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Moisture Problems – Is Your Drain Tile Dependable (Part 12)

Too many homebuyers have hired MN home inspectors that found the sellers disclosure regarding basement moisture to be incorrect and sometimes blatantly false. Unfortunately, too often, unsuspecting real estate agents are pulled into this scheme. The biggest culprits of this ruse are sump pumps and drain tiles. You would be surprised how many innocent agents are told the basement of the house they listed is drain tiled…and never look to verify that it is true. This is way too risky and this home inspector intends for that never to happen to you. Honestly and understandably, many agents and homeowners have never been trained to be able to distinguish between the different types of water control systems.

Did You Remember?
Some systems work and many do not.

Recently, one of my home inspection students told a horror story in class about a lawsuit his daughter won against the real estate agents involved in her home purchase. The MLS listing stated that the house was drain tiled and the buyer’s agent when seeing the sump basket verbally confirmed that to be true. The daughter moved into the house and the basement flooded shortly thereafter. She was eventually awarded a $30,000 claim against both agents.

Did You Know?
Water always goes to the easiest exit point.

Drain tiled basements have a pipe that is continuous around the entire perimeter of the foundation. This 4” pipe has holes that will freely gather ground water before it gets onto the floor. These pipes extend and dump water into the basket which is then pumped outside.

So take the cover off the sump basket and look inside. If you see two 4” pipes coming thru the side of the basket, the basement is drain tiled and dependable. If there are no pipes, the basement is not drain tiled and undependable.

Very often what looks like a drain tiled basement turns out to be nothing but a pit in the floor. This would be a mega real estate agent or homebuyer nightmare.

Oh the sweet sound of the house speaking so softly.

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Moisture Problems – Sump Pumps and Drain Tile (Part 11)

Many homebuyers and real estate agents have the perception that a sump pump and drain tile indicate a problematic house, something they should walk away from…nothing could be further from the truth. When this system is installed properly it will really work. Soil conditions will impact the exact type of installation and the elevation of the water table on how often it will need to operate, but when these two factors are considered this method of water control is very reliable.

Why is it that so many people continue to have this uneasiness about sumps?

Sumps and pumps have evolved over the years. Old drain tile systems are made with clay tiles and placed directly in the dirt. Because of the brittle material and open joints, they are prone to becoming damaged or plugged with silt. It’s not uncommon for this condition to exist in many homes today. In addition, countless con artists have designed cheaper “quick and easy” water control methods for homeowner installation. Commonly called beaver systems, these systems failed miserably and most of these people ended up in jail for fraud. Both of these systems are concealed, either below the basement floor or behind finished walls. So…using our “see thru wall’ home inspector eyes, how could a buyer or agent tell if either of these risky conditions existed?

It’s simple – find the basement floor drain. Most drains are on the surface of the floor, but sometimes they are below a wood or metal cover plate that you must lift up. These old systems will drain directly into a plumbing floor drain which indicates that problem home.

But newer drain tile systems are embedded in gravel and made with a continuous plastic pipe with holes. These pipes are more durable and are covered with a silt screen fabric that keeps them from becoming plugged. The sump pump will be discharged into the yard and in some instances there will be an additional battery backup pump. These systems are very reliable and should put the homeowner, buyer or the real estate agent at ease.

How would you recognize this type of dependable installation? Do all sumps have drainage pipes that go around the perimeter of the foundation? Next week let’s listen to what the house and this MN home inspector have to say about these matters.

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Moisture Problems – High Water Table Signs (Part 10)

When a home is built on land with a high water table, re-grading and gutters are not the correction to the problem. Remember, grading and gutters correct stained, damp or wet walls and, sometimes, minor floor seepage stains. This problem could exist on a portion of one wall, on an entire wall, or on all the walls. It will depend upon the condition of the outside landscaping on the other side of the foundation. Has the house not spoken to you? Are you now confident in being able to recognize these types of situations?

