Wet basements---are they that bad?

[Jena]

I have been looking for a house for my mom to buy. Looking for a house for someone else is an adventure in itself, but anyways...

I found this house that is the right size, the right price and it has new almost everything. New siding, new roof, new furnace, new AC, new windows, new plumbing and new wiring. It was donated to an organization who is selling it.

The basement is troublesome. Part of it is all brick walls. Part of it has poured concrete up about 3 feet, then brick on top of that. The rest is crawl space. There is a sump pump hole, but no sump pump installed. The drains would drain to the city storm sewers as this house is in town.

It is obvious that the basement is wet. I would guess that there has been as much as 1 foot of water in there. The new furnace is installed as a hanging unit (first clue), then I see a line on the water heater. It appears that most of the water comes in the basement windows.

There is one section of wall that is bowed. There is another, newer brick wall built about 3 foot in from that one. The realtor speculated that they built that newer section to help support the bowing part. It is bowed under the kitchen and not in a main, weight bearing part of the house.

So is water in the basement really that big a deal? It is a pain, but does it really signify major issues to the house? This house is perfect, but for this issue. Who do I call to assess basements anyways??? What type of contractor.

Thanks
Jena

[comfortablynumb]

run from that, you dont want to live on top of that. black mold, mildew, cockroaches love damp wood.

they hung the furnace because the floor is probably almost always flooded.
this degrades the cement and mortar, waekens the foundation and invites all kinda problems.

dont buy it.

[via media]

I second cn's suggestion to run. You're opening your mum up to all kinds of allegies, lung problems and asthma, among other things.

I'm sorry - I know househunting is a daunting task and I can't imagine trying to do it for someone else.

/VM

[JAK]

It it either fixable, or it aint. Not much room for middle ground with basements. Next to the location, the foundation is perhaps the most important part of your investment in determining its maintainability and potential for apprecition. What you describe sounds very bad. Wet and perhaps impractical to correct.

[Jeslik]

My dad is in a house in Galva, IL (outside of Kewanee), and has a similar problem. In his case, the bricks crumble in your hand.

It appears that most of the problem is the way they handled the water run-off. Most of the gutters run straight to the ground, the house is in a slight depression after 100 odd years, so the water doesn't run off, and when the gutters do work, they move the water to the cistern, which may or may not hold water. They also have a dirt floor covered with bricks. The Clotheswasher was running straight to the center floor drain for years, and lint clogged it to the point that the water just flowed over the bricks until it hit an un-saturated patch of ground to sink into.

All of these were "fixable problems". Once fixed, 90 % of the water problem disappeared. The brick and supports crumbling away, however... way to much $$ and time. And who knows if the sewer drain is whole or cracked? Plus, dirt against brick - brick always loses. But they didn't ask my opinion, and they have chosen to ignore the problem, and hoping that nothing happens in the next 20 years, while they spend money making the inside and outside pretty...

I'd be very wary of this; if it's really a good price, its worth calling a structural engineer to have him inspect the foundation and supports. Have him give you an estimate to make it safe & dry. You can fix a wet basement, but if you have to replace the piers, foundation and brickwork, its just not worth it. IMHO.

Good luck.

[RedneckPete]

I do excavating, and fix about a dozen basements a year. This one sounds bad. A simple leaky basement with relatively straight walls is quite fixable for a reasonable price. Bowed walls needing replacement (especially if the exterior is brick) gets real expensive real fast. Think in the area of $100 - $150 per linear foot. My advise would be to either steal the house you are looking at or find another "perfect" house.

Pete

[~PrairieGirl~]

we lived in a house with a wet basement, when we moved there our dd suddnly had asthma it took us a few months to put 2 &2 together though since the dr,'s insisted that she must have always had it and it was just aggrivated by something well we did get the basement fixed and she had no more problems after that, so it must of worked, it did cost $4000 though. You could try and get a basement guy out ther and get an estimate if he thinks he can fix it and see if they will give you a discount on the house in order to repair the basement.

My daughter was very helpful when we went house shopping this time around though. She would walk in the door and we could tell in less than a minute if the place had mold.

[rambler]

As others say, if it is fixable that it doesn't collect standing water, buy it cheap.

If it isn't fixable, then it is a bad bad thing, run away from this.

--->Paul

[Jena]

Thanks.

There was no standing water, but it hasn't rained in awhile. It is raining to day, so I think I need to go look again. This is a medium light rain, so if there's water with this one....don't want to think of a bad one.

If it's dry today, I'll get a contractor out to estimate the bowed wall and deduct that from the price.

