Episode 1631
Foundations and Basements: The truth about foundation repair and water in your basement
For homeowners... one of the most misunderstood areas of your home is the basement or crawlspace. There are plenty of companies that use that with a heavy dose of fear to talk you into repairs that you might not need or even worse can make the problem even worse. In this episode we talk about the basics and how to make the repairs the right way the first time. This should help guide you to get the right answers and the right way to repair it or hire it done.
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Mentioned in this episode:
A new kind of decking and siding from Millboard
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Baldwin Hardware
Transcript
[00:00:22] Eric Goranson: And I'll tell you how I've repaired these in the past. And this was a engineered solution that we did at the time. So always consult your engineer to make sure that that solution is right for you. But here's how we did it. So we would go through and take the crack and clean it up, get all the loose stuff out of it.
[:[00:01:02] Eric Goranson: This is around the house. Welcome to the round the house show. This is where we help you get the most out of your home through information and education. Thanks for joining us today. Well, I'm going to talk about something that I've spent a lot of time working on over the years, basements and crawl spaces and how to fix them the right way.
[:[00:01:49] Eric Goranson: And so this is something that I've worked with the best of the best on and it's something that I know a lot about. So I thought, hey, this is a great time to give you guys some tips on this because this really starts to happen as [00:02:00] people come in inside, they start to realize that they have issues. Uh, especially in areas that get wet in the wintertime, you know, or you've got issues like that.
[:[00:02:32] Eric Goranson: So I could see that the water was up within inches of the floor. So they had a pretty good swimming pool going in their crawl space. And so these are all things that I've seen the worst of the worst. So we're going to talk about it here. Now, when I see water in a crawl space or basement, the first thing I do is take a look at where the gutters are draining into the downspouts and where those are going.
[:[00:03:17] Eric Goranson: So that is just asking that is just asking for it. And so here's what happens. So you want to think about that water coming to those downspouts really like. When it hits the ground, it's like an upside down cone. So every foot that that goes down, that cone gets about a foot wider, for instance. So if you use that as a visual.
[:[00:04:00] Eric Goranson: So that's why I say those gutters need to go at least 10 to 12 feet away from the house and downhill. So be very careful if those are going right next to the house. Generally that means it's going to be causing a foundation damage and getting the water into that. So make sure first, before you do anything on that foundation, get the water well away, get it into a system.
[:[00:04:40] Eric Goranson: Um, you know, some places it goes out to the street and that's completely legal. So make sure that that's working. So many people don't pay attention to where those systems are. And you could even have gutters going into a downspout system and going into a storm drain and it can be broken and it can be causing that issue because you go, oh, no.
[:[00:05:17] Eric Goranson: So that's the first thing I say, make sure you get that taken care of, and you're going to be in a better position when it comes to water in the crawl space. So make sure you get that. Now, here's the thing too. Sometimes you've got that under control and you could have a spring, you could have a high water table.
[:[00:05:58] Eric Goranson: And what's that? So what [00:06:00] I do on those is I go around and put in a French drain system in the basement. Now, there's a couple of things you got to be careful with. Sometimes in a basement's designed so that concrete floor is actually keyed in to keep the walls from pushing in. So you can have weak foundations or situations where if you go to remove that, you need to really plan ahead.
[:[00:06:50] Eric Goranson: It's coming up between. The foundation wall in the floor. So it's that bottom corner. So if you look down at the corner where the wall meets the floor, that's a dry [00:07:00] joint right there because those were poured at 2 different times. So that dry joint is always a place that likes to leak and that hydraulic pressure pushes the water up to the soil and does that.
[:[00:07:37] Eric Goranson: Now, if you've got a lot of surface area down there, like a big basement, you might want to put a couple cross ones that go across the center of the floor to grab that as well, because we want to create a low point for all the groundwater to seep into. Instead of pushing into the garage, you want to put it into that pipe.
[:[00:08:14] Eric Goranson: So I like that versus the traditional gutter system that there's people that put these kind of gray gutters and then they leave that exposed around there. I don't like to keep that exposed. I like to have the concrete down there. So I don't want to do that. So I like to make it so, you know, that is working well, but not creating.
[:[00:08:46] Eric Goranson: And that's a big project guys. That's. You can spend 20 or 30 grand pretty quickly having somebody come down and do that. And that's a lot of work because they're down there digging. They have to, you know, you got a day with somebody down there and a concrete cutter cutting up the [00:09:00] floor. And then maybe an engineer involved as well.