In a high water table situation the observations will be very different. For example, you might spot that the bottom of wood beam posts in the middle of the basement are soft and rotted. Maybe sections of the concrete floor are cracked, buckled, and pushed up from hydrostatic water pressure. Typically these cracks will have water marks on the edges. You might even see loose vinyl floor tiles, tiles with water marks on the seams, or a brittle crackly noise when you walk on these tiles. If you’re really adventurous, take a small screw driver and pull back carpet corners looking for water damaged wood tack stripping. Can you see a consistent water mark ring on all the walls around the perimeter of the foundation?

If you can see any of these clues, can you begin to
hear the sound of a flooded basement?

Flooded basements will have the same problems existing on all four walls and over the entire basement floor. The subsurface ground water is coming up into the basement. It is not surface water coming down the sidewalls. There is only one way to correct this situation…install a sump pump and foundation drainage tile.

Do these systems really work? Are they always reliable?
Do they indicate a problem home?

Great questions, next time let’s ask the house.

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Moisture Problems – Look for Signs (Part 9)

Wetland, Swamp & Outlot

It’s often said there are 3 L’s in real estate, location…location…location. Unfortunately, many times, in order for a home to be located in a desirable location, builders constructed them on land that for a long time had been rejected because of unstable or wet soil. Or other times, homes were built intentionally adjacent to lakes, rivers, and wet lands because of the privacy and beauty. With populations increasing and prime undeveloped land decreasing, contractors, real estate agents and homeowners turned to building on this premium land foregoing previous concerns about soil stability and a high water table. By engineering the foundation and installing sophisticated water management systems these homes cost more, but being in the right location topped this concern by a mile.

Are you starting to hear these homes say…
Basement moisture or foundation settlement?

Cattails

Sadly, many of these homes were poorly engineered and the water control systems were either non-existent, incomplete, or have failed. This makes for a messy situation or what I like to call “home inspector job security.” Remember that in home inspection there are 3 M’s, moisture…moisture…moisture. Actually, on second thought let’s make it 4 M’s.

But what can real estate agents or homeowners look for on the outside of the home that would indicate this problem exists on the inside. Or just as important, if the moisture condition doesn’t exist in the basement or crawl space now, there is a high risk that it will soon.

Flat & Low Land

Here are some very reliable signs:

  • Cattails on or near the site
  • Adjacent to wetlands, swamps & outlots
  • Built on flat or low lying land
  • Settled soils around the perimeter of the home
  • Settled concrete walks & steps
  • Long gutter downspout extensions (8’ or more)
  • Long sump pump discharge pipes (10’ or more)

 

 

What these clues are telling you is the soil is unstable and wet. That the bottom elevation of the home is either near the water table or many times it is in the water table. With rain and snow thaws the surface water will become sub surface causing the water table to rise.

And when it does, ground water will be forced up through the floor slab, foundation walls, and flood the basement. How did I know this was going to happen…because the house whispered to me!

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Moisture Problems – Listen To Your Home (Part 8)

Before going further into high water tables, let’s stop for a moment and reflect on what we have accomplished so far. In the beginning, I asked that you begin to look at the house differently. To take off your real estate agent or homeowner cap and begin to look at the house through the eyes of a home inspector. My intention was to show you that the house can begin to talk to you and tell you where the problems exist, if you will only listen.

Our 1st example of ‘seeing through walls’ has been, when walking around the exterior of the house, you can quickly determine if there is a wet basement…before going inside. Earth, walks, steps, patios, driveways that are flat or have settled and sloped towards the foundation, NOW, should immediately scream basement moisture. Gutters without downspout extensions will shout wet foundations. Trees, retaining walls, small hills that do not allow rain and snow water to flow unobstructed to the street, alley, or city drainage easements ought to holler dampness.

Are you beginning to hear the whisper?

