| You are currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and that there are some features you can't use or read. We are an active community of worldwide senior members participating in chat, politics, travel, health, blogging, graphics, computer issues & help, book club, literature & poetry, finance discussions, recipe exchange and much more. Also, as a member you will be able to access member only sections, many features, send personal messages, make new friends, etc. Registration is simple, fast and completely free. Why not register today and become a part of the group. Registration button at the very top left of the page. Thank you for stopping by. Join our community! In case of difficulty, email worldwideseniors.org@gmail.com. If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| My Foundation Is Leaking After A Big Melt | |
|---|---|
| Topic Started: Dec 28 2016, 07:22 AM (1,620 Views) | |
| Calm | Jan 8 2017, 11:13 AM Post #76 |
|
Small Star Member
|
Wildie: Very pertinent information. Trotsky: I have a rear extension on crawspace. Basement is only original house. The front has a huge concete slab as a porch sort of. And then a rock garden in front of it. Too much a cost to dig around that. Remember, I got to hire all the labour out. I am not losing sleep over this issue. This is not an outright emergency for me. It is just a project. There is nobody sleeping in the basement. There are two bedrooms in one area on a raised floor but nobody uses them. I go down and do laundry, I have tons of stuff to store because my huge work shop is full of saws and whatever from when I did the deck. Also, the garage/shop area is not being heated. Calm |
|
|
|
| campy | Jan 8 2017, 01:13 PM Post #77 |
|
Handyman Extraordinaire
|
As long as the basement floor isn't finished yet you can take your time. I often wonder if ground radar can pinpoint problems when there is a heavy rainfall. I can understand in the spring after a big melt because the ground might be frozen and there's no where for the melt to go except against the house which is softer. |
|
|
|
| Calm | Jan 9 2017, 01:06 AM Post #78 |
|
Small Star Member
|
Hi! Campy The basement floor is "Finished". I don't get what you mean. Calm |
|
|
|
| campy | Jan 9 2017, 01:17 AM Post #79 |
|
Handyman Extraordinaire
|
Finished is concrete only. If you had rugs down they would be a mess. If you had those wood floors put down they would be a disaster. If you had Drywall on the walls and the wood and drywall got wet that would have to be repaired if the insulation got wet. If all you have is what I can an unfinished basement, that can stand a bit of seepage without too much damage. Just bare walls and a concrete floor is an unfinished basement in the trade. Edited by campy, Jan 9 2017, 01:18 AM.
|
|
|
|
| Calm | Jan 9 2017, 01:42 AM Post #80 |
|
Small Star Member
|
Half the time when writing here, I feel the need to post photos to make it easier. It seems to me that this water leakage problem was happening once in while because of the 2 bedrooms are raised up 2" on a wooden structure (Like the floor panels you mentioned, except only with 2x4's with plywood/carpeting.) The two bedrooms have drywall and whatever. They look quite nice. A window in each. The laundry room and furnace room are bare concete floor. No raised floor area. I'm thinking that there must of been a reason to raise the floor in part of the basement. I had thought it was because nobody wanted to walk on a cold basement floor. But, maybe it was because of leakage. I am also very curious as to whether or not I have another basement floor drain somewhere underneath the raised floor. Also very curious concerning any mould on the 2x4's (on their sides) used to raise the floor. It could be crawling with urchins for all I know. If I rip up the floor, there goes the drywall. Just things I am considering. I may just tear out the complete bedroom area and just have one large room. No new bedrooms constructed. Also, I really don't know what is happening within the bedroom area. The walls are all drywalled. I could not or can not see any water damage happening. It could be soaking wet back there for all I know. The concrete floor below the raised floor in bedrooms could be leaking somewhat ..... I don't know for sure. I have never noticed any water draining into the laundry area from below the raised floor. But, there could be some slight bubbly leakage of the concrete floor itself and I would not know. The building inspector took moisture readings all over the basement when we bought the house. Nothing showed up. We bought the house in January - Cold Winter and not raining. Calm Edited by Calm, Jan 9 2017, 02:00 AM.
