:mrgreen:
Yes indeed…block basement walls often have whats called a… ‘corner crack’ on the outside and the Inside of basement wall will show nothing, no crack. Same goes for ‘other cracks’ including horizontal cracks that are at the top-of-the-first row of blocks off the footing, some vertical cracks that are barely visible if at all on inside of basement can certainly be wider on the outside.
And, sometimes these cracks are patched-tuckpointed and maybe even painted over pretty darn good on the inside, some do this to conceal the crack when selling a house.
–South Carolina Residential Construction Standards… seems to me the state has it wrong!
http://www.hbaofsc.com/SC%20ResConstStandards.pdf
pg 49 2.Common Defect or Problem -Performance Standard… “Wet walls are usually a result of sunken areas around the foundation…but even if there are no depressions, this is still NOT a builders responsibility…the subsequent proper grading and landscaping should eliminate damp or wet basements”
Huh???
The state says/assumes…problem has to do with sunken/settling soil etc. Its no wonder these myths continue.
Did they consider the reason the basement wall is wet,leaking,damp could certainly be due to a crack in the wall, or another lousy damproofing job, another crap job-half azzd attempt patching rod holes? Or other pathways-openings, through the basement wall or Above the basement wall? Huh? :mrgreen: I don
t see anything mentioned as to these possibilities, not on pg 48,49,50…page 64…will come back to that later
Have they considered there would be much less settling if basement walls were backfilled with most/all gravel,peastone? Settling soil causes COMPACTION and creates a springlike-lateral-force which can certainly cause crack(s) in basement walls,leaks,dampness,mold etc. Sure! Settling soil causes ‘future’ pressure…it compacts,continuing to settle and if backfill is part/most clay it`ll cause even more pressure.
-Compaction
http://www.bobvila.com/HowTo_Library/Why_Foundations_Fail-Foundation-A2095.html
“After compaction, soil is under compression like a spring and…continues to PUSH against the foundation as it tries to expand…”
Are they saying its not possible a crack occurred during compaction? It
s not possible a crack occurred from using heavy equipment near-next to basement wall? Are they assuming damproofing of the walls is going to prevent water/moisture from entering a crack that occurs during–after backfilling?
Back to B Vila link… see what OTHERS say…
–The Effect of Water… " The water pressure against a basement wall when the SOIL is Thoroughly soaked is called ‘hydrostatic pressure’. It can force moisture through PORES in the basement wall and even CRACK or buckle the wall itself. Here again, proper drainage is the remedy"
Well, proper DRAINAGE along and against the Entire DEPTH of basement walls equals…gravel,peastone…against the darn walls! ](*,)
NOT backfilling with soil that will expand `n contract, NOT backfilling with soil that impedes drainage along the basement wall, not backfilling with other garbage like bricks, blocks,pieces of concrete,wood,cans and other chtt.
Vila -Compaction… “the problem is that the pressure from the compacting process gets transmitted through-the-soil to the WALL. Basement walls have been known to crack…”
–Careful on the Construction Site… heavy equipment being operated near-next to a basement wall can damage/crack the wall. Hello? :-k
See what these guys say about backfilling, what to use…
http://www.yodergroup.com/concrete.asp 6th,7th para…and oh by the way, they have NO BBB customer complaints either, unlike others. Yeah, quite a few of those ‘others’ have a) quite a few BBB complaints in just the last 36 months b) only want to install inside-drain tile or baseboard system and do not agree at all with exterior waterproofing and, in fact, make many false claims about exterior waterproofing. go figure…
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpwes/publications/marineclay.htm#2
…scroll down to Basement Walls -Cause… “Damage to foundation walls OFTEN occurs when marine clay (chtt any clay) are placed as Backfill against basement walls…which is now expressly PROHIBITED…it was a common procedure in houses built before 1975, and may STILL occure today where the builder is uninformed or careless” got that RIGHT :mrgreen:
“Damage from the pressure of swelling clays in backfill occurs after yearly cycles of shrinking and swelling before the detrimental effects are revealed…surface water can also accumulate against basement walls where the backfill has settled, increasing the soil moisture and swelling pressure of the soil. The result is an accelerated failure of the basement wall”
Maybe this is where some get messed up, apparently like S Car. ](*,)
Even if one can divert some/most ‘surface water’ away from bsmt walls, it does NOT eliminate ‘below ground’ pressure against walls. There will still be water further down in the darn soil against bsmt walls…and just because some soil has settled doesnt mean raising-the-grade etc is all that needs to be done, doesn
t mean it will usually eliminate wet/damp basements…chtt.
