waterproofing from outside

[Nadya Ostroff]

Hi guys! Looking for advice here. Have a house, that use to be rowhome (had 3 units, 2 attached units got demalished, now it's SFH. )The Joining wall had stucco put on. ( now it's an outside wall). Started to get water In the basement from that side. I think the ground settled a bit outside of this wall. How to fix it? looking for the cheapest solution.( classC/ D peppery).

 TIA for your input!

[Jim Goebel]

@Nadya Ostroff

First thing is ALWAYS check for positive grade, sloping away from the house.  The detail that we've used that is a little labor intensive but not nearly as much as a full basement waterproofing or digging down to the foundation, is positive grade, then put 6-9 mil poly down OVER the positive grade, then put another 3-6" of positive grade (dirt or mulch) on top of that.  Works wonders.

In my experience this fixes 75% of the root cause of water issues, and even when it doesn't get ALL the water out, in unfinished basements you often barely see a trickle after that..  It's amazing to me how many people don't think about this and how many houses we see with water issues that are so obvious on what's causing them.

So, because you've ALREADY experienced issues, this may be a solution.

A more comprehensive deal of digging down, putting in drain tile, perhaps a vapor barrier on the outside, would be a 'next step' in my opinion.

IF you are selling and need that 'comprehensive' thing as a selling point, I might consider going further, however if you are holding for awhile and can observe results I'd go with my original recommendation.  A day long project would do the trick.  Wheelbarrow, dirt, and if you want a $12-15/hr Craigslist worker should get you done.