Leaky basement + retaining wall + settled sidewalk + Bozo the clown

Specific Inspection Topics Structural Inspections
1

Your premise, thougt process is imo wrong, so sorry. It ALWAYS has been wrong = truth.

short video by home inspector, am sure he’s a good dude, trying to help etc but man, THAT doesn’t make you right on THIS subject n when you are misinforming your clients it can hurt them aka cost 'em MONEY!
He says, settled sidewalk is a no brainer… tear out or mudjack etc, no!

Says,the neighbors retaining wall is the REAL problem, no!

Is this situation, elevated grade/driveway, retaining wall, settled walkway helping to divert some water towards lower sitting house? duh but of course!

HE says/writes caption… 'House taking on water THROUGH it’s foundation walls"

Well IF that is the case, as i’ve shown repeatedly that it IS… but duh i haven’t been to THIS house then i gotta go by what he wrote… THROUGH f walls. Too bad he didn’t take a video inside basement to show walls IF its not finished down there.

So these houses been there a long time, situation been like this quite some time… n you wanna tell neighbor to tear down retaining wall (sure it needs to be done soon anyways, i get it) and $$$$ erect a new one BASED on HI’s assumption IT… is the REAL problem? No.

Can post many examples, here’s one house, leaky basement, concrete driveway up against F wall AND concrete patio in back up against F wall AND they caulked perimeter, still leaked… see WHY

same house now DUG OUT… “THE” problems…

One POINT is, even if neighbor replaces retaining wall AND the walkway is torn out, replaced or mudjacked, when there are exterior cracks in F wall or cracked EXT parging or there was NO parging applied or there are deteriorated rod holes or openings around, under basement windows etc, the basement will still leak because water on those longer, heavier rains will still get UNDERNEATH mudjacked slabs, new driveway etc so FIND the real problems, NOT your assumptive ones and fix/repair/waterproof them.

By the dang way, NEW, newer retaining walls can… BOW IN, or, lets say new retaining wall is made of block, well… if whoever builds the dang retaining wall i bet, is NOT going to waterproof the neighbors side of that wall so… water will still get through that retaining wall at some point through the naked blocks or mortar joints that weren’t waterproofed or 1+ NEW cracks in new retaining wall can most certainly occur allowing water towards the leaky basement/house.

Look sheesh, i should be able to dig out an entire side of anyones house, WALL, or all 4 walls,all the way down to footing/drain tiles… and then FILL the entire trench with water and… IF if IF there are NO cracks in F wall, no cracked parging, no deteriorated rod holes etc then NO water will get in because… lol, there’s NO place for it to get in, whether there is a retaining wall as in video or not, whether there’s a walkway that settled or not, can ya get THIS throught hose thick skulls… huh? You claim you wanna help your clients… well HELP them g dammmmit! Get INFORMED, learn MORE, stop making BOGUS assumptions.

2

Grosse Pointe Woods, block foundation wall, leaky basement, part of rear WALKWAY was up-against the F wall, whether is settles OR not has dogshtt TA do with why basements leak

see the EXTERIOR looooooong horizontal crack waaaaaaaaaaaaay down low? Yeah

see that EXT corner crack? Yeah

It’s cracks like that or cracked parging or when NO parging was applied when house/crawlspace/basements were built that allows water in, on floor, along perimeter where the bottom of the foundation wall meets the dang floor. Can also be deteriorated rod holes or openings/crevices under, around basement windows, doors etc. Sometimes its a blockage in your lateral line, GOTTA identify the actual problem(s) correctly, NOT assume shtt like many do.

Troy MI, poured walls, FINISHED basement
homeowner would get, see water ONLY along where bottom of wall meets the floor n then it would soak into their carpet n widen out, spread. There was NO supposed problem with drain tiles, pffffttt
SEE for yourself, behind the drywall were deteriorated rod holes n a crack in F wall, rod holes were fixed inside n then that crack was dug out by hand n waterproofed correctly on the outside… all that plus $ drywall repair cost LESS than if you had installed an interior basement drainage system and sump pump!!! Which by the way would NOT have stopped further water from entering

So another ‘point’ here is, some home inspectors tell homeowners, tell sellers and buyers to…lol, raise n slope the grade or mudjack slabs… or as in HI video above, tell neighbor to oust old retaining wall and spend $$ on new one n that shtt will solve these problems, NONSENSE!!
WHAT IF, this house, deteriorated rod holes etc in finished basement was the house that leaked NEXT to the retaining wall, what? Tell them the same shtt? Scary sobs misleading people, not shtting on 'em, but come on man, learrrrrrrrrrrrrrn in order to help your clients better… as YOU claim.

3

It is good to know that they’re are qualified foundation waterproofing contractors out there, Mark. Keep it up! :smile:

4

thank you Larry, i , WE, just try to help peeps ya know

1 Like
5

I know, brother, I know! :smile:

It is nice to know people like you, Mark…it’s all GOOD!

1 Like