water in basement experience - please come in

OK, so the house we are about to go into contract on has an issue that we discovered at inspection...

When we went down to the finished basement, the bedroom was being repainted, all the floor moldings and electrical outlet covers were off. Now, you're selling the house and everything else is in pristine condition - why are you repainting and why did you not put the moldings, etc., back on yet? Just raised an eyebrow for us, but for the inspector he said that means they probably have a water problem. The bedroom's in the back corner of the house and that was the only spot outside where there had been caulking between the foundation and the concrete driveway around the house. Hmmm....

We point blank had our lawyer ask theirs if there's a water issue, which they admitted a 'small one' that they 'fixed.' Now I'm leery.

I grew up in a house with water issues in the basement and the problem was never really fixed.

Can it be? Is it expensive? Our inspector thinks that if you re-grade the concrete outside so it's not draining towards the house, we should be fine.

I also want to get a mold inspection now -- how much $ is that?


btw, it's 2002 construction, which makes me wonder - why is this happening in a new house?

:(

Re: water in basement experience - please come in

Basically the same exact thing happened to us, but the owner lied and said there were no water issues, now a year later we have had 2 instances where water came into the basement, when it downpoured.

My husband ripped off the sheetrock and in one place there looks like theres a crack in the foundation but we are not sure if thats the exact place it's coming from.

We are hearing that we may have to dig down to the foundation to seal the outside of the house b/c if you only do it from the inside water will still get in and when it freezes will make the crack bigger which will make your problem bigger

Re: water in basement experience - please come in

aww i am so sorry to hear that!

have you gotten any estimates on how much that is going to cost? i'm worried that this is an $$$ problem!

Re: water in basement experience - please come in

It has nothing to do wh the age of the house- it's most likely from the way it was graded or any windows in the basement changed?

I just sold a foreclosure that had a huge water issue in the basement

The house was built in 96 and the builder didn't bother to properly grade any of the lots

We (paid for by the bank) solved the issues by putting in dry wells and leading the water away from the house - this plus clean up from the damage $10k

It can be fixed - but the real issue is did they fix it for real or cover it up

This weeks rain is a good test

Re: water in basement experience - please come in

We haven't gotten any estimates yet, we want to have someone come in and tell us the exact problem and then see if we can do it ourselves first. I have heard this can run 5-6 thousand because there is so much labor involved.

Re: water in basement experience - please come in

We bought 2 years ago and have had water in our basement this year with the major storms. We live really close to the water though so basically most people in this neighborhood are dealing with this issue.

DH has his own construction business, so between him and his friends, he thinks he can waterproof our basement for around $1500-2K.

FWIW, I have heard of a couple people no where near the water who have had problems with flooding with the storms this year. I think it could happen anywhere.