Wet Basement and Cellar in Richland, IN

Friday, December 27th, 2013 by Cassi Sherman Henes

Challenge

This stately home presented several challenges to the Healthy Spaces installation team upon inspection. First and foremost, the home was constructed on a red brick foundation that was severely degraded from water intrusion. There was poor access to the cellar and basement because, as with many lovely older homes in Richland, this one had additions made in the past. About one half of the home rested on the original cellar, the other half rested on a basement with outside access. The outside door had an inset stoop that had sunk over time and was directing water into the basement.

The basement had outside access, which was contributing to the water intrusion, but the door would prove helpful for installation crews. The poured concrete basement floor was damp throughout and there was efflorescence (mineral deposits) visible on the red brick foundation walls. There was access to the cellar and crawlspace portion of the home through the basement and it showed that the exposed dirt floor of the crawlspace was also directing water into the basement.

The cellar itself was uneven and had several missing supports, a great deal of debris, and remnants of the old plumbing system as well as portions of the new piping visible throughout. There was access to the cellar from both the basement and through a wall panel in the home. The cellar had been dug out into several different levels over time and our Project Manager, Damon, noted that a previous homeowner had used a poured concrete wall to replace the failing red brick foundation wall in one area. The cellar and basement both had poor lighting and unreliable power supplies due to the dampness.

Solution

Damon went through solutions step by step with the homeowners in order to make sure that all areas of water intrusion were accounted for and the homeowners goals were met.

First, Damon and homeowners decided to install a full perimeter drainage system throughout the basement and cellar. They chose to utilize a Waterguard system with a TripleSafe Sump Pump, WaterWatch Alarm, and battery backup system. Next, they decided that the best way to control the cellar's dampness and leakiness was to install a CleanSpace system to encapsulate the cellar. Finally, the homeowners also elected to regrade the surrounding yard to direct water away from the house.

Basement:

In the basement, the installation crew will install a Waterguard perimeter drain system and will be drilling some small holes along the shared wall between the basement and cellar to promote drainage from the cellar into the Waterguard system because that shared wall has pockets of water trapped in the bricks.

The really exciting part of the Waterguard system is actually the TripleSafe Sump Pump. It has three different pumps to make sure that it never fails, especially since the homeowners both live and work in their home. Losing power or getting flooded would mean a tremendous loss of income for them, so they wanted the extra protection of a TripleSafe pump.

Cellar

After the debris is removed, the cellar will be regraded by hand in order to create a nice flat surface to install the drainage system and CleanSpace encapsulation system throughout. This combination of a system to remove the water that is leaking in as well as isolate the home from the dirt, will create better indoor air quality and a healthier, drier system for the home.

The homeowners have also realized that the missing support posts must be replaced in order to keep the floor above level. They have elected to install Foundation Supportworks SmartJacks in the crawlspace/cellar to insure that the proper support is present for the first floor.

UPDATE:

At this time, the home has been cleared of debris and prepped for installation. The homeowners elected to wait until after the holidays to finish the installation even though the recent unseasonable rain had further exacerbated the wet basement and cellar issues.

Project Summary

Project Manager: Damon Cheatham

Stately home with additions experiencing water intrusion in basement and cellar.

Outside basement access door is directing water into the basement as seen here.

Here is a close up of the water intrusion issues from the exterior basement entrance.

Picture of basement foundation walls (note: red brick foundation, rather than more recognizable block or poured concrete foundation walls). You can see how there are rugs down in order to catch extra moisture and debris from the exterior door into the basement.

Wet patches on basement floor indicate that water is coming in from the walls and up through the floor.

Leaking basement walls are denoted by the efflorescence (mineral deposits) on the walls. You can also see how consistently damp the basement is.

Here, you can see how the heating and cooling system in the home is basically sitting in damp patches. This can cause the bottom of the units to rust out quickly and decrease the lifespan of these costly machines.

This picture shows where the crawlspace/cellar and the basement are joined. There is evidence of water coming from the cellar into the basement. That's a huge problem because the breaker panel is located right where the water is flowing through and the homeowners state that the power does go out regularly due to moisture intrusion.

Here is the second access point for the crawlspace. The homeowners note that this room smells worse than the others and that the paint bubbles and peels off the wall shared with the cellar.

In this photo, you can see the condition of the cellar. It's a very uneven surface that seems to be dry, but the pits and sunken areas are moist. This indicates that the moisture is present and being directed into the basement area.

Here is one area where there is a missing support post. Thankfully, the Healthy Spaces Installation team has SmartJacks available to support the foundation and return the floor above to level condition.

Here, the debris has been removed and installation team has discovered a long settlement trench that will need to be filled prior to installing Cleanspace.

Debris has been removed and the basement is ready for Waterguard installation.

Here is the other side of the basement with the poured concrete support wall. The Waterguard will be installed parallel with it and will catch water coming through the wall as well as perimeter moisture.

About the author

Cassi Sherman Henes

Cassi holds over 15 years experience in the construction, real estate, and education industries. She is certified in foundation repair technology, soil dynamics, and system design from the Foundation Supportworks Institute.

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Wet Basement and Cellar in Richland, IN

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