New property, water thru wall during heavy rain, whats my respons

[Nate Richards]

Hi, I just bought my second unit, a probate rehab & rent. It took me 90 days to fix it up and place a new tenant. Ive noticed that the basement wall seeps water during very heavy rain due to hydrostatic pressure. It is about 1/4 bucket when moped up. This happened 2x, once during rehab and the tenant says it happened yesterday.

As a preventive measure I replaced some drain tiles on the opposite side of the driveway, where the neighbors gutters overflow. I also had the concrete drive leveled and it's pitching away from the house. There is no sump pump as it was built in 1950.

What is my responsibility/response to the tenant on this. I'm sure I'm not the only landlord with minor water issues. I want to be fair but not over do it. The tenant is new and I would like to keep him for a long time if possible.

Also note it is in an area where the storm drains back up when the river overflows (the house has plugs in all the drains) so I would think a sump pump is not going to work anyway.

Thanks for you input!

[Matt P.]

You have water coming in through the basement walls twice in 90 days when it rains heavy and you think that is a minor water issue? Id start with grading out the soil along the house to make sure it is all pitched away from the walls and isn't pooling anywhere. If that fails then you need to have a professional waterproofing outfit come out and dig your outside walls, seal them and install a drain system around your house to move the water away. This will only get worse and will eventually ruin your foundation. 

[Andrew Bosworth]

Good suggestion by @Matt P..  If for some reason this proves to be a minor issue after all, then try using Drylock masonry waterproofer on the basement walls.

[JD Martin]

1. Is the basement finished or for mechanical access only? 

2. How did you market the unit to the tenant - as the basement is usable, or the basement has the possibility of seepage in heavy weather? 

3. How often does the river overflow?

I would bet that it is definitely possible to drain the water out of the subsoil, unless you are right on the river and the river overflows constantly. Your sewer waste has to go somewhere, and unless everyone around you is sitting in a pond there has to be someplace to surface drain water. Plugs in the basement drains to prevent backflow from the storm system in flooding isn't really the same thing as hydrostatic bleeding. You could also address this from the inside if you wanted - you can have a trough installed around the perimeter of the basement that feeds into a sump. 

[Mike Hanneman]

Does this property have gutters? A lot of the time installing gutters will take care of waters issues since you can direct the water away from the house.

[Nate Richards]

looks like some more detail is needed. It took 90 days to rehab, it's been over 180 days and a wall has wept 2x, but not enough to flow to a floor drain, and there is not mold present nor does the wall remain damp, so yes I would call it minor.

1. The soil is already graded out with no pooling at the foundation. It all pitches to the far side of the driveway, 14 feet away, where a french drain is installed running to the street. (I did have a friend who is a waterproofer look at it the time I witnessed the outside flood, and saw water inside, and he indicated installing a sump may not flow enough and also allow an easy spot for penetration)

2. There are gutters on a 24" overhang, and the driveway is 18" from the foundation. No water falls from the roof, and all of the drain tiles function.

3. I do not know how often the river overflows but both instances were over 3" in 1 hour (100yr flood amount), beyond capacity of the city storm system, and closed a few intersections in the neoghborhood. 

4. The last time it rained there was a yard debris line present about 1 ft from the foundation on the low side ( drive is on the high side, about 2 ft of fall across property) this line is above where the storm water exits. So what I am saying it that the subsoil is super-saturated. 

5. The basement wall is exposed block which is painted only. I don't know if Drylok would bond with a preexisting coat of paint on it. There is electric and a paneled center wall creating division from laundry and bathroom down there. 

And to my original question, MANY landlords have some form of moisture, so what are they telling tenants, and what are they responsible for?

OBVIOUSLY, a french drain inside or outside isn't happening this week, or probably not until I turn the unit over to a new tenant. The area could be used as a playroom/poker room  but wasn't marketed as such. In the mean time, do I tell them to use a mop and don't put valuables there? Refund some rent for the inconvenience? Tell him if he sees mold to contact me to remediate? Move them out and rip up the foundation on a hope it fixes the issue?

[Kimberly H.]

In regards to your question, we do have one house with an unfinished basement that did flood maybe 1" of water on the floor, we basically got something like 3" of rainfall in an hour when it happened the one time in the four years we've owned the house. Its not in any type of flood zone. It was an REO purchase so no disclosure of anything. That one time it happened, we drove out there and had a hard time getting to the house because lots of roads in the city were shut down due to standing water. Just about everyone got water in their basements. There is a sump pump but in that situation it got overwhelmed, so we also bought another pump and hose that can be placed in a puddle to pump water out via a hose out the window. If potential tenants ask about water in the basement during showings for that house, we tell them all of that, and that it the sump pump dies, it will flood, and we provide one of those $10 battery operated water sensors next to the sump pump. We've got the washer, dryer, and water heater down there on bricks now just-in-case it happens again when no one is home. We tell all people that they can only use the basement for laundry and storage because with the rental licensing that is what the city told us because there are no egress-sized windows down there. When new tenants moved in, we tell them because its a basement that when using it for storage, nothing like cardboard or wood should be directly on the floor.

We bought another property recently sight unseen at sheriff sale auction with cinderblock basement walls and it leaks through some blocks every time it rains. Interestingly, the people who lived there finished the basement, and built the floors about an inch up from the cement floor in that part of the basement, so at first we didn't know that was going on, since the water would go down the floor drain that was under that raised floor (no sump either), although we were really curious as to why someone would build up the floor an inch like that. Once we ripped out the unpermitted basement bathroom did we discover all this going on. The gutters do need replacing, the cement driveway does pitch to that side of the house and the cement goes all the way to the outside wall. We are probably going to have the leaking wall replaced with poured concrete because the problem went on so long the cinderblock is actually bulging out. They actually cut the 2x4's on a curve when they finished the basement to go around the bulge! And we'll replace the driveway.

[Nate Richards]

Thanks Kim! That is the answer I was looking for.  Completely reasonable and makes sense for bother parties. This basement lacks egress as well as it has the 14x32 casement windows.  It was advertised as a 3/1 ranch with basement laundry, utility bathroom, & storage.

[Dan Vleck]

I have 2 houses that get wet basements. I told the tenants that the basements do get wet at snowmelt and after heave rain. I go out and sympothise when they complain, and I lent one tenant a second dehumidifier. 

My answer is I provide a dehumidifier and inform them of the issue before they sign lease.

[Kimberly H.]

Good point, we did bring over and run dehumidifieres and fans as well.