Thanks for the input. The gutters/downpipe are spotless...I have been religious about keeping them clean. I even blow out the downpipe and the draintile connected to it with my leaf blower :) I will copy and paste the 'whole story' that I posted on another forum....a little repeat of my original post above, but with more info added. ---------------------------------- Hi, I hope someone can help. Some previous owner enclosed the garage to make an additional room. House is slab on grade, built in 1951. The room that used to be the garage is 5" lower than the rest of the house, and perfectly even with the grade. (more on that later.) About 6 months ago, after a bad rain, I found water about 1/4" deep in the front portion of the room (where the garage door used to be). When I walked on that area, more water squooshed up from under the wood laminate floor. I ripped out the floor (moldy underneath), and cut the bottom of the wall out (drywall wet.) There I could see that when they enclosed the garage, they built a little (3") cement curb, and the studwall is attached to that. The top of the little curb wasn't perfectly smooth, and no sealing was apparent - I could see daylight :( I had someone seal that up with waterproof caulking. Then had a new laminate floor laid, with plastic sheeting underneath. (it's pink.) Before he laid the floor, he caulked along where the walls meet the floor. Then after laying the floor, he caulked in the expansion gap between the edge of the floor and the wall. All was well until last week - another storm - another pool of water in the house. I can't imagine that the water gets 3" deep, enough to splash over the little cement curb, so maybe there are little gaps between where the little curb meets the slab? Regarding the grade - I cannot slope it because it's hemmed in by the driveway and the sidewalk. here is a picture: Another storm was coming, so I dug a trench along the front of the leaking area, then another trench perpendicular to it that led to a deeper hole. Then I taped 6m tarp to the house. It worked - the water collected in the tarp/trenches. I pumped that off. I had a drainage guy come out, telling him I needed a french drain. He took one look and said I needed a grated trench drain instead, sort of like this: He would attach underground piping and daylight it away from the house. Then he suggested pulling the siding off and putting a rubber membrane on that area too. I don't know if he meant the paint on kind, like Eco-Flex, or an actual hunk of rubber. There is also a smaller leak on the side of the house, where a sidewalk is right up against the house. I think the sidewalk is actually higher than the slab, so the water is probably seeping down where the sidewalk meets the house, and then under the sillplate. When I previously cut the drywall out there, it was obvious this is not the first time it leaked. The sillplate does not look so great - I guess it is dryrot? (why call it dry rot when it comes from being wet??) SO....... does this sound like a good idea? The trench drain and the rubber membrane? The only thing I can think of to do about where the sidewalk meets the house it to caulk that joint really well. The other guy did that, but some of it came off. One more thing --- the water that leaks into the house is perfectly clear. Is that weird? I would think it would be murky because it is coming off of dirt. The one explanation for that might be: There is still some of the old driveway attached past the little curb, you can see it outside of the house. Maybe rain is hitting that and then running back towards the curb/slab. Another important point: The house I live in is a teardown - speculaters are buying them as they go up for sale and building $600K homes. I am not planning on living here forever, maybe another year or so, and since they'll be tearing it down anyway, I am not compelled to do really expensive fixes, like rebuilding this room. I won't have the disclosure issue to worry about like when you sell to an individual. -------------------------- Update since I posted that on the other forum: Another landscape place came to bid, and only suggested to take off a few inches of soil from the existing bed. Wouldn't that just trap the water in the bed, forming a small lake? Shouldn't the water be somehow moved AWAY from the house? In other news, the waterproofing guy is suggesting putting a rubber membrane on the problem area, plus digging a trench, filling it with rock and a sump pump. If that worked, I could skip the whole french drain, trench drain, etc.

so in PIC #2 remove the 2 X 2 and add a say 6" wide (more ???) piece of drywall, screwed to the rafters as far back as it will go. Thus nothing touches the top ledge of the XPS but rather there is a inch or so gap between the XPS top ledge and drywall. I assume then when I am drywalling or framing in front of the XPS, there will always be a inch gap there. How about the blue DOW stuff. Just shove it in as best I can, caulk the bottom and tyvek tape the sides? Simple enough but the stuff might not end up tight against the concrete...there could be and 1/8" space in some areas since its not very rigid. (again, the 1 X 4 isticks out a little more tan the DOW so the drywall will not froce the dow tightly against the wall.)Is the general feeling though that I need not tapcon the blue pieces in place? That will save a lot of work.

my gc surrounded the opening with cement board, approx 20" all around. he then mudded (regular tape and mud) a skim coat(s) to cover seam and raise the thickness of cement board to match the drywall. topped it with the texture i went with. i chose light orange peel texture and can see no seaming. i finished with two coats of SW regular interior paint. all looks great after one year of regular use. hopefully will not have any waranty issues down the road as the above really didn't confirm with what was recommended by mendota. would have played by the rules but the micore backing they recommended wasnt even available and second choice would have been a 5 hour one way trip for one sheet

Hi hdavidson7, I am a licensed civil engineer. I realize you may be past the point but I am posting for others to see. A letter is never sufficient for removing a wall. The correct way is to go through the permit application process with your city and clearly outline the scope of work. Along with your application, you submit the letter provided by the engineer with his stamp. The letter must include the necessary documentation supporting their opinion. Without a stamp the letter holds no legal merit and is useless (even if signed). This is a detail sometimes overlooked by home owners, and is one of the many reasons you are required to go through the permitting process so these details are not omitted. The city plan checking office also reviews your permit to make sure any other proposed modifications do not require additional review from an engineer or licensed contractor. You don't know what you don't know, and the permitting process is designed to protect you. Cities do not make much in permitting fees contrary to what many homeowners may think. Having said that, I wish you the best of luck with your drywall nightmare, honestly it sounds like it needs to be completely redone if you want straight walls and no cracks in the present and distant future. Good help is hard to find these days, even when you look carefully like it sounds like you did.