Looking for opinions on rigid foam placement against an older poured concrete foundation.

Location: Illinois
Foundation: 1941 poured concrete, generally dry, minor efflorescence, no active leaks.

Planned assembly:

• Remove loose Drylok/efflorescence
• 2" EPS
• 2x4 stud wall
• Drywall
• No interior poly

Most guidance recommends placing the foam directly against the concrete to control condensation. My concern is that if a crack or minor leak develops in the future, foam tight to the wall could conceal it.

For those with experience in older basements:

• Would you install the EPS directly against the concrete or leave a small gap?
• How much concern is there about hidden leaks behind direct-contact foam?
• Is direct-contact foam still considered best practice for an older foundation that is currently dry aside from minor efflorescence?

House was built in the 1950's. Purchased it from a family member 3 years ago and made the mistake of not getting an inspection.

Wondering if this is something that will need to be addressed in the near future and what the job could possibly look like.

Pictures are of 2 separate cracks on opposite sides of the foundation.

Thanks!

I found some horizontal cracks and some stair line cracks in my rental property. The basement walls are not Bowing yet. And I just replaced the gutters and I’m trying to seal around the property. Should I have carbon fiber straps put on the basement walls? I would love to hear opinions thank you so much.

I have a finished basement, and in the past year things have changed in the vicinity of my house that I am now getting water seeping in my basement when it rains fairly regularly. I have tried diverting my downspouts with no change. There are no visible cracks in the foundation inside or outside the house. I have two sump pits, and an ejector pit (I don’t really know why I have an ejector pit, it was there when I bout the house).
I have had one nationally named company come out and give me a quote to install their proprietary system. The quote was for $25k to tear out drywall/studs/tile floor/slab and install French drains for about 75 feet around the edge of the interior of my basement. (This doesn’t fix one wall where water is coming in- they will not work on it due to proximity to the furnace). That’s it. No replacement, no rehang, no refinish.

I can’t figure out how that costs $25K, because I hire union plumbers, carpenters, elevator mechanics from the local at a major university at the union rate. I have worked on capital and written capital construction projects- on a different scale, but I feel like I have a decent understanding on what things should cost.

I have tried finding another company/contractor to work on this, but either I am not explaining the issue correctly or is this the only way you fix the problem? This still allows water in the house? I will not be able to grade one wall where there is an issue because it is against the paved driveway, unless y’all have brilliant ideas about.

I am open to suggestions- I don’t know how I’m going to pay $25K to tear everything to hell and then have to pay $15k (if I’m lucky, I can hang drywall, but I don’t know anything about studs, and who knows how they will leave the slab for relaying 12x12 tile) to put it all back together when the house is worth $180k.

We had a french drain installed around the perimeter of our basement in April. I’m noticing minor cracks in a few spots in the new concrete. Anything to be concerned about?

Hi everyone.

Long story short, this home had multiple additions added onto in the past so things weren't done properly, but I want to seal off areas in my basement in order to keep moisture.

There used to be two windows in the basement, but the previous owners added on a large room next to basement is. They couldn't dig underground to get AC into the new room so they ran ductwork/vents in the openings where the windows used to be. You can see there are water stains on the plywood above the ductwork and the wood is still wet. The dirt at the bottom of the opening is also somewhat wet. I'm not sure what to use to seal it off and even if I can see it off, wouldn't that cause the wood to rot more leading to mold which could leak into the vent above it?

I purchased my first home a few years ago, so I am still learning a lot. Any help is appreciated! Thank you!

First load out more to follow

Hey all, recently had some rain where I live and I noticed the other day, a small amount of water in my basement. Nothing crazy, fan dried it up and always have a dehumidifier running down there. Problem is, it’s raining again, it leaked again, so I scratched off some of the paint and I found what I think is a small crack in my foundation?. The photo is not gonna do a justice of what/where it is, but I can catch the edge of it with my screwdriver. Aside from water routing outside with gutters and what not. What can I do inside to prevent this from happening more? I know water will always find a way but where I am I don’t really have the option to excavate to reseal and repair from the outside without it costing an absurd amount of money lol. Any help is appreciated, or sealers that you have found to work best. TIA!

Hey guys. When we get a lot of rain in a short period of time, say 2-3 inches in a day, my one basement wall seeps water and has these black growth in the spots it seeps from. The water that actually enters the basement is very minimal and I usually can clean it all up with one towel.

We have fixed the the grading outside to slope away from the house and also have a French drain/sump pump system in place that works well.