[:[00:09:20] Eric Goranson: And then you have that sump pump that's going out and getting the water well away from the house, you know, I'd say 20 feet away and going into your gutter system. So it just goes away. If you can get into that storm drain system, you're golden. All right, we come back. We're going to talk about some of the things you should be looking for with your house.
[:[00:10:09] Eric Goranson: What's up? This is Dixit in you and Satchel from Steel Panther and you are listening to around the house with Eric G. Yeah, we love Eric G and you should too.
[:[00:10:45] Eric Goranson: And, uh, really, you know, a sump pump is going to be one of your better ways after you've dealt with a gutter system. So, if you've got your gutters working correctly and the water's going away, that's a good way to go inside. Now, let's talk about foundation cracks. And this is [00:11:00] a big deal, and this can be really scary, and there's a lot of...
[:[00:11:21] Eric Goranson: And a lot of that can be, you know, depending on the soil that your house is built on many cases, you know, a house is built on clay soil. And if you're in a location where seasonably, you have wet and dry seasons, what can happen is, is that clay ends up like your kitchen sponge. And so what happens is, is when that gets smaller, you know, and that gets dried up, it shrinks.
[:[00:12:06] Eric Goranson: These are things that I really want you to make sure that you've got that, you know, understood and then you can figure out if, if keeping that soil wet for instance, all year round means your house moves a little bit less. Thanks. And you're just watering around there. So those are some of the hidden things that can happen just with a crawl space, for instance, with cracks, but with cracks, there's two different kinds of cracks that I want you to pay attention to when it's talking to load bearing foundation walls.
[:[00:12:52] Eric Goranson: So with more and more things moving around, it's, it's pretty common. And so that kind of crack is one [00:13:00] thing. Now, when you have a horizontal crack and a bow, that is when. Structurally, things are going sideways that you should pay attention to. Now, this is something that I don't want to use fear in this because so many people out there that are foundation contractors will prey upon these situations.
[:[00:13:45] Eric Goranson: It might not be that big a deal. It could be where they had a joint. When they were pouring, they got a little dry and it was just a weak spot in the foundation. It could be a big tree outside pushing. It could be a driveway with it was added and it's [00:14:00] pushing in or I've even seen people have water barrels and water storage from their gutters outside that broke the foundation on the side.
[:[00:14:32] Eric Goranson: And, you know, you don't have to do that. There are so many better ways to doing this and really for foundation issues anymore. In most cases, you don't want to have to jack the house up because you want to be able to live in it. And most people aren't gonna let you jack them up. And live in the house, and now you're having to move out.
[:[00:15:05] Eric Goranson: I've done a structural steel walls on the inside to keep that from moving anymore. And then, uh, doing it that way. Uh, in extreme cases, I've poured new interior foundation walls on the inside of it. So I double up the thickness and put a new foundation wall on the inside to help bolster it, bolster that up and give it, um, some additional strength.
[:[00:15:46] Eric Goranson: You can use, uh, some of the new waterproof cements that they have additives out there that make cement, uh, much more waterproof. So there's a lot of cool things you can do with that. Now you will lose a foot or so of square footage on the inside, depending [00:16:00] on how thick it is. But I tell you what, it's a great option.
[:[00:16:24] Eric Goranson: And so we actually came in and lowered the floor at the same time. And so how we did that, so we didn't structurally hurt the walls. We actually went in and dug down and did footings. Beneath the soil, and we cut out a and B sections, so we only would remove 50 percent of the concrete in the 1 wall and then dig down and skip every other section.
[:[00:17:14] Eric Goranson: And so, you know, things we had to do when we did that, we had to remove the HVAC equipment if there was. Way to take the water heater out. We had to pay attention to where drains were and things like that. Um, that changed everything. So you really had to make sure that you knew where the sewer was coming in.
[:[00:17:46] Eric Goranson: So there's a lot of times that you can go through and fix a lot of problems and get yourself some good square footage in there as well. And, uh, these are also times that you can fix any, uh, structural things with the ceiling above and deal with beams and posts and footings [00:18:00] and put in a stronger system than what was there before.
[:[00:18:21] Eric Goranson: I had one crack that was vertical and I went through and I went at the deck out. I went through on that side of that corner there and I repaired that. That way I used carbon fiber so it wouldn't move. And it was a really good, strong repair. So carbon fiber is a great way to do it. You want to do it as a DIY project and you know what you're doing.
