New Construction- Water in Basement
We are building a new home and we noticed water coming into the foundation. The house is completely framed with shingles and windows installed. They have already started framing the basement and we are worried we already have a foundation issue. I posted a few pictures of what is going on after a recent rainfall. There is standing water a few inches from the foundation.When I talked with my realtor she didn't seem too concerned since the grading hasn't been done, there are no gutters and no sump pump installed. I feel like this shouldn't matter since this proves the seal has been compromised and water can get into the basement.
Should I ask to meet with the builder? What are your thoughts?
Comments (33)
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New Construction - Wet Basement
Comments (28)Karen, Unless you are planning to hire a professional engineer/inspector, or waiting for results from your attorney, we need to identify exactly what went wrong since by all accounts with an effective perimeter drain and working sump pump, you should not have a water problem. Would have loved to help in person, unfortunately we relocated from NJ to WA a couple of years ago. From your pictures it appears water is seeping up through a possible gap between slab and basement walls. To answer your question why basement is also wet in the center; regular concrete is porous and moisture will wick upwards through it due to hydrostatic pressure and lack of effective installed counter measures; I said regular concrete because one can add expensive additives to minimize/eliminate concrete porosity; but we can still fix things. First check perimeter drain installation: Do you have visibility to where the perimeter drain exits into the inlet? In your case, especially with sump pump turned off, there should be water pouring out of the drain; if not, the drain may either be a) sloped incorrectly (may even be feeding water back into the drain b) has a break somewhere (like patriceny described) c) is installed much higher than bottom of footings d) has drain holes facing up. Perimeter drain should have drain holes facing down so water starts moving sooner than wait for it to rise above top of drain; you want the pipe to drain and not float. Additionally, a perimeter drain should be sleeved in fabric to prevent clogging drain holes (it takes time to clog drains hence an unlikely cause in your new construction) e) is a combination of one or more above issues Measures: 1. Have the drains scoped: Preferably, this should be done when the basement is wet, so that you can tell if the drain is actually draining water to the drain. Have one ten foot section on a longer wall or where feasible, excavated to bottom of footing level. I'm guessing but it is very likely you have issue (c) above. Top of perimeter drain 'should not' be higher than bottom of basement slab. Drain needs to be next to bottom of footing to be effective for draining water. If that is the case, you may have no choice but to have entire perimeter dug out to lower height of perimeter drain or correct one or more above issues. If drains 'appear' to be installed correctly and water is still not draining fast enough, there may be a break/leak which unfortunately means uncovering 8'-10' sections at a time to identify where it is crushed/broken. Not that anything can be done about it immediately but do ask the builder if he installed a vapor barrier (visqueen sheeting) before he poured the basement and what thickness it was 6mil, 10mil or thicker (very likely it is 6mil if at all installed, builders will not use anything thicker unless specifically asked. Other effective measures: #1 is install an interior french drain, at least 8" deep (twice your slab thickness) draining into sump pump pit #2 if no vapour barrier was installed, have a company use Pressurized injection of waterproofing material, such as polyurethane, via several drilled holes. #3 same as #2 above but have them seal joints between slab and walls. #4. Dig out sump pump pit, deepening it to effectively lower water collection level and taking water away from bottom of slab and walls. There are several other possible solutions but we need to establish root cause or causes first. Please keep us apprised of course of action you are or intend to take....See MoreNew Construction - waterproofing basement
Comments (13)As mentioned before, your approach should be tailored to the site conditions. If they are extreme, an engineered approach would be best, including subslab applications and sump pump(s) installation. No amount of basement waterproofing would be useful in Houston/Galveston! Assuming less onerous conditions: Instead of Delta Drainage mats, consider less costly Delta MS, as noted by BT. Installing Delta MS Not sure what you mean by spray membrane. If you are referring to asphalt cutback, that's merely damproofing. Instead, various rubberized sprays are available, as are peel and stick waterproofing. But they should be used only when covered by Delta MS or equivalent. Often overlooked is the backfill. When I built a few hundred yards from Lake Ontario and water was visibly trickling towards the excavation down to the lake, we made sure to use sand and recycled fill (ground concrete)....See MoreConstructing a storm/"safe" room in basement of new build - advice?
