Big Stinking Cracks

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I've got a problem with leaking in the basement again. I did a mental tally, and I'm pretty sure that there have been 11 leaks in 5 years (six summers) that I've lived here. First, there were four cracks, on opposite walls of the basement. They were patched from the inside, and that seemed to work for two of them. When the other two leaked, the builder came out, dug down below the basement floor on the outside and patched from the outside. That didn't work at all.

I threatened legal action, and told him he'd need to bring in an engineer at his own expense if he didn't fix the leak once and for all. He brought in some guy who did a urethane patch that's shot through the crack at really high pressure and is supposedly fool proof. It seemed to fix the problem. That was year 2.

In year 3, there was a leak on the opposite side, which pooled in the middle of the basement. The builder came out, concluded that water had come in the weeping tile access hole because the water table was really high. (It was a really wet year that year, and it seemed logical.) He put a cap on the weeping tile hose thingy, and said it should be good.

In year 4, the same leak as year 3 showed up again. I had a good look around, realized that the basement windows had never been caulked, and caulked the snot out of them.

Last year, I thought I'd managed to go a full summer without a leak, but found a big puddle on the floor in September. It looked like it had come though the cracks that were fixed in year 2. Having given up on the builder (who has changed his company name, moved, has an unlisted number and is pretty much MIA), I called New Home Warranty. They sent out an engineer. He said that those urethane repairs are fail safe and couldn't possibly be leaking. Then he stood in the middle of the room, stared at the ceiling for a while, hummed a little bit and then left. I got a letter three weeks later that said he didn't know the source of the leak, but he was fairly certain that it wasn't structural... therefore New Home Warranty wouldn't help. I could appeal if I wanted, but I'd only have a week to do so. (One month after his inspection.) Mother Nature didn't cooperate during that week. There wasn't any rain, and the basement stayed dry.

This spring when we got our first rain, there was water in the same spot. I went down when it was raining one day a few days later, and saw it coming through the crack that had the fail safe urethane patch. Then last week, I went down stairs again, and found another leak on the opposite side.

I called a guy who seems to have a fairly good reputation for water proofing homes and he came out. It turns out that about the time the two cracks were repaired (for the third time), he had an apprentice who was stealing his materials and tools and doing jobs on the side. He said that quite a few of the more unsavory contractors in the business hired the apprentice because he cost a couple hundred less than him; but that the apprentice didn't really know what he was doing. He says he recognizes the work, and is pretty sure that's who did the repairs on the one side.

As for the other side, it has leaked just about every time we've had a good soaking that has blown in from the south. I don't know why, but it's not at all common for rain to blow in from the south around here... maybe 4 times in the last 6 summers. Something niggled at me last week when I saw that the rain was blowing in from the south, so I went to check. Sure enough, water was trickling over to the center of the room. Since I knew about the other crack, I pulled out the insulation on the wall. Sure as shit, one of the cracks that had been repaired the first year had opened up again.

So, dude's going to come out and fix them all next week. It's gonna cost me a cool $1200, which is a crap load of money; but in the grand scheme of things, I guess it isn't too bad to ensure a water proof basement. I was imaging having to dig down again on the outside, and that would cost ten times as much. Or, if my basement flooded after I'd finished it, I'd have a $1000 insurance deductible and then a fee hike. I suppose I'd rather pay for the preventative maintenance than the repairs. It's worth it to me to have the peace of mind; but I can't say that I don't resent every single cent of the bill.

I hope the builder is attacked by a colony of fire ants. I hope that they go straight for his crotch.