Say again grading is incompetent nonsense N so is pouring concrete, weak attempts to keep water out

Specific Inspection Topics Structural Inspections
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Boy oh boy, some just keep tossing that myth around, FIND aka determine how, where, why the water is getting in… THEN fix, repair, tuckpoint, waterproof etc those actual problems, do NOT play grading games especially if you are selling, buying a house.

Do YOU have a handful of minutes to observe a leaky basement? Sheesh man

Homeowner paid $16,000 for the concrete you see in back on on side of house and the shallow, stupid, exterior french drain tile… they paid someone else $$$ for the beams and inside attempt to try n keep water out, did ANY of that stop the water from entering??? G dang man, NO!

INSIDE basement, the leaky areas

You NEED to find, determine, understand HOW, where the water is allowed to enter, then fix the shtt correctly. Telling homeowners to REGRADE or pour new concrete or exterior french drain does not determine, identify how, where the water is allowed to enter!! smfh

:05… i ask lady, 'They paid $16,000 for concrete and ext french drain?
Her reply, “Sure did”.
Talk about EXPENSIVE bullshttt, incompetent, negligent busllhtt, yes it is.
They actually poured the concrete 1/2 way UP AGAINST the basement windows, total idiocy.

Here’s a look at the ext drain tile and concrete they poured that again, did NOT stop the water from entering, that’s why they found N then called my ugly balding azz!

Here is one of the actual problems, crack UNDER patio, under concrete that was PITCHED AWAY! Plus the cracked mortar joints etc smfh

Why didn’t YOUR grading recommendation, aka concrete AND the stupid F drain tile crap that cost a boat load $$$$$$ keep the basement dry???

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These are gold!

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lol and Jacob, the supposed experts who recommended the concrete and frenchie-fry exterior drain tile are… long gone! $16,000. Never came back, sad azz shtt and it happens often. Ernie Harwell Det Tigers rip, looooooong gone!

to rip out the walk along back and saw cut n break out 18" of patio to hand dig/waterproof approx 20’ by 7’ deep of F wall and seal approx 15’ of the grade (where there were many gaps/openings just under the concrete lol) cost about $4,000… and yes they needed to pay some green to get some tuckpointing done, all far BELOW the cost of the concrete and ext drain tile, help this old man with THAT SHHT

some of Ernie H calls, if not the best that ever was, certainly top 3, a class act

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So the foundation wall is not sealed from the outside and the french drain is not deep enough to drain water away from the foundation?

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lololllllll hahahahaaa! What is there that seems to be soooo difficult to understand?

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Glad you share your experiences with us, Mark.

Jacob is right! They are gold nuggets!

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Larry, quite a few pop on threads, say a few incompetent words n then disappear, they don’t wanna watch all or most videos, they just continue their bs-spin about grading etc, and also notice few bother to fart on or say anything negative about the interior basement draiange system chumps. If some cannot put 2 and 2 together and they are out there inspecting houses, foundations… seems a bit scary lol doesn’t it, sure does to me and see stupid bs all the time from quite a few HI’s here in Michigan. But they say, claim they all care sooo much about their clients, sellers, buyers = more bullsht.

GRADING doesn’t, hasn’t determined/identifed any homeowners leaky BA nor does it fix/repair whatever the existing problem is! Find the problem (s), fix the problem correctly, bye bye problem.

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Mister Rodney, i hear you man and most others… i guess one of my points is, why are so many HI’s then recommending grading on exactly what you just said? lol I post some of the HI’s OWN videos where they clearly and ARROGANTLY say, leaky basments? Raise the grade… why say shtt like that?

Some recommend to sellers/buyers to install an INT drainage system, when the homeowner only leaks in 1 or 2 areas because there is 1+ cracks, cracked parging etc in foundation wall? Why do that? lol Well, some do that because some get kickbacks $$$ from those INT co’s, how’s that looking out for their clients? screwed up man very screwed up

I really don’t mean ANY home inspector harm or to screw 'em up or make em look bad, i don’t butt when THEY are so arrogant etc then man, i gotta call 'em out!