Jena

[brouwer]

We bought a house with a wet basement and walls that bowed. We got a really good deal on the property. We did have it all repaired. They jacked up the whole house a couple inches and replaced all the walls and floor. It cost us $15,000.00. It was definitely worth it but I would not have bought the place if it would not have been a steal. When we took off the old sheetrock and carpeting there were inches of mold. We had to wear masks was mold "dust" was so bad.

[Shadow]

Run don't walk Sure you can fix anything wrong with a house as long as you have the ability to pay. If the mold does not kill you and your mother.

[suitcase_sally]

Originally Posted by Jena

I found this house that is the right size, the right price and it has new almost everything. New siding, new roof, new furnace, new AC, new windows, new plumbing and new wiring. It was donated to an organization who is selling it.

Thanks
Jena

This sounds like an ugly woman wearing a lot of makeup. The basement is the only "ugly" part you can see. Makes me wonder what's under that makeup. What do her "bones" look like?

There was a reason this house was donated. All the makeup in the world don't make an ugly woman REALLY pretty.

[suitcase_sally]

For some reason I can't edit my post to correct the spelling of "am" to "an" in the last line.

[Jena]

Nah...I saw a really bad house, worst basement I've ever seen, but the inside was PRETTY. That had new carpet, new kitchen, new bathrooms...all the cosmetic stuff, but that brick basement had water pouring through the walls, bubbling up from the floor. There was NO mortar of any kind left in the bricks and it was plain SCARY to be down there at all. It wasn't even raining.

This one has a lot of the functional, but not pretty stuff, done.

Jena

[Pony]

FWIW, my SIL and her husband bought a really beautiful house in an exclusive, older North Shore subdivision. It is absolutely gorgeous.

And it smells to high heaven.

Shortly after they moved in and started to actually use the plumbing and then experienced a few rain storms, the basement got wet, the septic backed up, and the place smells of rotting yuck.

You're better off spending a little more up front than taking the chance that you can fix it. SIL has had to fix one blasted thing after another, with no end yet in sight.


Pony!

[KindredSpirit]

The foundation of your house is probably the most important thing you need to look at for your home. It also has the potential to be the most costly and destructive in terms of mold and supporting the house. This one sounds like it has been an ongoing problem for years and years. I personally wouldn't give this house a second look. It doesn't matter how nice it looks inside if the foundation is no good. No loan company will make a loan on a house with a shoddy foundation either. If you are determined to see it through I would take a serious look inside. Are the windows and doors square? Do the doors open and close freely? Look for cracks up inside closets where maybe someone hasn't thought of fixing them to hide foundation problems. I would also pay a home inspector (not the kind the loan company sends out) a few hundred to go through the entire house before I bought anything. It is better to buy something that doesn't look quite as nice and costs a little more but is structurally sound than something that looks nice but is questionable IMHO. Good luck.

[The Paw]

I think the structure is more of a concern than the moisture. With proper exterior drainage, a sump pump installed, and a dehumidifier you can make a big difference. I don't get too worried about minor seepage in an unfinished concrete/brick basement, but sheetrock, insulation, wood panelling and other absorbent materials can be a fungal nightmare.

I have seen the second wall to support a bowed basement wall before, and you definitely want a professional assessment. Like others have said, the cost to fix might be worth it if the price is right. I have a basement wall with lateral cracks, and the engineer recommended bolting on angle irons as reinforcement. had a pro do it for about $1,000 and seven years later it is still fine.

[Jena]

Well, it rained all day so I went back this afternoon to take a look.

There was less water inside than I was expecting, very little, but what was there seeped through the wall rather than coming in the window.

There is a depression outside in that area and I suspect that there is an old cistern there that may be contributing to the problem. Whatever....I'm walking. The price is not THAT low.

Jena

[comfortablynumb]

my brother once lived in an old farnhouse that had a garage in the bank build basement, the wall aginst the hill was made of huge cut fieldstone.

it rained one day after he moved in, and the water there must fill up some rock layer on the same level as the garage wall......

after it rained, water came out of the rock wall, literally 1000s of gallons, filled the basement and drained down the driveway.
a day later the basement was as dry as a bone again.

it was a real funny shock to see his car under this waterfall of springwater.

one of those freaky things youll never see again.

but the point is, his basement was dry the next day, it was made to drain water since they couldnt stop the water coming in now and then.

the really funy thing was he left the windows down in the car.
yup, it filled the car. it was hilarious.
no silt at all. the water was as clear as can be.

the fact there was a spring house 20 feet from the garage and on the same level on the hillside, with a 3" pipe flowing full blast with ice cold water 24/7 shoulda been a red flag, but.....
who notices these things when you have such a cooooool springhouse??

a realy hard rain in that house your looking at might flood it and drain right out.