[:[00:18:55] Eric Goranson: Hey, this is Ron keel the metal cowboy from keel the Ron keel [00:19:00] band and Steeler We are rocking around the house with Eric G
[:[00:19:35] Eric Goranson: And really just watched people make some amazing and create some amazing things. And so we highlight those over there as well. We typically do about one a week of those. So take a look at our 200 plus videos over there. It's a lot of fun. So, uh, take a look at those might be able to help you on your next project.
[:[00:20:14] Eric Goranson: And I'll tell you how I've repaired these in the past. And this was a engineered solution that we did at the time. So always consult your engineer to make sure that that solution is right for you. But here's how we did it. So we would go through and take the crack and clean it out, get all the loose stuff out of.
[:[00:20:49] Eric Goranson: So if I use any kind of a patching compound on that, so, um, what we would do is get the cement all, uh, repair patch [00:21:00] material in the bags and we'd mix it up. And it's a ultra high strength concrete. And so what we would do is mix it up. And so it's the consistency that you could make a softball out of it.
[:[00:21:31] Eric Goranson: Smooth that out. Once that dries, we would then drill through that repair and then put an injection port in and we would inject in a urethane sealer. Now, this urethane sealer is kind of the consistency of warm honey. And what's cool about this is when you pump that into the void space behind the foundation wall where water was coming through, if there's moisture there, it [00:22:00] creates a foam, kind of like how your urethane glues foam up.
[:[00:22:22] Eric Goranson: Once it hits that boom, and then since you've created that dam, it doesn't have a place to go up again. So just seals that up. It's a really good solution. For fixing cracks that are leaking in the foundation. So it's a great thing to do. If there's pipes that come through, you can do that where you drill through carefully and then use the urethane.
[:[00:23:05] Eric Goranson: And so they're almost like a honeycomb in that they've got all these open cells. And so you could have water leaking on one side and that water is going through and filling up and, and leaking someplace else. So it's really hard to track down concrete block walls that are leaking because that water is moving around everywhere.
[:[00:23:47] Eric Goranson: So they had seeped between blocks. That can be a huge problem. So, things to consider. Um, you don't know where the water is coming in and so we have tried multiple different ways to get it [00:24:00] figured out. But really, the only way that we could really waterproof those walls effectively was to dig down on the outside of the house.
[:[00:24:24] Eric Goranson: So something to think about that concrete block foundation wall is the worst to try to do. So the only way I would do it would be to go ahead and do that on the outside. Now, here's the thing, guys. Thanks. Any of these coatings that you put on the inside, they don't really work well. You can go in and put all the waterproof coatings on the inside.
[:[00:25:07] Eric Goranson: It's just really not going to work that well. And so one of the things that I want you to keep in mind down there is airflow is your friend if you have a basement. So one, I would make sure always be testing for radon every few years, make sure you're good, but really with a basement, I want to make sure that that air is getting taken around the house because many times that basement Dark, it's musty, it's smelly, and that is from high humidity and low airflow.
[:[00:25:54] Eric Goranson: So there's kind of two schools of thought. If you have dry air upstairs, if you're moving that air around, you could balance it [00:26:00] out. But really, if you've got high humidity down there, I would put in a, don't get one of the portable ones. They just don't work well, but mount in a regular dehumidifier, you know, mounted up correctly, hardwired in there.
[:[00:26:36] Eric Goranson: Now, the other thing I want to talk about is crawlspace encapsulation. And you've probably seen the commercials where you see the, the picture of the white plastic crawlspace that's hermetically sealed up. And there's two things that need to happen with this. One, if you're going to do that, okay, you're going to seal up all your vents, you're going to condition that crawlspace.
[:[00:27:18] Eric Goranson: Then, uh, I would have a professional go down and take a look at it. Uh, that should be a conditioned space. If you're in an area where green grass can grow outside, uh, then if you're in that kind of a place, then guess what? That could be a mold issue down there. So you want to make sure that you've got that even in desert areas, when you encapsulate a crawl space, you can have humidity issues that create mold.
[:[00:28:02] Eric Goranson: That way you're good as gold. And, uh, you won't have to worry about that. And it's only going to run when the humidity jumps up. So it doesn't have to sit there and run the entire time. So only when it gets there and make sure you stay on top of the maintenance, have somebody come down there once a year, inspect it, clean it, change filters, do whatever they need to do for your unit around the house.
[:[00:28:57] Eric Goranson: It's the end of the show, now drinkin down people, [00:29:00] it's time to go. It's that time again. Welcome back to the One and Only Around the House show where we help you get the most out of your home through information and education. We've been talking about basements and crawl spaces today and how to fix them right.