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A combination of reasons, probably. The NHIE manual includes it. IRC R401.3 requires it for new construction, so HI’s might be relying on that standard in a manner to similar to relying on standards like lumber span tables. Any fluff piece on the internet that deals with landscaping and drainage-at-grade likely mentions grading along the foundation. Also the concept of the path of least resistance could be at play, since open channel flow has a hydraulic conductivity literally a million times greater than consolidated soils.

But these are moot points. Rodney is correct that it’s not the HI’s job to direct a buyer towards any wet basement solution, or one solution over another. Sure, for a bad water heater or a leaking pipe, recommend the repair or replacement. But for something whose cause is concealed behind masonry or beneath the lawn, just report the visible condition of the wet basement, and recommend further investigation, period. HI’s should not be directing buyers toward any specific solution or contractor, unless they want to own part or all of the outcome.

This does not, however, preclude the HI from recommending regrading if they see areas of poor drainage, wet basement or not. But “regrading” in this sense has to address permeability and stormwater flow to be of any practical use. It can’t just be the heaping of native soils into a pile against the foundation.

And I will say, also, that for big ticket items like septic systems, foundations, and structure, the HI would be serving the client’s best interest by recommending that any proposals or schemes they receive be reviewed by a neutral party like an engineer or a contractor with no dog in the fight, so to speak, to help weed out scammers and control scope creep.

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You are correct, Rodney. It is beyond the SOP of a home inspector to recommend a specific fix. However, I have read other HI reports where grading is recommended, move the downspouts out another 10 feet, plant scrubs, add concrete, etc. So we recommend a “qualified contractor” to fix and the client calls an interior drainage system contractor. They are prolific in my area and spend thousands on TV advertisement. That is not what I want for my clients. So, I go beyond the SOP and recommend a correction that I feel is the best for my client and why, and it’s not an interior system. :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like
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I hear ya Mark… :rofl:

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But many home inspectors DO recommend grading as a supposed means of waterproofing a basement aka that it supposedly SOLVES 80-90% of all leaky basements! hahahaa Come on, they say it, they write this exact crap in their articles and/or on their own websites, and quite a few do videos claiming this shtt, they ARE indeed telling homeowners that, in their opinion, grading game ssolves most leaky basements when it is not true n whoever believes this is a fool, that’s right.

Concrete was poured just before sale of this house, concrete used to…ummmm lo, ‘direct surface water away from foundation wall’, aka leaky basement. Sellers lied, said no leak, bullshit.
And how much $$ was spent on this grading game?

10 minutes later… in basement

Other than the leaky windows that exist, so too will there be 1 or more exterior cracks, cracked parging etc in foundation wall n THAT is why, where n how the water is entering. Just because HI’s aren’t going to be invasive (and that’s fine) they shouldn’t be sounding off with negligent, incompetent bs which screws over many buyers, just like this homeowner.

Oh lol i forgot to mention this lil tidbit, this woman’s home inspector said nothing (that what she said) about the missing baseboard, mold etc, nothing about hmmmm, its bit strange that someone poured concrete on SIDE wall right where missing baseboard etc is, ya dig? Same SHIT different day.

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Darren, Joseph and Rodney … Good, Clear Accurate responses

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hahahhahahhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, and what i say, SHOW isn’t accurate!!! HAHAHAHAAA

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Former home inspector says what to the public?

He says, following his grading ideas/games will SOLVE 99% of wet basements, talk about a bunch of incompetent shtt to tell the public.

99%

99%

99%

so i guess this former home inspector is… like Trump is to his ass kissers, correct? And they lead their lil gang down the road to shitsville

and not all enginneers are UNBIASED and not all know what they’re talking about, just like in this article

Corps of Engineers wrote 2.4.3 Foundation repairs… “We also observed reputable engineers’ design solutions that did NOT alleviate the settlement and-or lateral pressure problems”
http://www.amherst.ny.us/pdf/building/soilsstudy/TOASFS_section2.pdf

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yep, see that all the time Rodney, sevral already this SLOW year, homeowners first bitching at each other, one wants to raise the grade, another wants to install shallow drainage trench w/drain tile right along prop-edge, one calls the city etc…yep. See it pretty often where backyards BUTT up, one bitching about the other because one just added a bunch of soil and on and on. See it with driveways, one gets a new drive and its now higher n pitched MORE towards the leaky basement of neighbor lollolll