Wet basement question

[deno2]

I'm in the process of trying to find a home to buy and need some help. I have never owned a home that had a basement and need to know if there are ways to fix or stop a basement from being wet. I have found a home that I really like with all the space I need, nice neighborhood, and resonable price - the problem is it has a basement that shows sign of having had water in it. I don't want to spend a lot of $ to try to fix an unfixable problem. If you have or had in the past a wet/damp basement, how did you fix it or deal with it. Or is the house not even worth continuing to pursue with this issue. Any and all help would be appreciated.
deno

 

[joats]

We paid about $5K to have treatment and 2 sump pumps put in by a place in our area called Basement Systems. We were very happy with the service and no water since. However, we needed to rebuild walls as there was a lot of damage/mold on them from the previous owners not doing anything about water in the basement for who knows how long.

Honestly, I don't know if I would have bought the house had I known there would be such water damage/repairs to the basement. I guess if I were you I'd really get someone in there I trusted to find out what kind of damage really was done. The guy who did our appraisal really underestimated and did not see the extent of water damage.

Good luck!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I don't want to spend a lot of $ to try to fix an unfixable problem. If you have or had in the past a wet/damp basement, how did you fix it or deal with it. Or is the house not even worth continuing to pursue with this issue. Any and all help would be appreciated.
deno

It requires drain tile and sump pumps put in around the perimeter of the basement, if it is leaking up from the ground. A couple of thousand maybe less if you do it yourself.

If it is leaking from the foundation, that could be big $$$$. Anywhere from 5 to 10 or more.

If it is leaking OVER the foundation, I would imagine that would be big $$$.

Personally I would NOT buy a house I know leaks. It is one of the worst things to deal with.

 

[chrissyk]

The sellers of our first house had to have this issue taken care of before the house was sold. They had a "perimeter drain" (also called a "French drain") and a sump pump installed. The cost was around $5000 back in the mid-1990's, so I have no clue how much this would cost right now. That setup worked perfectly, though. We never had a water problem in the near-decade that we lived in that house. In the winter, you could literally hear the water POURING from the perimeter drain into the sump, though. The sump would drain every 2-3 minutes at the height of the winter season, so I can only imagine what the basement had been like before the drain was installed.

ETA - The house was only like 3 years old when we bought it, and it did not have any sort of mold or mildew issue in the basement from the water problem. I would not buy a house that had had a longstanding water problem in the basement, though.

 

[ReggieB]

Our house was built with a sump pump, so I would try and look out for a house with one already installed. I don't know if there is building code that says that new house must be built with one, that might be worth checking out. It would give you an idea of the age of house that would be guaranteed to have one in...however it might not be code in your area. You do not want to find out the hard way you need one a sump pump!!!

I know you mentioned that you have found a house you like that has some water damage, you really need a professional to check out exactly what has happened and how much damage it has caused. Find out a bit about the background from the realtor or the owners, they are obliged to give full disclosure on pre-exsisting conditions. It might be just a question of a lick of paint, or it might mean something far more serious and expensive.

 

[clh2]

I would have it looked at by a professional home inspectory - you should have a home inspection regardless of whether or not you have water in the basement.

We know people who have just about needed to replace basement walls due to excess moisture. It has been several years, it was very expensive, and that was just to fix the damage caused throughout the years, in addition to fixing the cause of the problems.

Try to get the seller to pick up as much of this cost as possible.

 

[deno2]

I may have been a bit misleading when I said "water damage" in the basement. The basement is currently dry, BUT there is evidence that water has been in the basement, (you can see water lines about 2" up the wall). They have there laundry room in the basement, but have both washer and dryer on 6" platforms. They also have exercise equipment in the basement, but no carpeting. The house is about 75 years old, but in good condition other than the evidence of water at one time being in the basement. In the seller's disclosure that stated that the basement does experience a bit of wetness in the Spring. I guess the key word term is, "a bit." The price of the house does alow for me to put about $10,000 into the basement - I just didn't want to have to put $25,000 into the basement to avoid having an indoor pool. I will have a professional inspector have a look and get his opinion.
Thanks for the imput,
Deno

 

[golfgal]

A lot of older houses get a "damp" basement which can be controlled with a dehumidifier but if there is evidence of standing water in the basement I would have it inspected and have someone come out to give you an estimate of how much it would cost to fix any problems. Then I would adjust my offer on the house accordingly. You will know going into the house what the problems are and how much to fix it.

 

[crz4mm2]

When we bought our home the sellers told us the only time they had water in the basement was in "1993 when everyone had water". That was the year we had tons of rain here in the midwest with water everywhere. We took their word and bought anyway. Put DS's bedroom in the basement (along with alot of our stuff that wouldn't fit anywhere else). Build DS's bedroom down there in Nov.
Come Jan, had a bunch of rain...... STANDING water 4inches or so deep...
Spent 6k putting in drain tile and sump system. We have no standing water now, but run the sump all the time and have a dehumidifier all the time.
I would sure have an inspector look it all over and get it in writing. We tried to get some compensation,but it was in the disclosure that there was 'sometimes' moisture and that got them off.

Live and learn, if you live long enough.

Good luck with your home buying!!

Cathy

 

[chrissyk]

One other thing that I wanted to add in case the OP does decide to buy this house...we bought a generator that could run 2 circuits (sump pump and furnace) if need be. We could not afford to lose power to the sump for even a few minutes in the winter, as our basement would have started to flood. The generator wasn't too expensive (under $1000), and it was worth it for peace-of-mind.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

It sounds like this house was built in the days before tiles and pumps. Our first home (rental) was built in 1908 and we had a heck of a time with the basement flooding. We didn't put anything down there, and did all laundry at my mom's house since we couldn't have a washer an dryer. It was a spooky old basement too-and it had been my grandparents' home! I don't know how they stood it.
We have had water here 3 times--once for an ice storm when we lost power and after 7 hours the water came out of the sump, and twice when sumps just up and died (one after only one year). Now we have a commercial quality sump, plus a city backup in case we lose power. The worst sentence I've ever heard from DD#2 was when she came upstairs and said "mom, the carpet in the basement is squishy!"
Robin M.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

In the seller's disclosure that stated that the basement does experience a bit of wetness in the Spring. I guess the key word term is, "a bit."

This means the basement leaks 2", more than likely since you see the evidence. It means it needs drain tile & sumps. If you buy this house put it in before Spring.
You have been warned. It is disclosed.

Would I buy this house? I don't know. I have put in sumps & drain tile in one house and it wasn't leaking just "sweating". I would freak with measurable leak in a basement every Spring.

Also HOW is it leaking?

And if you sell YOU will have to disclose this.

Get a professional, one that specializes in basements to find the leaks.