One Year Later: Still Dry as a Bone

I'll continue to keep my fingers crossed, but am happy to report that after a full year of rain, heavy snowfall, and much more rain, we have not had a single drop of water penetrate our basement.

Not.

One.

Drop.

Even in the sump basins.

My suspicions tell me that I laid enough stone under the perimeter drainage pipes to handle the water load and allow the water to filter back into the ground before it makes it's way into the sump basins.  I've even seen water coming down the outside entrance stairwell under the bilco doors and funnel right into the drainage grate at the bottom of the steps as planned, which I must say, put a smile on my face.

I'm also happy to say that the water doesn't seem to sit under the perimeter of the floor, because even during, and after, the heaviest of rains, there is absolutely no smell or damp feeling in the air in the basement.

The only downside to this monumental success, is that now I'm hesitant to consider selling the house at any point in the future, knowing that I won't know how a water management system in any future home may, or may not, have been installed.

It was a Herculean task, not for the faint at heart weekend warrior, but the house is far more sound for it.

Basement (Pt 3): Framing before Foaming

So now that the interior weeping tile drainage system has been installed, it is time to create a thermal break on the exterior walls to avoid water vapor in the interior air from condensing on the cold exterior walls and creating another water issue.  We have decided that the most efficient (cost, time, and quality) method is to use closed cell spray foam insulation from the floor to the rim joist. 

I had priced out simply gluing rigid foam insulation to the exterior walls, but the cost was nearly the same, and I would have had to deal with alot of custom fitting of small pieces to fill int he rim joist, as well as seal all of the gaps with pricey cans of spray foam.

I also priced out DIY spray foam kits, but for the amount that I would need for the job, it's around the same price as hiring it out to a professional insulation company.

I love doing new projects on my own and learning the tricks of the trade, but with as much time as I've spent down there this summer, if I'm not saving a good percentage of cost by DIYing, it's getting hired out.

After deciding on spray foam for the job, the first step is to frame the exterior walls.  The framing is kept about an inch away from the foundation walls, which allows for the foam to be sprayed behind the framing and encapsulate the framing.  This has dual benefits, but creating a vapor/moisture barrier between the framing and the foundation, as well as creating a thermal break.  If the framing is in direct contact with the foundation, even if water wasn't an issue, the cold foundation would draw heat out of the house through the framing, or the house would draw cold from the foundation in.  In either case, there would be a heat transfer that would change the conditions inside the house.

What about the bottom plate on the floor?

Heat, as well as vapor/moisture, will also transfer through the concrete basement floor.  I will cover the actual floor covering method that I plan on using in a specific flooring post, but this still needs to be considered in the framing. 

I haven't worked out every detail yet, since I haven't actually done the work, but it goes a little something like this:

1. Lay a 12" strip of dimpled membrane along the perimeter of the floor, folding 2" up the wall and locking into the dimpled membrane on the walls.  The seams will be taped with sheathing tape.  This blocks any water from the framing.
2. Lay a strip of 1" think rigid foam insulation along the perimeter of the floor, spacing 1" away from the wall to allow for spray foaming to the floor.  This blocks the heat transfer.  This strip should only be the width of the bottom plate
3. Lay the bottom plate, either metal framing or pressure treated (depending on what you use for your framing), maintaining the 1" gap from the wall
4. Pre-drill holes int he bottom plate / rigid foam / dimpled membrane, and attach everything to the floor with tap-con screws.  I may pull everything away from the dimpled membrane on the floor and fill the dimple with the pre-drilled hole in it with a sealant, to create a seal when the screw goes in.

I have done a crude mockup of what this would look like to illustrate the materials being used:

Luckily, I have a bit of the dimpled membrane I used on the walls to use in this framing step.  You may have noticed that I called for a 12" strip of dimpled membrane, with 2" wrapping up the wall, a 1" gap prior to the bottom plate, and a 2" to 4" wide bottom plate (depending on home much space I care to lose)...so what gives?  The extra 5" - 7" will be used to overlap whatever vapor barrier I decide to use on the rest of the floor as an underlayment.  I've confirmed with the manufacturer that the dimpled membrane can be used under the framing of non-load bearing walls, which none of the walls in the basement will be.