Those musty smells in the lower level…moisture. Orange, yellow, black, grey, and white powdery wall discoloration…moisture. Peeled foundation wall paint…yep…moisture. Warped paneling, black rings around baseboard trim nails, rusted drywall nails…you guessed it, moisture. Seepage ring stains along the edge of the floor slab, crackly vinyl tiles, stiff carpet edges…you got it! I would estimate that over 85% of all MN basements have dampness. And I suspect this would hold true for all homes throughout the U.S. that have below grade space.

Before starting all my home inspections, I ask my clients what they are most concerned about in purchasing this home. Every time one of the top 3 concerns will be not having a wet basement.

NOW, if you are asked the same question, just glance over their shoulder, look at the land and hardscaping, and you can give them an informed answer, because this IS the cause of over 90% of all wet basements. Even if, and there is a small chance, the basement isn’t damp, it’s just a matter of time before it will be. So fix it now or pay for it dearly latter. It is so basic I’m surprised so many homeowners neglect it. When you run water towards something it’s bound to come in…at some time.
AND that’s not OK.

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Moisture Problems – High Water Table Issues(Part 7)

Last week I asked why roof gutters with no or short downspout extensions was so bad. The answer is, when dumping massive amounts of water on small isolated points of a foundation, even the best of soils and grading cannot handle the volume. Notice on this picture the mold and water damage going up the corner of the basement. This is where a downspout had been missing on the outside of the house. Gutters are good, but if not kept intact, they can also funnel water into a basement or crawl space.

DO YOU REMEMBER?
90% of wet basements are caused by not controlling surface water

Control of surface water is accomplished with positive landscaping, hardscaping, and sometimes gutters. But control of sub surface water can be a little more difficult…to recognize and to correct. Less than 10% of the time homes are built on land with a high water table. In these situations landscaping, hardscaping, and gutters will do nothing to keep water out of the basement. When a home is built in a water table or so close to a high water table that fluctuates with heavy rains and snow thaws, you will need to have a sump pump and drain tiles.

How can real estate agents and homeowners tell if a home is built on a high water table?

In this situation, basements and crawl spaces will flood. What I mean is the entire basement floor will get wet… not just damp walls and maybe some seepage stains along the edges of the floor. Flooded floors disclose themselves almost like leaving a dirt ring around your bathtub when you get out. There will be uniform water marks on all four walls at the same elevation off the floor.

There are other indicators of a high water table problem and we will cover those as we continue our journey with basement and crawl space moisture next week.

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Moisture Problems – Gutters (Part 6)

Large volumes of water discharge off a home’s roof and can compound a basement or crawl space moisture problem. Depending on the roof design, the amount of water can often be too much for even a yard that is properly graded away from the house. Sometimes we need to add gutters and downspouts to the roof eaves. However, all roofs do not need gutters, in fact, most do not.

DID YOU KNOW?
Building code does not require a house to have gutters

Controlling roof drainage is important, but it is never a substitute for proper grading. Too often frustrated homeowners look for the quickest and easiest fix to a basement moisture problem. When landscaping and hardscaping is too difficult or too expensive they look for a short cut. The easy answer is to install gutters, but roof drainage is always secondary to correct earth grading. So, if the landscaping and hardscaping are positively sloped away from the house and the foundation is still damp or wet then adding gutters to the roof is essential. Gutters will manage the surface water coming off the roof and, if properly installed, harmlessly drain it away from the foundation.

So how would a homeowner or real estate agent know when a home should have gutters?

The design of the house is the most common indicator. Homes that most often need to control roof drainage to stay dry have any one or all of the following characteristics:

• Steep roof pitch
• Roofs with valleys
• No overhangs or small roof overhangs

These house styles dump huge amounts of water directly on the foundation which, depending on the type of soil, will saturate the earth adjacent to the walls. These wet soils will hold moisture on or adjacent to the foundation which will eventually migrate towards and run down alongside the basement or crawl space walls. Gutters with the proper extensions will direct this water away from the house.

Understanding that all homes do not need gutters to stay dry…then what could be worse than a roof that needs gutters and doesn’t have any? How about a roof that has gutters with no or short downspout extensions…why?

