The Problem
We’re in a Fieldstone Foundation today. They put Drylok and other things on the walls to help pretty it up and waterproof it. This is what’s called negative end waterproofing, and we don’t want to do a lot of this this, because we’re on the wrong side of the wall. If I was just going to waterproof on the inside, I would just put some plastic or a strong membrane up. But what we don’t want is water migrating through.
Having said that, talking out of the other side of my mouth, they did use a type O mortar. It’s designed to weep at some point. When it gets wet, the water leaks through. But after it dries up, the mortar hardens again. So maybe there hasn’t been too much done. We need to quit trying to keep the water out and instead let it go into a drainage system. But for now, it’s not too bad.
We do have water migrating through the wall near the door, and I’m glad the owner said something. When we go outside, we can see that the slab at the top of the steps is too low and is pitched toward the house. And we need to take care of that.
The Waterproof Solution
What we want to do is keep the water completely out. So to do this, we’re going to break the floor out along the walls and install a 60-foot drainage system. We’ll run it 20-feet down and 20-feet across the back.
As for the water getting in from the outside facing wall, we can make sure the area around the wall is pitched so that the water runs downhill, away from the house. We’re also going to run the discharge for the sump pump to a dry well out there. And that’s a beautiful situation for the house because it all adds up to pressure relief and no water getting in.
Bathroom Installation
In the area where the bathroom is going to go, we’ll break the floor open for some plumbing.
While the floor is still open, we’ll go ahead and add to the drainage system. And then we’ll be making our way right up to the cold joint and install a gap system right next to the footing.
This will all help dry out the house and keep more water from getting in.
We appreciate you stopping by. Have any questions? Feel free to call me! Stephen Burton at Waterproof Solutions.