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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...
Moisture Problems – Look for Signs (Part 9)
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...