Brick foundation repair recommendation?
We purchased this row house 3 years ago (flipped, ya I know). We got water in the basement – a little with Henri. A lot with Ida. Long story short – we had to remove the bottom 16″ of all the drywall bc it was wet and starting to mold.
With the brick foundation exposed, we can see that there is a 2″ gap on either side of the basement door (and yes, that was where water was seeping rapidly in either side.) and also that there is a 5′ stretch of brick that looks like the mortar is out. We think water worked its way in at that spot and ran inside the wall to the lowest point where it then seeped out. The tile floors slope some. Prior to opening the walls, we thought hydrostatic pressure was causing the seepage. Still could be true.
Looking for recommendation for inspection of the brick foundation – since it’s open, might as well know the worst. And who do you get to repair it? a mason? Looking for recs for that too.
What I see on the internet are folk who want to tell you what is wrong and fix it. I only want the first.
It rained last night, but didn’t see any water co ming it. It seems that the rain needs to be intense. But that is going to be more often in the future I think.
Other than that, we found with a humidifier, that the basement was normally dry and no mostly smell, mold, etc.
lafayetteloruren
in General Discussion 3 years and 9 months ago
5
Please log in, in order to post replies!
5 replies
lindelemony | 9 months ago
If you have questions about foundation repair, then you should simply contact Foundation Repair Company https://www.trifusionfoundationrepair.com/ “Trifusion Foundation Repair”. This is a proven option to get a good result and a quality guarantee. I have never regretted that I started working with them. I liked how they carried out all the necessary repair work.
lafayetteloruren
in General Discussion 3 years and 9 months ago
Thanks you all for your insight/suggestions -colonialrivival – our drains work fine. I say this as I observed the 3″ per hour rain that Ida dumped. The water went into the drains, through the drains and out of the house. The. water collecting from either side of the door was pushed into the drains and…. drained.
The floor is not entirely level and water seeping from the side collected in front, which we bailed into buckets (we have a pump, now, but not then.) I carried the bucket to the drain, would pour it in and the water drained. Repeat
Cate – yes! exactly. There turns out to be a 2″ wide gap on either side of the back door. You can’t see this until the drywall was removed. Even so, No water comes in with normal rain. I know this bc when it rained, I ran down and observed. But water came in with Henri and even more, with Ida. So yes, fixing that would is on our list.
Arkady – we have used Vinroy before – he repointed the exterior side of the house and ins talled vents for our gas dryer and bathroom fans. And we like him. He is hard to get ahold off.
We have moved on to fixing the observed issues.
cate | 3 years and 9 months ago
I’m not completely clear on the conditions you describe — is your “basement” an underground cellar with a rear door? In any case, if a door has openings around it where air and light are coming in, water will certainly come in also. If you have a brick wall with missing mortar outside then water can come in there also. If the mortar is missing inside, you should replace it but I wouldn’t expect that will stop water infiltration. Get some recommendations for masons from friends and neighbors, not over the Internet and invite some over to have a look and bid. OTOH if you want someone to diagnose your water infiltration problems, an engineer may be able to help — but it must be the right engineer. You can also try trial and error, like flooding an area with a hose to see what happens. Also as the other commenters say, check first to see if anything is causing water to cascade down the facade (such as a blocked gutter) or if anything is causing water to pool in the backyard. Fix those issues first or at the same time as any openings or missing mortar in exterior brick walls.
Arkady | 3 years and 9 months ago
VinRoy Barronette might be able to help you – 646 554 4513
colonialrevival | 3 years and 9 months ago
Water doesn’t come pouring in “rapidly” through fully underground basement walls unless the ground is at full saturation, which is highly unlikely to be caused by a natural event on its own. I mentioned this in a few other topics here recently and I’ll do so again — do you know where your drain pipes are? Many homes here have the dreaded elbow joint below the soil line where the gutters drain to. This often is not maintained, and can clog up, causing all of that water your roof, cornice, and gutters have done a wonderful job collecting, to come spilling out all over the soil that directly abuts your foundation walls. Run a hose down your gutter or roof drain and see what happens at the ground level, or dig a bit further down (watch for gas!) to see if you can find the connection point.
I am just a person on the internet, but one who has dealt with this exact issue, and was in disbelief at how dry my once oft-wet basement is now that I am maintaining the systems properly. On the afternoon before Ida, I was out in the garden with the wet vac shoved 4 feet down the drainpi pe to that damned elbow and managed to free the clog with 15 minutes to spare before the rain began, and the basement was totally dry.
You will find many contractors who will sell you on all sorts of “waterproofing” techniques, but there is no better starting place than ensuring proper function of the waterproofing systems that you already have.