Fireplace Update

This is going back almost a year now, but we finally fixed something that has been making me cringe since we bought the joint...the multi-colored slate hearth:

It already looks better:

Poured a fresh base for the new tile:

My lovely wife capped it off with the tiling, since she is far more patient than I am:

And going with the 80/20 rule, the only thing left to do is a bit of trim to finish the edges:

Basement (Pt 2): Devising a plan (Water Management Complete)

Since we went through so much to remove the mold, we certainly want to ensure that we don't have an issue again in the future.  So off to the interwebs I went to do my research, and found the following:

• Water management:
• Exterior waterproofing / weeping tile (french drain) systems are really, really expensive
• Interior waterproofing / weeping tile (french drain) systems are only really expensive...just one "really"
• Water will likely work it's way into the house over time

• Interior climate: 
• If you don't control interior conditions, you'll likely end up with condensation, which can still lead to mold

So, I have to figure out a way to remove the water that comes in, and prevent moisture in the air inside the basement from condensing onto cold surfaces...sounds easy enough.

I began to look into having a basement company come in and install an interior weeping tile system (commonly referred to as a french drain, and quickly found out that for the size and shape of our home we would easily be looking at $10,000 and up.  And quite frankly, I'm not totally confident in the quality of jobs that companies do for a flat fee since they can make more by quick turnover and corner cutting.  If I was going to hire this job out, it would have been to a company called HydroArmor.  Watch the youtube videos that Dan O'Connor has posted and tell me that you'd be confident in someone else doing this job...plus he's hysterical.

However, my being almost fearless in the renovation department, I decided to tackle this job on my own (with the help of some family and hired muscle).

Here are the basics of what I have been up to:

Break the basement floor around the perimeter

Dig a sump pit and a trench to the bottom of the footer and line with filter fabric

Add a stone base
Lay the drain pipe (wrapped in a filter "sock") and set the sump basin

Run the discharge line to the exterior

Back fill the trench to the bottom of the floor and drill weep holes in the blocks

Hang a dimple membrane n the wall and overlapping the footer and stone

Back fill with concrete to refinish the floor

Since there is an outside entrance accessible through bilco doors that don't seal out the weather, I will be building an exterior entrance just inside the basement to seal out the elements.  To accommodate for any water that gets in through those doors into the entrance area, I have also installed a drainage grate at the bottom of the steps:

That should take care of any water from the outside (fingers crossed).

The next step is to manage indoor climate and humidity.  In short, I will be framing the exterior walls 1" away from the block foundation walls, and having a company come in and apply sprat foam from the floor to the ceiling, which will cover the dimple membrane, seal the above grade block wall, and seal the rim joists.  This will create a thermal break between the inside air, and the outside temperatures, and eliminate condensation inside.  And that means that I can move on to finish the basement without worry of additional issues!

There are many details, tips, and tricks that I have found in my research, or figured out on my own during the project that I have been documenting, and hope to make that available as a downloadable eBook at some point, so check back and/or leave a comment if you want to get in touch for more info (I'm a real research nerd).

Some of this may seam overboard, but as my building hero Mike Holmes says, "do it right, do it once" (paraphrasing there).

Basement (Pt 1): There be MOLD!

Would have been nice if there be gold, but mold it was.  Our house, being roughly 60 years old, was bound to have water in the basement at one point or another, especially with cinder-block foundation walls.  It came in drips and drabs, was easily cleanable, and we ran a dehumidifier much of the time.  This is what it looked like during it's best days:

Unfortunately, this is the only "before" pic that I can find.  

This is the finished living area.  

There is also a large unfinished storage room and work shop, 

as well as a utility room and bathroom.

At the end of last summer, we got hit with a clogged condensate line in the central air handler, and a ton of condensation inside the basement that resulted in quite a bit of visible mold.  It was in the ceiling tiles all under the pipes and central air runs, and in the exposed wall areas surrounding the central air handler.

The clogged condensate line that for some reason empties under the floor...

Mold on the floor and walls around the central air handler...

More mold under the stairs...

To ensure that the mold remediation people killed all of the mold, we decided the best plan of action was to empty the basement of all contents (and clean them before putting them into temporary storage), and completely demo the basement down to the block walls.  Once I started the demo on the finished walls, I knew we had made the smart choice.  The mold and rot was as high as 3-4 feet up the inside of the walls in many spots.  We filled a dumpster with 4 tons of debris.

All in the middle of the summer.

Without any central A/C (since we didn't want to blow mold all over the rest of the house).

That was awesome...