All Forum Posts by: Abdul Azeez

@Abdul Azeez. The reason it’s not renting is it’s priced to high. That much is painfully obvious. Your PM company has a reputation of pushing rents as high as possible, which is great until it doesn’t rent for 3-6 months. Are you accurately priced for the area?

Honestly these issues are likely a result of too much growth. You will likely continue to be nickel and dimed, that’s just my opinion anyways

@Abdul Azeez Obviously, if you have drainage problems on multiple sides of the house, fixing only one side is not going to solve completely your problem. I only wanted to make you aware of the fact french drains are for slow accumulating soil water and do not perform with large fast accumulation of water (like you seem to have in the backyard due to that sloped area). Ideally the house is built on a raised "island" and all the water moves away from the foundation. But since that is not the case, now you got more suggestions and have more ideas on what can be done. Decisions, decisions.

@Abdul Azeez Yes. I would make a U-shaped swale (with a small retainer wall like to mask the dirt you'll pull when making the ditch...or here is another suggestion, mask it as dry river bed). The main idea is to move the water way from the foundation/house. You'll still need to implement the other 4 solutions, probably sump pump in the basement and all the other basement waterproofing options. I just wanted to make you aware that a French drain is not good for fast moving water - you might still want to implement one close to the foundation, around the house (to collect and move the soil water slow accumulation), with the roof downspouts tied directly into it and with the "exhaust" further downhill from the house (otherwise, even with those extensions you placed the water will come back to the house).

You can read about both making a swale and installing french drain - it's not rocket science - and hire cheap labor to dig the trenches. If you aren't work adverse you can do it for 1/3 of the price (8K for a French drain? that sounds excessive to me), even if if you rent power tools. IMHO.

@Abdul Azeez A properly installed french drain (make sure at least one end is open) will work for slow (!) moving water or soil water accumulation. It looks like you need a swale drain to quickly move water away from the house, as that hill is gone send it fast towards it. (A foundation drainage swale, also known as a vegetated swale or grass swale, is just a fancy term for a wide shallow ditch which carries away run-off water from rain, sprinklers, and so on) and maybe you can mask it with a small retainer wall.

@Abdul Azeez I'm glad to hear that you are getting some water into your sump. If you have the pit and no pump that may be a whole other issue. I can't say that I'm very familiar with the floating concrete floors so I'll refrain from commenting on that and defer to your inspector.

The outside measures that you have taken are absolutely necessary and will be pertinent for your maintain in the future as park of your Spring and Fall cleaning. Enlist the help of someone to clean your gutters regularly if you don't perform this yourself or check into gutter guards. They are not expensive and will help keep water flowing into the extension tubes where it belongs.

The French Drain is always an option. I'm not sure that you need to go to that extreme at the moment. I would keep an eye on it. If you do not have water intrusion onto the actual floor where it pools up, you will likely do well with the actions you have taken so far.

You haven't mentioned if you are planning to heat and cool the space. I'm assuming yes since you plan on finishing it. A dehumidifier may help but properly installing your insulation, moisture barrier, and framing will be of more importance.

@Abdul Azeez I'm a little late to this party but I'll provide some background on your issue from a contractor's perspective. Thanks for the great videos and pictures. I wish more people would post like this when they have issues.

First of all, one of my biggest pet peeves is people stating that "basements should never be finished" or "you'll never dry out a basement". That's a bunch of garbage coming from people who don't understand the science behind construction and building design. Basements can be finished just as well as any other part of your home and should be enjoyed as such. People who "fix" their basement water problems and still have issues haven't fixed the core issue. Basement water issues aren't some mystical creature that requires voodoo or black magic to cure.

- Efflorescence is the byproduct of water intrusion. It's a salt that's left on the surface of the block due to water being sucked through the building material. What most people fail to realize is that brick, block, wood, etc is porous. It's made up of small capillaries which wick water from the outside and push it throughout the block. This wicking action causes pressure (hydrostatic pressure) which forces the water and salt out at the path of least resistance. This can often result in damage to the block known as "spalling" (Where chunks of the face of the block have crumbled away). While the efflorescence is a cosmetic issue, spalling would be of more concern.

-I think all of the above posters, as well as yourself, have nailed the easy solutions. Gutters cleaned and maintained, extended downspouts, proper grading away from the house (anywhere from 6" over 10' to an inch per foot depending on where you read. The point is the grade should extend far enough out from the house to prevent water from findings it's way back to the foundation).

-French drains/sump pumps are the go to solution for many companies because, while labor intensive, they solve 99.9% of basement water issues inside the home. It doesn't generally fix the problem of intrusion but diverts the water at the wall/floor joint to prevent your floor from becoming wet. This is a perfectly acceptable solution and when installed properly works very well. I have had three of these installed without issues on sale, inspection, or complaint.

-The ultimate solution is the installation of a capillary membrane. In older construction, this would have been the painted on tar below grade on the exterior of the foundation. The new material consists of a rubber or plastic membrane which prevents water from being wicked up by the block. At this point, it doesn't matter where the water goes around the foundation because the membrane is impermeable. This is the most expensive option requiring a trench to be dug around the exterior of the house several feet deep. I don't believe that you need that in your case as it doesn't look like you have an extreme amount of intrusion.

-I would be interested in seeing whether or not you have a French drain currently installed in you basement as the cut against the wall leads me to believe that you may. The other question would be where does the water collect if there isn't a sump pump?

-You can paint the walls with DryLock or some other paint but it really doesn't solve your problem in any permanent fashion. Eventually, the hydrostatic pressure will bubble and crack the paint (as it appears it already has) and you'll be back to where you started.

-Correct some of the easy things like you have and see if your problem slows or is rectified.

-After your moisture issue is corrected, have your contractor install plastic moisture barrier, followed by your stud wall with a 1" stand off distance to prevent moisture accumulation. Drywall and finish as normal.

Don't let a wet basement scare you off. There are plenty of solutions which won't break the bank. I would suggest getting opinions from several basement contractors and landscapers. Landscapers can advise you on proper grade and drainage without the sales tactics of pushing a particular basement system. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

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Abdul,

The purpose of two pipes is that the first accepts the water from the above ground and the second collects any overflow and both deposit the water away from the foundation. The 55 gallon drums are placed on the down slope of the terrain encircling the home to the front on each corner, of the home. Once the water goes through the pipes it needs a place to slowly sift it's way back into the ground in front of the building. If you don't have the barrels then eventually the water will dig a hole (SINK HOLE).

To rent a machine is only $150-$250 a day to excavate the dirt from around the home. You will want to hire a Utility Locator service so they can identify where wires and pipes surround the property before starting the project.