Recently bought a house and it's been incredibly rainy. Record monthly rainfall for a couple of months running. Not sure if it is related but it seems as if there is some water running under the siding of the east side of my house when it rains. We've gotten two or three very small "puddles" in our basement on this side of the house as well during different heavy rainfalls. Nothing large just a tiny splash of water here and there that dries up very quickly. To be honest there's probably been some I never saw because they dried up. Unfortunately I can't tell exactly where the water is coming from because we have that white vapor guarded insulation nailed into the wall throughout the basement. All I can see without cutting it away is the puddles which seem to show up in random spots on that wall.
Anyways I attached some pictures of the outside near the bottom of the siding and really just want to know if you'd consider this a problem and if so what usually causes it? What should I do or who should I call? We are not very handy on large projects.
Thank you so much for your help. We are very nervous and stressed about this.
Best Answer
Any leakage is a problem. It can get worse through building movement or freeze/thaw cycles. It can lead to other problems like mold.
So moisture is either coming up from below (a rising water table) or its coming from the surrounding ground water in the saturated soil.
If it comes up from a rising water table, it will enter the living space from below through the crack between the foundation wall and slab.
If it comes from the surrounding ground water, it COULD enter the living space through the wall, especially if the exterior side of the foundation wall is not sealed properly. Either way the moisture enters the living space it will need to be collected and disposed. I think the best way to collect it is on the exterior side of the foundation wall in drainrock and a perf pipe laid 6”-8” below the interior basement slab.
To keep the subsurface water from seeping through the wall, I recommend installing a moisture barrier on the exterior side of the foundation wall and install a 2” thick plastic mesh on the wall to allow water to flow down to the perfect pipe. If dirt is allowed to be backfilled against the wall, the dirt could hold the moisture giving it a chance to seep through the wall.
Once collected it needs to be disposed by extending a solid pipe over an embankment or in a collection well and pumped away.
This is expensive so you may want to monitor it for a season or two. This may be the most expensive method of solving the problem, but it’s sure to work.