|
|
|
|
| wildie | Jan 9 2017, 03:26 AM Post #81 |
|
Veteran Member
|
I added a bed room and bathroom in my basement. For the walls, I mounted the lower wall plates on pressure treated blocks about every 24". Before fastening the blocks to the concrete floor I laid down plastic sheeting against the floor to prevent 'wicking' from contact with the concrete. Then I installed the upper plate to the overhead floor joists. Once the plates were mounted, I installed the studs and toe screwed them into the plates. Once the studs were in place, I folded the plastic floor sheeting up and stapled it to the studs. Then, the drywall was screwed in place. Having the plates raised off the floor allows air circulation to flow through and dry out any moisture accumulation. I mentioned earlier, that I used a dimpled plastic under-lay under the floor. Air is free to flow under the floor and under the wall plates. In the past, wooden 2X4 sleepers were used to keep the plywood underlay from coming in contact with the concrete. This method isn't done anymore as wood in contact with the concrete floor will quickly rot away. I used this construction method for both the interior and outside walls. Keeping the outside walls one inch away from the concrete. For the outside walls I placed R12 insulation between the studs and of course, applied a vapour barrier as well. Preventing contact between wood and concrete is an absolute necessity! As I mentioned in another thread, I can force air to flow under the floor by using a standard bathroom exhaust fan, should the need arise! Edited by wildie, Jan 9 2017, 03:29 AM.
|
|
|
|
| Calm | Jan 9 2017, 12:05 PM Post #82 |
|
Small Star Member
|
Hi! Wildie Yeh! I had considered just piping in some force of air into the raised floor space. I am just not certain how the floor is constructed. I need to cut the carpet and then saw the floor plywood about 18-24 square inches to take a really good peek. It could be 864 sticks of 2x4's that the previous house owner got free from somebody in 1906. I have no idea. That is why I need such a large view area cut out of the center of each bedroom. Enough of a view to see how it is constructed. I did not want to ruin the carpet and floor, because once I cut the piece out of the floor ..... well, I am sort of "Committed" then. I would need to repair or most likely replace the complete raised floor area.. It is too early for me to arrive at that "Cost" decision yet. I am looking at the basement really closely now. Not as before, with the quick looks as I was having as the flooding incident was happening. I see a crack down the side of one wall, and it has been patched over and painted too. There was no leaking all down the length of the patch, but where the patch area meets the floor, there was some (very little) leakage bubbling up from that joining area. I could live with that, because it is really a minor leak. The major leak is at another wall, and I have not seen any cracks in the wall as yet, but there was some serious leaking taking place in that area during the rain storm. If I need to replace the complete raised floor area, it definitely can not be higher than what I have I have right now. At 6'1" height, I am able to walk into room without ducking my head. Is your mentioned idea end up with my new floor being higher than it is now? I was thinking about just buying something like plastic 2x4's and place them directly on the bare concrete. I could cover the floor with some other water proof plastic materials. I could snip in/locate any access point, sort of construct the floor in about 4 compartments which can be used to blow/exhaust a vacuum cleaner hose through. Calm Edited by Calm, Jan 9 2017, 12:24 PM.
|
|
|
|
| campy | Jan 9 2017, 01:26 PM Post #83 |
|
Handyman Extraordinaire
|
Calm. Sorry I can't help you out. I won't be posting here for awhile. It's common to raise the floor with studs and plywood. Normally there is a waterproof barrier put down first. |
|
|
|
| wildie | Jan 9 2017, 02:20 PM Post #84 |
|
Veteran Member
|
You may be able to figure out the sleeper pattern using a 'stud finder'! Generally, sleepers are laid on the floor on 16" centres. If the sleepers were installed by a contractor, its likely they were fastened to the floor with explosive fasteners. Explosive fasteners can also be used to lay the plywood sub-floor also. If I were you I would remove the toe molding in a corner and pull the carpet back from there. This would give you some idea of what you may be facing. If the subfloor was screwed down with deck screws, you could perhaps lift the carpet and unscrew the flooring. Then, if there are problems and these are resolved, then everything could be reused to restore the room. |
|
|
|
