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Wall leaking at base

3K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  tunaman 
#1 ·
Along one side of my building I have a 4 foot tall cinder block wall with a regular wall sitting on top of that. Wall is composed of wood construction with drywall on one side and stucco on the other. There is dirt that comes up to about 6" below the top of the cinder block wall on the outside. In the last rains water started coming in all along the side across the top of the cinder block wall and it seems also through the wall itself.

Is there any way to seal the wall from the inside? How about the top of the wall? It seems like water is running down the outside stucco and then comes in over the top of the cinder block wall.

Thanks!
 
#2 ·
Seems you might have some flashing issues. There should be a metal flashing behind the stucco and out and over the foundation.
How old is the house?
Can you post any photos?
Ron
 
#3 ·
Hmmm... there isnt any flashing that I can see. I can only look down from above as the building is built right on the property line. But it looks like it is just stucco all the way down to the cinder block wall. Although it looks like in the corner in some places there was a wedge of concrete or something that was maybe intended to seal the base of the wall. I will try and walk next door in a bit to see if I can go take a look. Might be hard today though. The building is about 20 years old and just got probably the most significant rain its ever seen in its life.
 
#5 ·
I didn't see this thread until after I posted mine. I have basically the same problem. The house I bought has a add on sun room. There is a 2 inch concrete wall and then the wall sets on that. I see no flashing or anything else to stop the water from coming in. Luckily the previous owner put astro turf down instead of carpet so it is fairly easy to dry out with little problems. I do want to stop the leak though. How do I install flashing at the bottom of the wall? We had a monsoon here for about 7 days and I think the rain water rose up to the top of the little wall and ran into the room. Can I put silicone or something across the thing and then flashing over it?
 
#6 ·
So the contractor is going to trench along the outside wall and reseal it. We opened the walls in a few places and it doesnt look like the water was coming in from inside the walls and down from the top. Definitely at the bottom. There is a small little lip though at the bottom of the huge wall of stucco on the outside.

We did find some holes. One was about 1" wide but most were screw holes. What should I use to seal these?
 
#7 ·
Well, the contractor doing the work has turned into me doing the work... we have had several rainstorms since and the water has not come in anywhere near like what we saw before. The roof leaks appear to have been fixed. At the bottom of the wall on the inside it appears the walls have gaps inbetween the cinderblocks, but only at the bottom. Everywhere else above that is filled in. So going to fill that in with cement and then paint drylok over the top of it once it dries. Hopefully that takes care of some of the water coming in. Got a dehumidifier in there and took off a lot of the drywall. Thanks for the help!
 
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