Title of Question:
water soaking entire brick wall and into basement!
Name:Ben Davis City: Champaign, IL
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| Question: For about 6 months I have been trying to discover the cause of a small area of wetness in my basement after a large rain. I noticed outside of the house near the foundation a low spot that corresponded with the wetness in the basement. I increase the grade in this spot and improve the drainage. After a few months, that spot has returned, and much of the dirt and mulch has washed away. On further inspection I noticed that on the brick exterior wall in a corner there was moss growing. When it rains, water soaks into the bricks and slowly runs all the way down, and presumably into the foundation and eventually my basement. I had the gutter rehung to increase the pitch in this area and it is better, but still the bricks are getting soaked, even with a gentle rain. The gutter section is only about ten feet (it is along my front porch) and the downspout runs adequately away from the house. The end piece of the gutter is not obviously leaking. There is a small overhang from the roof that runs perpendicular to my porch. It seems that where the roof meets the bricks might be the origin of the problem. There is no flashing or caulk here. The small length of gutter along the porch actually drains a significant amount of rainwater and the "valley" between the two intersecting roofs runs to the lower gutter. Any ideas on how to correct, or at least improve this situation? I can redo the grading again, but if this water is just running down the bricks and into the foundation/basement I'm not sure that this is the fix. Any help is much appreciated.
Thanks,
bd |
Post Your Answer To The Question Above:
| Answer: I would go with your premise that it has to be the point where the roof meets the brick and try to add some flashing there. I found a link that might help. Although this refers to a chimney and roof connection problem, I think it might be relevant for your problem. It sounds like you have tried and had some success with every other possible home improvement remedy, although you may have to regrade periodically just because of normal erosion in that spot. Good luck!
http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/e-n/inpr/bude/himu/codemo/codemo_082.cf-m- |
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