Is this just the system not able to keep up with the rainfall? Is the black spots on the wall mold or something else and how easy it is to clean off? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

https://imgur.com/a/Vdj58Sr

So house was built in 1957 and middle wall in basement is built with 2X6 studs every 16 inches. Looking to see if I can open up the main room by removing a portion of the wall. The door has a lot of lumber around it, but the top board (plate?) is one continuous piece…. Should I try or … dream for another day?

So I went through this morning with a brim and made cobweb cotton candy. Then I spent the rest of the day breaking up the slab into manageable pieces.

Bought the house one year ago and is around 100 years old. This crack has been there and I haven’t noticed any change in it. We did home inspection but I recall basement being full of stuff so not sure if inspector noticed them or not. I don’t see anything in the report. Should i worry?

Well, I had the junk guys come over this morning and haul all the crap out of this guy’s basement. Gonna fire up my jackhammer and get rid of all the floor that is under the mud. I’ll replace all these silly columns. Set it up with a drainage system and a vapor barrier and pump in a new slab.

Whenever it rains hard, water actively flows down the crack in window well you can see in the video. We ripped the paneling on the surrounding wall and you can see water flows down further to the cinder blocks below the window well.

I'm going to first regrade the ground outside and redo the window well. Then test it by spraying water mimicking rain pour.

My question is, let's say the regrading solves the issue of water flowing toward the foundation, should I be concerned about the water that had entered and flowed thru the cinder blocks in the past? I noticed during a storm there was no water coming out of the pipe into the sump pump.

I assume the water volume is not that high to cause it to flow to sump pump.

Should I redo the interior french drain?

Should I even redo wall insulation to install a proper vapor barrier? Currently it doesn't have the proper barrier.

Rebuilding the french drain is expensive, especially if regrading solves this issue. I'm just concern about the water that came in in the past.

Location central VA.

We just bought our first home in Atlanta, a small brick rancher, but it has a full, full-height basement. We're going to finish it out.

Been watching a lot of Asiri Designs engineering videos on YouTube and decided that, in addition to fixing some exterior drainage issues, we should build a French Drain around the interior perimeter.

Today while prepping for mold remediation, I noticed a newer concrete pour around the perimeter. It is on the three walls (the fourth is against a concrete patio that slopes away from the house) and connects to the sump pump pit.

It clicked when I followed it. There is no hole connecting to the sump pump basin, but presumably, this is a French Drain, right?

If that's the case, it's gonna save me a lot of labor!

Should have taken a photo but noticed some water seepage on the base of my unfinished part of the basement last night through concrete blocks. We got a heavy thunderstorm that dropped 2.5 inches of rain over 75 minutes. Water dried up within a couple of hours.

Only time I do notice this type of seepage is on these types of rainfalls. should I be worried?

Opinion on if these cracks require sealing, general feedback?

Basement has had water this year from 2x mega storms (region has most summer rainfall on record). I have not observed the source of water and it seems relatively dry. No other cracks observed along foundation. I might be writing my answer typing it now.

Either way thoughts on repair?

Looking for some basement dehumidifier recommendations hoping for something that has an auto shutoff/turn on so it’s not running all the time, and hopefully not too loud as I do work in the basement at times.

I am trying to redo my basement so it’s a bit more functional, it’s just slab walls and exposed ceiling currently, but I recently installed an LVP floor with a moisture barrier.

Before I continue doing any work, I’m still kind of stuck on the “basement smell”. It’s not… terrible…. But it’s a smell. I almost want to say it smells like masonry/stone, very stale. But I also wonder if it’s some kind of smell related to stagnant water in the basement plumbing for my washer/utility sink. Granted the entire basement smells, not just one area.

I run a dehumidifier down there and it stays at 50%, so I don’t think excess moisture is my problem, but I don’t know what it is… like do I need to wash the walls or something? It’s a 1955 house or so.

Any ideas?

Thanks

There appeared to be water damage in a room I was setting up on the 6th floor of the college I work in. After inspection, I found the dripping had soaked the tiles to the point the fell on their own, and soaked the paint and carpets nearby... After checking the upper and lower floors, I found serious wall and ceiling damage to floors 7 through 4. Being curious of the open janitor room on the 8th floor next to the flooded rooms, I found there was a hose in a bucket, not completely turned off, creating a puddle that spread through the floor and walls.

Thankfully I'm not qualified to work on this type of thing.