[sshyub]

Let me explain current situation first.

I had a water leaking issue in the ground floor from the side of my town home where vinyl siding was below grade as you see it in the first picture attached. I dug up soil so siding is now above grade. There were heavy rains over the past weeks, and no leaking or drainage issue so far. My neighbor plans to do some landscaping in their backyard to prevent soil erosion. BTW there's no basement as it's town home.

My unit bumped out toward backyard by two feet and is sitting lower than my neighbor's unit by one and a half feet, so vinyl inside corner trim meets my neighbor's concrete foundation. Since I dug up dirt, I see light coming through the gap between siding/cement board and neighbor's concrete foundation (the second and third pictures).

Here are my questions.

1. I see some dirt behind vinyl siding inside corner trim (picture 4) and between siding and concrete foundation, Also I guess there could be some dirt between siding and cement board. How can I clean them up? Just open up sidings and brush dirt off?

2. How can I seal the vertical gap between siding corner trim and concrete foundation? I see that The flange of siding corner trim on concrete side had been removed.

3. There was a hole for cable for satellite dish, and I guess it wasn't sealed well, so water seeped thought it. Now I removed cable and closed the hole, but I found a small section of rotted plywood at the bottom corner. How can I fix? Should I event bother to fix it?

Thanks!!

 

[Bondo]

1. I see some dirt behind vinyl siding inside corner trim (picture 4) and between siding and concrete foundation, Also I guess there could be some dirt between siding and cement board. How can I clean them up? Just open up sidings and brush dirt off?

2. How can I seal the vertical gap between siding corner trim and concrete foundation? I see that The flange of siding corner trim on concrete side had been removed.

3. There was a hole for cable for satellite dish, and I guess it wasn't sealed well, so water seeped thought it. Now I removed cable and closed the hole, but I found a small section of rotted plywood at the bottom corner. How can I fix? Should I event bother to fix it?

Ayuh,.... What I see,..... That dirt bank needs to be cut back,...
Way back at much less slope,...

The dirt on the sidin' can be brushed off, or washed off with a hose, 'n small nozzle,....

#2, A tube of quality caulkin',....

#3, I'd be more concerned with the Framin' I see than the plywood,.....
Looks rotten in the pictures, to Me,....

 

[joecaption]

Looks like someone skipped class the day they taught Building 101.
No siding, sheathing, framing should be below grade like that!
There should have at least been block laided until it was above grade, water proofed on the outside and all framing and siding at least 6" above grade to meet code.
No amount of regrading is going to fix this one.

 

[Nealtw]

That's crap. The bottom of the wall should be replaced with CMU block wall and water proofed.
Or remove the lower siding and waterproof what is there now but it should go all the way around to where you can see 6" of concrete below the siding.

 

[sshyub]

Thank you so much for the suggestions. My neighbor will do landscaping to make sure siding is at least 6" above grade.

Luckily frame is okay. water restoration guys applied some chemicals to prevent mold, which made frame looked damaged.


Any recommendations on how to waterproof the lower side of the wall assuming that siding is always above grade in the future?

 

[Nealtw]

You would remove the lower siding and do something like this and cover what would be exposed with galvanized sheet steel and you could put the dirt back.

 

[sshyub]

What about vertical gap between siding and concrete? just silicone caulking?

 

[Nealtw]

What about vertical gap between siding and concrete? just silicone caulking?

If you are just replacing the siding you can caulk that gap.

 

[sshyub]

One more question.
In the last picture where there's small section of rotted plywood, I see it wrapped with blue/gray plastic/vinyl inside. Is there a specific plywood wrapped with plastic wrap? If not, what kind wrap is it? I thought house wrap is applied only outside of walls.
Thanks much!!