| wildie | Jan 9 2017, 02:27 PM Post #85 |
|
Veteran Member
|
If you are asking about using the dimpled plastic sheet underlay, it only takes about 1/2" of space, where a 2X4 sleeper takes 1 1/2" so you would gain an extra inch of head room! |
|
|
|
| Calm | Jan 10 2017, 01:59 AM Post #86 |
|
Small Star Member
|
Wildie said: "If you are asking about using the dimpled plastic sheet underlay, it only takes about 1/2" of space, where a 2X4 sleeper takes 1 1/2" so you would gain an extra inch of head room!" So, if the water level in your basement rose above 1 1/2 inches, your feet could get wet? Is it not kinda better to add an inch maybe, as an insurance policy? Or am I thinking the wrong way? Presently, the height of the floor is a 2x4, plus probably 1/4 plywood cover or whatever. If the only real problem I got is that about an inch of water (50-100 gallons max) enters my basement because of a catastrophic weather event like quick melt or torrential rains, and if this only might happen once per year, then perhaps I should just buy a few small pumps which I can strategically place in low lying parts of the concrete floor. Just so I don't need to use a wet and dry vacuum again. Running a wet/dry and manually swooshing the hose around for 6 or 8 hours is no picnic. And, when I mention 1 inch of water, it was not all through the basement. Only in a low lying areas on bare concrete. (Not part of the raised floor area.) Water may of creeped under the raised floors, but it was certainly less than 1" in depth. The depth I mention is only in a few low lying areas of my basement bare concrete floor. (The laundry room area.) The furnace room is bare concrete as well and no leakage there. Any water entering the furnace room is just creeping from the laundry room area. I can't swear to it, and intend to investigate, but I don't think any leakage is happening under the raised floor. I think if any water is under the raised floor, it flowed there from the bare concrete floor area where it was 1" deep and ran off. I think I would place about 6 moisture probes or alarms around the concrete floor near the walls to give me a heads up if leaking began, so I could then turn on the 4 small electric pumps if/when leaking began. I already have an alarm at the sump pump. Don't know what I do if it starts to leak and I am not home. My only worry then would be mould. And I can solve that with a new raised floor manufactured out of plastic or whatever. Any flooding where the water rises above 2 1/2 inches, then I am toast. Sound possible or plausible to you? Calm Edited by Calm, Jan 10 2017, 03:07 AM.
|
|
|
|
| wildie | Jan 10 2017, 02:00 PM Post #87 |
|
Veteran Member
|
It depends on whether the 2X4 sleepers are installed on edge or not. The sub flooring is usually 5/8" thick. Installing the 2X4s on edge would be unusual, as it takes away the room headway. A 2X4 on edge is 3 1/2 high plus the thickness of the sub-floor would make the finished floor level about 4 1/8 high. Using plastic sleepers won't stop the growth of mold. It grows on plastic surfaces in bathrooms all the time. Mold will grow in any damp area, where the spores happen to land! More and more, I'm thinking that you should have a foundation specialist come in and evaluate the situation. From where I sit, excavation and water proofing where the water comes in, would be your best bet. |
|
|
|
| Trotsky | Jan 11 2017, 04:30 AM Post #88 |
|
Big City Boy
|
I agree, although this won't be cheap.
Edited by Trotsky, Jan 11 2017, 04:32 AM.
|
|
|
|
| Calm | Jan 11 2017, 04:56 AM Post #89 |
|
Small Star Member
|
Oh! That is a very good point you made about mold and plastic. I did not know that. I thought mold only stuck to or grew on porous surfaces. Good you pointed that out. .... Okay, I just returned from taking a really good peek at the raised floor. It is as you say .... probably 2x4 laying on sides, and total height is 2 1/2 inches which includes the 5/8" plywood. Oh! Don't worry, I am .... I have called in an expert. He is arriving tomorrow morning. I am just chatting with you folks here while trying to learn what I am up against and from a practical point of view, not from some Sales Person expert that is trying to sell me a product, like the guy I have coming tomorrow. And because of my chats here with you folks, I am able to "Appear" as having a bit more knowledge on the issue. Perhaps know a few more questions to ask. Calm |
|
|
|
| Calm | Jan 11 2017, 05:28 AM Post #90 |
|
Small Star Member
|
Is there anything which is absolutely mould proof which can be used like 2x4's under floor? Calm |
|
|
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
|
|
|
| Go to Next Page | |
| « Previous Topic · Household Repairs, Fix-It, Lend me a Helping Hand · Next Topic » |