A few inches below grade. exterior openings that were allowing water in basement

Specific Inspection Topics Structural Inspections
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so telling sellers 'n buyers to raise and slope the grade is stupid lolol it is, raising the grade does not identify/determine how-where the water is getting in and does not fix/repair/waterproof the problem

yeah yeah, telling some of them to add some soil to shed some SURFACE water away is fine, with ya, but not for frigging leaky basements

HERE, they hired someone to RAISE the dumb grade and… kept leaking lolol, SEE why

They had it piled UP against the siding

:55 mark, HELLoooooooooooooooo in there – so better DRAINAGE is NOT the answer lolol NO! What? Dig down 1 or 2 feet outside and install drain tile? Good luck, have videos where that CRAP didn’t work either

Quuuuuuestion for ya’s, see this gas line? Isn’t it supposed to be secured to the dang house?

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Nice find and job, Mark! :cowboy_hat_face: :joy:

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Why would anyone tell anyone to raise the grade? Most of the time the grade is too high already! Soil over sill plates and thresholds is a common issue.

In my opinion, negative slope towards the foundation may compound a problem but likely is not THE problem.

I do recommend drainage corrections but for an inspector to say that is why your basement is leaking is misleading in my opinion.

Thanks for the vids!

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I love these videos Mark! Keep them coming I am leaning so much from them. I live in Michigan and most houses have basements and most leak in my experience.

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I just noticed you are in Michigan an hour and a half from my location. Do you service the Greater Lansing area?

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Hi Kris, yes we go to Lansing, not every week but yes lol, was just out in Williamston couple weeks ago, just E Lansing, a landscpaper told homeowners he could fix their leaky basement for a lil over $3,000 by digging down 2 - 2 1/2 feet and laying drain tile… they still leak so, here if you need someone honest, thank you.

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Just out of curiosity how much are you charging for that job?

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do you mean, the Williamston house i was at?

if so, funny thing, i posted some of the videos i took there, diff-thread.

i spent approx 3 hours there on site, did several water tests with a hose on a dry day

after soaking , flooding, around the entire chimney from grade DOWN, no water entered lol, nope

chimney is their problem area and i explained to them what i’m writing here before i did water test

ok so then i ran the water against the chimney/bricks and deteriorated mortar joints ABOVE grade, yep lol, water began to enter onto B floor = water is first-entering above ground level through many open, cracked, deteriorated M joints in chimney, and i only soaked 1/2 of it from ground level UP, there are more openings in chimney further up

since i spent 3 hours on site and it was a 3 hour round trip to get from A ta B n back, i asked them to do another water test from ground level down after i left, a longer one, like a 2 hour test and see if any water enters… nothing.

HAD there been an ext crack (s) in chimney F-walls, they’d have leaked while i was doing the water test from ground level down

so they need tuckpointing etc to fix/repair the ext-openings in chimney above grade to stop the water from entering

they don’t need ext-waterproofing, they didn’t need any incompetent goofball drain tile that cost them $3,300

THIS, the water test, should have been done BEFORE writing up ANY waterproofing estimate, let alone doing dumb az work and claiming it would solve their problem

i did not charge them one cent.

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heads up on these shysters, they’re in-around Lansing, G Rapids etc

https://www.bbb.org/us/mi/grand-rapids/profile/waterproofing-contractors/ayers-basement-systems-0372-24000148/complaints

that’s at least 53 complaints just within last 36 months, many homeowners who get scammed don’t bother with the crooked BBB, just saying

and see some of the 37 other reviews near bottom of page

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I looked at the reviews, this is my favorite

“Project supervisor extorted 900.00 from me…stole my weed wackier…threatened me he would call inspector on house sale…he was nightmare.”

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hahahhaa!!! Nut brains all over

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This job was in Lansing, a retired school teacher, nice lady

She had Ayers B Systems and 2 other companies over for estimates, all told her she needed an interior basement drainage system (partial system) costs were all over $6,000

We did most of the front wall $3,300 ish, exterior waterproofing

Some of the photos…

what basement looked like where it leaked the most, she’d only get-see water where bottom of the block basement wall meets the basement floor

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See the efflorescence etc down low - many tell homeowner DUMB incompetent crap like, ‘Oh your drain tiles likely FAILED and that’s why you have discolorment and efflorescence DOWN LOW on blocks and we can install drain tiles INSIDE basement’, total BULL. InspectApedia claims THIS in one of their waterproofing articles… pfffffffffffffTTT

Did ya notice ‘some’ dampness on some blocks UP HIGH on wall? uh huh

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knocked out cap in order to hand dig

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as Kirk Cousins said, 'You like that?"

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where you see the hydraulic cement… were exterior cracks… water was entering through those and of course through the HOLES in wall up higher and around door

NOTICE, someone rolled on some damproofing cheap O crap at top 12" or so, that was it lol

Yeah HAD to knock out part-of footing because part of exterior cracks were right where footing was against the dang WALL. She later put in a very small wood porch in case you wondering

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Poor woman homeowner didn’t know what to do, who to trust cuz as i said she had a few other companies over and they ALL told her she needed an INT system and sump pump that would have cost much more $ and lolol they would NOT have stopped the water from entering

THAT happens all the time around here, homeowners tell me they’re getting 3 or 5+ OTHER estimates and so almost always, the other-estimates are all from interior drainage system morons who tell them the same lies, misrepresentations of why they leak.

And most of the time, homeowners hire one of THEM, not us loooololllll

They hire them, i’m told, because i was the only one who said something different, who said there were exterior cracks in block walls and so to these homeowners they think, 'Hmmmmm, this old guy is ONLY one telling us we need exterior waterproofing and everybody else says we need an INT system so OFF our list of who to hire he goes!!! lolol

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Explain it to them like this:

Do you patch a roof from the underside in the attic? Do you put a water catch system in your attic for roof leaks then pump it outside to the gutters? And if you did that, what would happen to the roof decking? Of course It would deteriorate over time and leak more. Then ultimately cause structural failure.

Foundation has the same principle.

Side note, vacating that water into an interior system causes MORE water movement thru the foundation material. This will cause more “erosion and degradation” in my opinion and in no way relieve any water pressure or forces on the wall system.

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