[:[00:29:31] Eric Goranson: So it's not moving around a lot. So let's say you've got a, an old chimney that's starting to pull away from the house. Cause maybe it's settling weird or something's going on. You could actually go in with these things and think about as large screws are like eight inches across. Right. And so they bring in a Bobcat and they, they go in by pressure.
[:[00:30:11] Eric Goranson: And these are pretty expensive. You know, they can be twelve, eighteen hundred, two thousand bucks a pile if you're not careful. So really understanding who's doing the work for you and then making sure that the engineer has drawn this up and told you where to put them. These can be places also that you jack from.
[:[00:30:51] Eric Goranson: So I would not recommend unless you've got an expert out there of like. Hooking into that chimney and then trying to jack and move. It's probably not going to move that well, [00:31:00] but you can keep it from going any farther. So, that's part of the thing to consider. Now, I wanted to get into something here that's, that's important when we're talking about leveling things and leveling a house or you've got a bow in your floor and you're going to replace the post in your basement because it's rotten.
[:[00:31:44] Eric Goranson: You can cause a ton of issues from cracked tiles to broken glass to windows and doors not operating. So Really understanding how you're going to affect things, because if you have made things [00:32:00] stronger, you've made things level, as soon as you move that house, it's now not going to be level. So, if your house is settled, and you're hiring a company to come in and lift a little bit and get that back, that's great.
[:[00:32:29] Eric Goranson: So you're not fighting it. So if you're gutting that house to the studs, get it gutted to the studs. Then get in there and lift. And if once you get that lifted, listen to the house, your house is going to tell you what's going on. It's going to creak. It's going to moan. It's going to make noises, make sure that you've got that dialed in and make sure that you're just not doing it yourself, that you've got experts there to make sure that you're lifting and that you're not creating problems.
[:[00:33:20] Eric Goranson: So I just want to make sure that you're not trying to fix one problem and creating 32 other ones by all these different things. So be really careful with all of that. Okay, just take your time and make sure that you're gonna not create other issues. By lifting on that house. Now, I have successfully leveled off living room floors, kitchen floors with replacing a post and didn't cause any damage at all.
[:[00:34:16] Eric Goranson: So I have seen some where they were a hot mess and that house had moved down the hill. And so these are things to really pay attention to because some of these older houses that you see on hillsides and stuff, and especially here on the West coast, they didn't build them on concrete. Many times they were, they actually put them on these peers that are like, Well, they're like railroad ties or they're like telephone poles and these poles are pushed into the ground.
[:[00:35:07] Eric Goranson: But those are hot mess issues to have to take care of. And that's where that engineer gets involved in there. But, uh, helical piers are great. Um, making sure that, uh, if you're going down and putting in a new post in the basement and you're going to be doing any, anything upstairs, it's not a bad idea to go in.
[:[00:35:42] Eric Goranson: So if you're going to be doing additions or things like that, we have run into that where we had to go down to the basement and, uh, because we were converting a loft space into a bathroom, for instance, we had to actually dig up their finished basement and put in a footing that was going to be where that old post was in the middle of the [00:36:00] basement.
[:[00:36:23] Eric Goranson: If you're going to do that. Check and see what code is for that area would not be a bad idea to go ahead and do that while you're at it. If you're if you're in the belief of, hey, it lasted there 100 years as it was, and I'm going to put another 1 in awesome. But a little stronger and make sure that you're using all the metal brackets and stuff.
[:[00:37:03] Eric Goranson: And, uh, Simpson strong tie and others. Make some great brackets for doing earthquake retrofits. So take a look and do that. Um, many of the older homes after the, you know, even in the 80s, sometimes I've seen them, but, uh, these brackets will attach the house to it so that if you have an earthquake. Or a wind event or tornado or that kind of thing.
[:[00:37:49] Eric Goranson: You know, I, I recommend going around and, and having an engineer drop something, but if you're going to do it yourself, if you generally go around and put those in about every four feet, that's probably going to be [00:38:00] plenty good enough to hold that down there. And, uh, that's really how you do it. So, all you do is, uh.
[:[00:38:22] Eric Goranson: It's nasty. And so that is 1 of those things that is a big safety thing. But basically what you're going to be doing is drilling into the concrete. And putting in fasteners and drilling into the wood sill and fastening those two together so they're fastened and not going anywhere. So that way there's no lift.
[:[00:38:55] Eric Goranson: You can send me a message there or on social media. Have a great rest of your [00:39:00] weekend everybody. Thanks for tuning to around the House