Comments (43)I put one in my basement in WI. Same thing, just chose a corner then poured 2 extra concrete walls while they formed the rest of the basement walls. Steel door + frame with a mortise strike and deadbolt, it's overkill but my door is fire and hurricane rated. I chose to do nothing for the ceiling (open to wood trusses) because it's only 8'6" x 12' I put 1 hvac supply vent in there to better climate control it, the floor is heated (because the rest of the basement had it anyway), and I added a small floor drain in the center. Added an alarm system control panel in there, and a landline (since IT rack is in there too). Room is on its own circuit. IT rack has HUGE ups (uninterrupted power supply) batteries to keep my internet/cameras up in a power outage, but it also powers backup lights in the safe room and can charge phones I use mine for my IT rack location and gun safe. Once I get to it, I plan to turn the entire room into a "gun safe room" in itself, then I'll have a cabinet in there with emergency supply stuff should the family ever need to sit in there. Eventually I'll hang a cheap TV in there if I come across a free one, to display house cameras. I too was torn between the "do I make this into a big functional room or just do a large closet" but decided on the latter since it would be used much more as a gun room than we would ever need to sit and wait out tornadoes as a family pics before floor was poured: If I designed it again, I might have just chose a location closer to my staircase/exit...See MoreNew construction basement water seepage
Comments (4)It should be fine after the grade is established, gutters, and leaders installed, etc. I'm sure that foundation coating was applied and passed backfill inspection so everything was done to meet code compliance....See More
Ryan
9 years agoRyan
9 years agoHere are a few more. I got a few close ups and some of the outside. There is one of the foundation with water half way up and it appears to have a very small crack in it.
We are both young and ignorant when it comes to all this and would love any help we can get on what we should discuss with the builder. Thanks in advance.
Ryan
8 years agoI have yet to meet with the builder due to him being a vacation. We hope to do so this week. We are getting frustrated. The work on the house continues but after another large rain there are some other issues in the basement. We didn't receive enough to where it comes in through the foundation and the framing but look at the floor. The cracks are very small in the floor, hairline if anything and there is moisture around them. Also, there are several areas of moisture around the border of the room. I'm very concerned with this basement but no one else seems to be. We are having second thoughts about finishing the basement but have already wrote a large non-refundable check for the house upgrades which includes the basement finish.
Ryan
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoThe beginning of a nightmare.... Let me start
by saying to get any of my questions answered by their builder, I have to go
through my realtor who then talks with their representative and then they talk
to the builder.I
express my concerns with the basement hoping they will get back to me and put
an end to my worries. In response, we get this answer, “Trust the building
process, we know what we are doing, we don’t come to your job and tell you how
to do it"Imnot exaggerating this. I am shocked at their lack of
customer service. This is one of Iowa’s largest home builders and they say they
take pride in customer service before, during and after the sale. I have yet to
see this.After many phone calls of trying to get a meeting set up with the builder. We finally
meet with the site foreman on 5-8-15 and discussed a few minor issues and the
basement. I asked them if the sump pump would be up and running before
insulation and drywall installation and they assured me that it would be. At
the time I thought this was too good to be true but took their word for it. I
was excited to see things move forward in a positive direction but then the
events on 5-14-15 took place…4-25-15 = First sign of water coming in the basement
4-25 through 4-12 = HVAC, Electrical and Plumbing Installed.
5-12-15 =
Insulation starts to be installed
5-13-15 =
All insulation installed with no sump pump
5-14-15 =
We received between .5-.6 inches of rain. Drywall was delivered as this is the
next step. As soon as we look at the basement we see water. I proceed to look
under the insulation and I can see water running down the side of the
foundation. (pictures posted below). I called my realtor as I was upset that
they lied to me at our meeting and that nothing was being done about this on
the builders side. Still no sump pump, no grading, no
siding/gutters. Apparently this builder does all this after drywall is
installed which doesn’t help our situation as we have proved to them water does
get in. They are not concerned by this at all.15th-16th = My
realtor gets in contact with their representative. They continue to tell us
that we don’t understand the home building process and that building a home isn’t
right for us and that we are micromanaging them. They serve us with a release
of contract notice. We are devastated. All my fiancé and I wanted was our
concerns put at rest and to move forward with building a beautiful home but
they would rather terminate our contract then deal with our worry.We have wrote non-refundable checks to them during this process- $1000 earnest
money and $5000 for upgrades. The $5000 check has already been cashed. We are
hoping they tear up the earnest money check and give us our $5000 back. I feel like
we have gotten scammed. We fear that
this is something that is going to go to the court system.On Monday our realtor is meeting with their representative’s boss to discuss these
things. Hopefully they go well. Our realtor is doing everything she can to help us out with this and we are grateful for that.
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