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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 – 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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