top of slab is about 5 inches below top of footing) - I am only second owner of this house. The house is a split level and the original owner was architect who designed it and lived there for 53 years. The basement at the front of home (the area waterproofed) is probably more accurately referred to as a "crawlspace" or a "reduced height basement". It has concrete floor, walls and ceiling. Distance between basement floor slab and concrete joists for main floor is about 4'8". I'm assuming architect decided to rest basement slab within footing instead of on it to gain a few extra inches of headspace. I can't count number of times I've hit my head on one of the concrete joists.
- After fixing cracks the walls were sealed with product called "TREMproof 260 Spray-Applied Waterproofing Membrane". I wasn't home when they did the prep work before re-waterproofing but I was told they filled/refilled any suspect cracks/holes. They then applied second coat of membrane.
- Regarding the wicking, water was appearing on top of footing at the point where the wall rests on footing. Wet area would then gradually expand out towards edge of footing. The companies theory is the water is wicking up through the footing. They feel that there must be standing water under house, apparently in contact with the bottem of footing, and this water is making its way to the top of footing, through the footing.
- Regarding the term clay - poor choice on my part. It's not clay. Footing does sit on undisturbed soil. The company has told me that this soil is grayish in appearance because of high silt (or sand) content.
- They did not put gravel under line to protect tile from filling up with sandy material. How much gravel should be beneath? Are there any other options besides gravel?
The foreman on our job claimed that he had never seen a tile located beside footing before - on every job site he's been on in the past 20 years the tile has been located on the footing. It's probably true but is no excuse. By backfilling with drainage stone we have increased the amount of water reaching tile substantially. That coupled with the fact that we now have about 40 feet of tile that does not carry water anywhere leaves no doubt in my mind that the water is ending up under my basement floor slab. You can feel the humidity in basement after a rainfall. We're very worried.
The water proofer is right. in most cases they do rest the pipe onto the top of the footing. it is eaiser that way for them when the house is new. But you have a special issue. When they place the pipe onto the top of the footing any water that seeps through the connection between the top of the footing and base of the wall just flows into and below the floor on the other side. As in correct construction the slab is over the top of the footing. This seepage is never seen. But because your slab is below the top of the footing the water that does not get picked up at the base of the wall by the drainage system is visible.
The spray sealant they used on the walls is a good product, providing its a new wall and properly prepped which is difficult in old construction. Spray membranes require complete cleaning before being applied. They work best on new foundation walls as no dirt has had a chance to ontaminate the surface. In your case, the wall has had dirt for several years. The likelyhood of them cleaning the wall enough for complete sealing is nil. The most likely place for water to enter is right at the space between the top of the foundation and the bottom of the wall. This is the same spot where it is the most difficut to clean. Which would explain away some of the seepage at the base of the wall.
Ideally at least in my opinion and several others here, is to spread a thick layer of ashpalt coating on the walls. It bridges the micro cracks in the cement real well. Then cover it with a 6 mill plastic to prevent it from becoming damaged and keep you clean as well while working in there. Asphalt will cover over the fine dirt you simply cannot get off the wall when prepping it for sealing as well as fill the tiny gaps that may not be visible to the ***** eye.
They according to yor response did not apply any plastic cover or any drainage mat system over the spray membrane they applied. That is of a concern. Given the fact that the membrane they sprayed is at most about 30 mills thick. Once they dump the gravel down they most likely scatched the surface thus breaking the seal they attempted to apply.
If you read the manufactures web site about the product they applied it is for GREEN concrete. Not old cement. The manufacture has materials that are brushed on for basement water proofing. Apparently they did not use the correct stuff.
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