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Foundation sealing

15 years ago

This question comes to me as I watch the rain fall outside and the basement walls leak inside. I know that I need to do some landscaping outside to keep the ground sloped away from the foundation. My problem is that I don't have a lot of room between the current ground level and the bottom of my siding. The foundation/siding interface is in some cases only about 4 inches about the ground. If I want to add soil and create a slope, I'm limited in how much I can add. I'm also worried that such a small distance between the ground and foundation will promote insect entry. Is there a product (I'm thinking some sort of tape) that will attach to the foundation and the underside of the siding to seal off that opening? Many thanks for suggestions.

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Comments (3)

mightyanvil
15 years ago
If the siding and/or framing is wood you are already at the minimum separation distance. Someone built the house too low and apparently neglected to provide foundation wall waterproofing as well. First, make sure the gutters work and the downspouts discharge at least 6 ft from the house. Then hire a professional to advise about the next step since it won't be cheap and you want to get the best result for your money.
cooks4
Original Author
15 years ago
Siding is steel, framing is wood. Entire lot is flat so if I can't raise the ground level next to the house, major excavation would be needed to create slope away from house. Some areas do have a slight slope away but a couple of areas are flat or even sloped toward house. Internet searching produced a product called Protectowrap. They have a sill seal product that goes between foundation and sill and also adheres to outside of wall. I'm wondering if I can modify that to use in my situation--perhaps cutting off the piece that would typically go between foundation and sill plate. Anyone have experience with this product?
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kit_813
15 years ago
I don't know about this product, but I had a problem similar to yours: cracks in the basement would leak water, and at other places the cement itself conducted water. My house is built on a slope, but underground there is a kind of a pool of granit that makes water accumulate in the soil. Very funny.
So the solution was to excavate around the house, put a drainage pipe all around the bottom of the foundation, seal the cracks in the cement and put a water-tight membrane all around the foundation. My house is 22x24feet, it took 2 days to be done, made a huge mess with mud all over the house thanks to the dog, and cost about 6000$.

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