kstkrt
06-07-2006, 10:20 PM
First of all hello and thanks for reading....Important to note:
I live in Georgia....RED CLAY soil....
4 days ago I noticed something that looked like water on the floor of my home that I have under contract...it is brand new. The floor did NOT have a puddle...it just looked like it was moist...Some history...the basement is basically "U" shaped...the sides of the "U" are the sides of the house....the wall that is the bottom of the "U" is basically the front of the house....but it is not easily accessable as you'd have to literally dig a tunnel under the garage/front yard to get to the exterior base of that wall....
I have attached some pictures....the first couple you see are what I found when I took the insulation off of the wall.....just to see what was going on. Fortunately I had my cell phone with me to take some pics. Naturally when I saw this I became very concerned. I relayed my concerns with the builder the next day. They took down the wet insulation in more than 1 area on that front basement wall and installed a dehumidifier. I came back to the home the following day and noted 4 TOTAL areas where the walls have the appearance of a triangular shaped "moisture evidence". I naturally took pictures ( this would be the last 1 or 2 pics)
The builder INSISTS it is just condensation. I had an home inspector come in the following day...(this is now day 3 after the original find and day 4 after the dounpour of rain)...with now ~24-30 hours of the dehumidifier running and the insulation off the problem areas). The inspector did not see much of any of the moisture on the walls but he did see remnants on the the floor around the studs as seen in the first picture. Now at first he wasn't impressed...but then the inspector saw my pictures from 2 days ago and was confident that the water was NOT from condensation. He felt it was water pushing through the concrete walls. He then concluded that the foundation/french drain must be faulty. (the foundation drain is basically an egg crate like material covered be a black cloth like material. The contraption is about the size of a 3" pipe....and is supposedly running along the base of the foundation fo the home.
The home comes with a 10 year warranty for guaranteeing a dry basement.
BUT, I'm not so sure this is fixable---nor am I sure I want to deal with a leaky basement....especially as I see all the problem areas on the front basement wall that's basically not accessable. (more difficult fix I presume)
It should also be noted that we had a downpour of rain ~ 2 days prior to the pictures with the soaked insulation.
Question #1: Could this be a leak problem?
Question #2: Could this be merely condensation?
Question #3: Is this fixable?
Question #4: Would you buy the home with the security of the "warranty"
Thanks for your professional thoughts,
I live in Georgia....RED CLAY soil....
4 days ago I noticed something that looked like water on the floor of my home that I have under contract...it is brand new. The floor did NOT have a puddle...it just looked like it was moist...Some history...the basement is basically "U" shaped...the sides of the "U" are the sides of the house....the wall that is the bottom of the "U" is basically the front of the house....but it is not easily accessable as you'd have to literally dig a tunnel under the garage/front yard to get to the exterior base of that wall....
I have attached some pictures....the first couple you see are what I found when I took the insulation off of the wall.....just to see what was going on. Fortunately I had my cell phone with me to take some pics. Naturally when I saw this I became very concerned. I relayed my concerns with the builder the next day. They took down the wet insulation in more than 1 area on that front basement wall and installed a dehumidifier. I came back to the home the following day and noted 4 TOTAL areas where the walls have the appearance of a triangular shaped "moisture evidence". I naturally took pictures ( this would be the last 1 or 2 pics)
The builder INSISTS it is just condensation. I had an home inspector come in the following day...(this is now day 3 after the original find and day 4 after the dounpour of rain)...with now ~24-30 hours of the dehumidifier running and the insulation off the problem areas). The inspector did not see much of any of the moisture on the walls but he did see remnants on the the floor around the studs as seen in the first picture. Now at first he wasn't impressed...but then the inspector saw my pictures from 2 days ago and was confident that the water was NOT from condensation. He felt it was water pushing through the concrete walls. He then concluded that the foundation/french drain must be faulty. (the foundation drain is basically an egg crate like material covered be a black cloth like material. The contraption is about the size of a 3" pipe....and is supposedly running along the base of the foundation fo the home.
The home comes with a 10 year warranty for guaranteeing a dry basement.
BUT, I'm not so sure this is fixable---nor am I sure I want to deal with a leaky basement....especially as I see all the problem areas on the front basement wall that's basically not accessable. (more difficult fix I presume)
It should also be noted that we had a downpour of rain ~ 2 days prior to the pictures with the soaked insulation.
Question #1: Could this be a leak problem?
Question #2: Could this be merely condensation?
Question #3: Is this fixable?
Question #4: Would you buy the home with the security of the "warranty"
Thanks for your professional thoughts,