So, you have found your dream home: perfect location, quiet street, great landscaping, room layout fits your life style, colors match your furniture. You can’t wait to relax on the screened patio or that swing on the large front porch.… Read More
Category Archives: Basements
A Lifted (Heaved) Basement Floor Slab
What would cause a concrete basement floor slab to lift in this fashion? The basement floor slab was lifted up about eight inches or so. The area of floor slab over the sanitary sewer lines was lifted more than the… Read More
What Can We Tell from This Photo? (Case Study 10)
This photo was taken at the base of a basement wall. We note the following: The moisture staining on the wood stud and the cardboard box indicate that there has been water infiltration. The multiple rings of the moisture staining… Read More
What If I Don’t Fix My Leaking Basement?
What can happen if I don’t properly address groundwater infiltration through my basement wall? That is, assuming that the basement or foundation wall is not overloaded by the combination of earth and excessive groundwater pressures, what could possibly go wrong?… Read More
What Can We Tell from This Photo? (Case Study 4)
This is an exercise to develop the abilities of observation. What can one know from examining this photograph? The pattern of the joints under the coating indicate that this is a concrete block wall. The coating appears to be… Read More
Is It True? Are Two Pumps Better Than One? – Part 2
Our previous article, Part 1 of Is it True? Are Two Pumps Better Than One? discussed some of the issues of a foundation drainage system that uses a sump basin to collect ground water and a pump to discharge the collected… Read More
Is It True? Are Two Pumps Better Than One? – Part 1
For decades foundation drain tile have been placed around basements of dwellings to collect and drain ground water from the soil, especially during and after a rain storm. These drain tile are commonly comprised of short lengths of clay tile… Read More
What is a Michigan Basement?
You might not know it by name, but you have probably seen a Michigan basement. A Michigan basement is a term used in and around Michigan for a crawlspace that was later excavated to the depth of a basement.… Read More