i would like to get some opinions on my situation and hopefully a concensus can be reached as to what the best thing to do would be.
Here is my situation. I live in a small colonial house built in the early 40s. I am having problems with water getting into my basement. It is not a cracked foundation. Let me explain.
When it rains really heavily here and I’m talking about what they refer to as flash floods, the gutters on my house are unable to hold and drain the water quick enough so the rain overflows the gutters and pours down the side of the house. I have a poured foundation and on top of that they laid the bricks. At the point where the foundation meets the bricks there is a patch of concrete to cover the seam all the way around the house. It is kind of like a skirt. This skirt is cracked at many spots and when the water pours down the outside wall from the overflowing gutters it finds its way into the cracks and then in between the bricks and foundation and finally down the inside of my basement wall.
How do I know for a fact that this is the problem and not a cracked foundation? It took me a long time to figure out. Every single person that I talked to said that the foundation was cracked but the odd thing was none of them could prove it. One guy came and cut a whole in the drywall (the basement is finished) to show me and he couldn't find the evidence he was looking for.
In the utility room, the only room not finished in the basement, I can actually see the water pouring over the top of the wall:
Also I stuffed a towel up in the wall above grade where the guy cut the hole and it filled up with water during a flash flood. You can see in the pictures that I patched the cracks with tape and since I did that, no water inside.
Anyway, I hired somebody to blow baking soda and remove all the paint from the concrete skirt outside so I could get it reconcreted. This is where I am having trouble. I'm trying to hire a concrete person to repatch and fix the problem. I'm getting a few different solutions and I don't know which is the best one.
First of all no matter how clearly I explain my problem the majority of the contractors refuse to believe me. They all say it is a cracked foundation. If I do manage to convince them what the problem is most of them don't want to do the job (I don't know why) and never call me back. I have talked to 6 contractors so far. I only have one guy that says he will do the job but he is not licensed and probably has no insurance. So I don't know what to do.
The unlicensed guy said to me what he wants to do is break off all the concrete around the seam and fill it with a concrete epoxy. He says that it will fill it all in well and find its way around. He then said he would reparge the concrete on top of the epoxy all the way around almost making a lip from the top of the skirt over the first layer of brick then use some kind of sealant ontop of that to make it all waterproof. I like the idea of the epoxy, it seems like something that could really help but I still didn't really get a good feeling from the guy and I would rather not hire somebody that is unlicensed. But now after having 5 more people come over nobody else wants to do the job. I had somebody else come and they said that they would run a wire mesh around the whole house then reparge. I asked them about the epoxy and they didin't know what to say... They also want to install a french drain in my basement and break the foundation because they are convinced that the foundation still is cracked... definitely unnecessary
So, what do you guys think the right way to fix this job would be? Is it to use the epoxy and then reparge? I really don't want to use some kind of sealant ontop of the concrete because in the event that this happens again I don't want to have to spend another $1000 for paint removal. But if you guys think that is necessary then I will.
I do want this to be done correctly and to look nice. Not just a patch job.
btw - if you look at everybody's house on the block you can see that most of the lips are patched up with concrete, so this is a common problem and obviously a design flaw of these houses.
Here are some pictures:
So this is the worst side. Obviously the whole side needs to be reparged and this is the only side that looks like this. But the cracking along the top lip is what is consistant all around the house:
this is the lip closer up, you can see the crack and again this is what is exposed at various parts around the house:
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I guess the different color brown below is the mortar and obviously not water tight. The bricks are just sitting on top of the foundation and this is the gap where the rain is getting in. I think this is what should be broken off all the way around the house to reveal this:
these are some cracked corners but no water is penetrating them:
I Look forward to hearing your thoughts
Here is my situation. I live in a small colonial house built in the early 40s. I am having problems with water getting into my basement. It is not a cracked foundation. Let me explain.
When it rains really heavily here and I’m talking about what they refer to as flash floods, the gutters on my house are unable to hold and drain the water quick enough so the rain overflows the gutters and pours down the side of the house. I have a poured foundation and on top of that they laid the bricks. At the point where the foundation meets the bricks there is a patch of concrete to cover the seam all the way around the house. It is kind of like a skirt. This skirt is cracked at many spots and when the water pours down the outside wall from the overflowing gutters it finds its way into the cracks and then in between the bricks and foundation and finally down the inside of my basement wall.
How do I know for a fact that this is the problem and not a cracked foundation? It took me a long time to figure out. Every single person that I talked to said that the foundation was cracked but the odd thing was none of them could prove it. One guy came and cut a whole in the drywall (the basement is finished) to show me and he couldn't find the evidence he was looking for.
In the utility room, the only room not finished in the basement, I can actually see the water pouring over the top of the wall:
Also I stuffed a towel up in the wall above grade where the guy cut the hole and it filled up with water during a flash flood. You can see in the pictures that I patched the cracks with tape and since I did that, no water inside.
Anyway, I hired somebody to blow baking soda and remove all the paint from the concrete skirt outside so I could get it reconcreted. This is where I am having trouble. I'm trying to hire a concrete person to repatch and fix the problem. I'm getting a few different solutions and I don't know which is the best one.
First of all no matter how clearly I explain my problem the majority of the contractors refuse to believe me. They all say it is a cracked foundation. If I do manage to convince them what the problem is most of them don't want to do the job (I don't know why) and never call me back. I have talked to 6 contractors so far. I only have one guy that says he will do the job but he is not licensed and probably has no insurance. So I don't know what to do.
The unlicensed guy said to me what he wants to do is break off all the concrete around the seam and fill it with a concrete epoxy. He says that it will fill it all in well and find its way around. He then said he would reparge the concrete on top of the epoxy all the way around almost making a lip from the top of the skirt over the first layer of brick then use some kind of sealant ontop of that to make it all waterproof. I like the idea of the epoxy, it seems like something that could really help but I still didn't really get a good feeling from the guy and I would rather not hire somebody that is unlicensed. But now after having 5 more people come over nobody else wants to do the job. I had somebody else come and they said that they would run a wire mesh around the whole house then reparge. I asked them about the epoxy and they didin't know what to say... They also want to install a french drain in my basement and break the foundation because they are convinced that the foundation still is cracked... definitely unnecessary
So, what do you guys think the right way to fix this job would be? Is it to use the epoxy and then reparge? I really don't want to use some kind of sealant ontop of the concrete because in the event that this happens again I don't want to have to spend another $1000 for paint removal. But if you guys think that is necessary then I will.
I do want this to be done correctly and to look nice. Not just a patch job.
btw - if you look at everybody's house on the block you can see that most of the lips are patched up with concrete, so this is a common problem and obviously a design flaw of these houses.
Here are some pictures:
So this is the worst side. Obviously the whole side needs to be reparged and this is the only side that looks like this. But the cracking along the top lip is what is consistant all around the house:
this is the lip closer up, you can see the crack and again this is what is exposed at various parts around the house:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I guess the different color brown below is the mortar and obviously not water tight. The bricks are just sitting on top of the foundation and this is the gap where the rain is getting in. I think this is what should be broken off all the way around the house to reveal this:
these are some cracked corners but no water is penetrating them:
I Look forward to hearing your thoughts