One cant keep all water/moisture away from entire depth of bsmt walls, bcht, and even if one could that wouldn
t be a good idea. Porches,additions, wall can experience problems when the soil around their home dries out,contracts…lack of rain. Porches/additions can begin to drop/settle because the soil-support the footings HAD underneath…has dried out,contracted,settled. Water can travel-percolate through soil SIDEWAYS as well as down.But if you wanna raise the grade 4’ high against your house go right ahead, yer house!:mrgreen:
–State Performance Standard… “While some dampness is normal, walls should not be wet…”
Hmm :-k …if the Standard was Waterproofing the basement walls and backfilling w/peastone and, everything Above grade was built/sealed correctly then there should be NO dampness but, they keep pushing their assumption that most problems with wet,leaky,damp basement walls is due to grading,low spots…nonsense-bs.
Try and look at it this way :-k … lets say some Backfilling was done and some/alot/whatever lol settling occured…one should be able to run a hose at full blast against the basement wall 24/7 and have NO water enter, thats IF the Walls were WATERPROOFED and there are no cracks, other openings in wall…think about it…
Same goes for ABOVE ground, if one recreates a heavy-long rain with a hose…and runs water against the basement windows,bricks etc(NOT those cheap-porous bricks) …if there are NO openings around the bsmt windows,bricks,doors etc then…no water will enter. Water/rain will enter when there ARE openings on the outside or, if ya have those cheap-porous bricks.
Yep, if a sprinkler is allowed to soak the chtt outta them bricks/mortar joints or, you have a house with NO gutters and water is allowed to come off that roof and soak ‘unprotected’ bricks n joints then you
ll most likely have a problem.
Another thing about bricks and mortar joints… some mortar joints will appear,look like they are sealed-full but truth is, some of those jojnts are very thin…doesnt take much rain to penetrate
em.
And still other times, youll see a few bricks real close...tight to each other, very little room to get much mortar between them when house was built and you still won
t be able to get much in there. May have to use-force caulk or something else between them to keep water/moisture/insects OUT.
–State Masonry and Concrete Standards…pg 64 Common Defect or Problem… Cracked Basement Walls…Builder responsibility
“builder to repair any cracks in mortar joints or poured walls exceeding 1/8” AVERAGE width…broken blocks should be removed from INSIDE…exterior repairs will not be made except in case of major structural damage"
…well, what the???
Is this whats best for the homeowner? is it whats best for the basement wall, leak, potential mold etc? OR…is it whats best for the, ahem…builder, huh?
Let`s see,
-
builder to repair cracks EXCEEDING 1/8" average? im not talking about those itty bitty shrinkage cracks that barely penetrate the wall, they don
t go THROUGH the wall, of course they wont leak,allow insects or radon in. But...an average of 1/8" ? Hm, what about a crack that starts out as a hairline crack at top of bsmt wall and widens to about 1/4" near bottom of wall...builder is not responsible? They saying it won
t leak? Unreal chtt…
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repair on INSIDE? Remove broken block(s) on Inside? Umm, ya cant pull the block(s) out from Inside and not have cracks/openings on the outside of the hollow-block...its going to leak, the outside of this supposed repaied block isn
t sealed/waterproofed! grrr
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are they saying that when there is a crack on the Outside of a hollow-block basement wall that the builder/anyone can fix/waterproof that crack on the Inside? lolol impossible!
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do they understand that a block basement wall can have NO visble crack on Inside of basement or…have a lil hairline crack on Inside of block basement wall and on the OUTSIDE…a crack can be 1-3" ?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/realestate/newconstruction/chi-0408280289aug28,0,1372834.story?coll=chi-classifiednewconstruct-hed
“To permanently stop and water vapor from entering your foundation walls, you need to waterproof them…don`t confuse waterproofing with damp-proofing”
“It is also better to waterproof from the Outside rather than try to stop water once it has entered your basement space…” …can someone please explain this to S Car `n others
Thats because, ya cant stop/prevent water that is entering through basement walls with a drain tile or baseboard inside system & sump, bs, no you can
t. And anyone who says differently is several sandwiches short of a picnic, the cheese fell off their cracker a long time ago.