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Moisture Problems – Hardscaping (Part 5)

Although landscaping is so very important to a dry basement, sometimes other things outside the home can cause water to work its way inside. Because of difficulty and cost, people are often hesitant to consider the negative impact hardscaping can have on moisture intrusion. What I’m talking about here are:

  • Walks
  • Steps
  • Patios
  • Decks
  • Driveways

Just like the earth, over time these wood, asphalt, and concrete surfaces can settle. Often the settlement will either puddle water alongside or actually drive water towards the foundation. As I said these hard surfaces can be expensive to remove and replace. For this reason, most of the time, homeowners will leave the settled hardscaping and try anything and everything else to try to correct the problem…and it never works! There is a core principal here and that is, if water is being driven towards the foundation, at some time, it is bound to come into the basement. It might not be in normal rain or snow thaw, but during in-climate conditions it will.

That’s why if you ask a homeowner selling their house if they have moisture in the basement, their immediate reaction will be no. Then when they think about it for a moment, they will say something like well maybe a little bit on real heavy rainfalls or only when the downspouts are disconnected or only when it rains really hard from the north. What they are saying is the landscape and hardscape are not sloped adequately to handle large volumes of water. Homeowners, home buyers, and real estate professionals don’t expect basements or crawl spaces to be dry some of the time or even most of the time. Today, these people demand that these below grade spaces be dry ALL of the time.

So the grounds surrounding the home are very important to protect against moisture intrusion…but that’s just the beginning!

Doug & Julie Hastings
Your House Whisperers
Minnesota Home Inspection Services

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Moisture Problems – Re-Landscaping (Part 4)

The neighbor’s basement is not a good idea. But there is a point to be made; that is once the movement of surface water is changed it may impact other homes and this could open a homeowner up to a lawsuit. So, before beginning to re-landscape you should always check with the city and the neighbors; thoroughly explaining the plan and seeking each of their approvals.

Moving some dirt around doesn’t sound like too big a deal…but are there any other concerns before starting this type of project?

There sure are and one of those would be making certain the earth isn’t placed too high on the foundation. If the earth is too close or contacting the wood framing, this would cause a different type of moisture intrusion. It would not disclose itself in the basement or crawl space, but it would rot out the structural wood framing. For that reason the building code requires a separation between the top of the foundation and the finished earth grade. Be sure and also look out for planter boxes that are too high up onto the wall, buried brick weep holes and stucco drip screeds. Each of these is very important, but they are a different type of moisture intrusion and will be explained in greater depth later.

Another concern would be window wells, and with these there are two considerations. First, there must be clearance between the bottom of the window and the earth. If not, water will seep into the basement underneath the window. Second, the well area must not allow water to pond on the window. Or this would allow water to travel through the window and into the basement.

But landscaping is not the only problem on the outside of the home…have you ever heard of hardscaping?  Check back soon for part 5 in our series on resolving moisture problems in the home.

Doug & Julie Hastings
Your House Whisperers
MN Home Inspectors

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Moisture Problems – Landscaping (Part 3)

Unfortunately not, controlling exterior surface water can be quite a bit more complex than just landscaping. There are many situations that the landscaping looks just the way it should, but below the surface it really isn’t. Remember my previous comment on soils. The type of soil can impact how permeable or impermeable it may be. Some soil lets water flow through it very readily, permeable; typically this does not trap water on the foundation. And some stops moisture, impermeable; this can actually be sending water towards the house. On the surface it looks like the earth is sloped away from the foundation, but below its not.

This condition is often masked by topsoil, decorative rocks or wood chips. So discovering this problem is more difficult than just looking at the slope of the earth. It might take moving some dirt, rocks, or chips to see the true lay of the land.

Most of the time, correcting these grading problems will include hauling in dirt, raising the soil along the foundation and gently tapering it away from the house. However, there are circumstances that will actually require digging out the dirt, lowering it on the foundation, and re-shaping the land. The core principal is that water must move away from the foundation and drain off the building site.

Typically, this water will drain to the street, an alley, city drainage easements, or sometimes the neighbor’s basement…is that OK?  Check back soon for part 4 in our moisture problem resolution series!

Doug & Julie Hastings
Your House Whisperers
Minneapolis Home Inspectors

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Moisture Problems – the Basement (Part 2)

We will launch our tour together in the basement or crawl space seeking moisture, figuring out its source, and providing solutions to the problem. The most common dampness in below grade foundations originates from outside the building. Moisture intrusion is caused by inadequate control of surface and ground waters. The results can be discolored walls, seepage on the floor around the perimeter of the foundation, or a completely flooded basement.

So what causes these conditions?

The most common cause of basement moisture is improper landscaping. Simply put the earth grading is sloped towards the foundation. This is called negative slope. The first step in managing surface water is to make sure the earth slopes away, positive slope, from the foundation on all sides of the building. Even the smallest depressions or settlement of soil can trap water allowing it to dampen the walls and stain the foundation.

Although type of soil can have an impact on whether surface water will enter the building, there are 3 common grading defects that should always be corrected. They are:

1. Flat or negative slope
2. Settled backfill
3. No drainage swale

So we see that landscaping is always a problem, but is that the only thing on the outside of the home that causes moisture intrusion?  Check back soon for part 3 in our home moisture problem resolution series!

Doug & Julie Hastings
Your House Whisperers
Residential & Commercial Home Inspectors

 

 

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Moisture is the #1 Enemy of Any Home (Part 1)

Approximately 90% of all structural building failures are caused by moisture. This problem is clearly the #1 enemy of any home. Regardless of age, style, or location; moisture is extremely damaging and all homeowners, home buyers, or real estate professionals need to be able to recognize it.

To begin understanding moisture, it’s important to understand what the structure of a house is. There are 4 parts to the buildings ‘super’ structure and they are the:
1. Foundation
2. Floors
3. Walls
4. Roof

Moisture can easily enter these spaces from either outside or inside of the building. Sometimes moisture is visible on the surface of building materials making it easy to recognize, but most of the time it is located in concealed spaces behind the finished building materials that are not visible to the untrained eye. The longer dampness remains unchecked the more damaging and expensive it becomes to remedy.

This begins our journey; together we will methodically go through the entire house searching out this most elusive nemesis. Some of the concerns will be simple and easily understood, while others may be a bit more complex. It is my hope, that in the end, you will better understand moisture and its negative impact on the home.

Doug & Julie Hastings
Your House Whisperers
Minnesota Home Inspectors

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Welcome to Your House Whisperers!

Inspected Homes Can Sell Faster!
Your House Whisperers is the blogging home of Cities’ Inspection Service, Inc. – we’re glad you’re here!

Our goal with this blog is to be your resource and answer to your questions about residential and commercial property inspections.  Whether you are a home buyer, home seller or real estate professional, we have resources for you here within our blog, as well as on our website.

While theory is great, we believe there’s no substitute for hands-on, practical experience when it comes to property inspections.  Doug Hastings, our lead home inspector, has over 20 years of experience working in the field, and he’ll provide real-life examples of things he encounters through is work.

Before becoming a Minnesota home inspector, Doug was a builder and remodeler. For 14 years he was a “hands on” carpenter and mason, building what he inspects today. 24 years ago he closed his construction company to become an independent home inspector. Passionate about being the best possible inspector he can be, Doug has studied his craft extensively and is certified or licensed in the areas he serves.  Doug has inspected over 17,500 homes or commercial buildings. Along with inspecting, 21 years ago he began writing and teaching inspection classes for Prosource, a real estate education company. Currently, in addition to inspecting, he is the lead instructor and curriculum developer for Kaplan a national home inspection school.  He has spent over 1,500 days in the classroom training others his craft and business skills.

So check back often for updates … and if you have a question, feel free to leave us a comment — we’ll answer your questions and look forward to hearing from you!

Doug & Julie Hastings
Your House Whisperers

 

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