Moisture infiltration is the enemy of a finished basement. If you plan to remodel your basement, the absolute first step is waterproofing your foundation. It doesn’t matter where in the St. Louis area you are, but it seems like Kirkwood, Webster and the surrounding areas are the worst for old leaky basements. A lot has to do with the age of the house and its foundation. The old stone foundations are the toughest to waterproof but there are many concrete ones that are just as bad.
St. Louis is known for its elastic soil and that is where the problems start. The soil has a heavy concentration of clay that absorbs moisture and swells then dries out and shrinks throughout the year. Usually, in the winter and spring it swells tight against the foundation walls and in the summer and early fall it dries out and pulls away. This same process is what causes your patios and sidewalks to rise and fall with the seasons. Once the clay has absorbed all it can, the remaining water will push through the cracks that have formed in your foundation due to the tremendous force of the swollen clay. In the summer, when things normally dry up and the clay is moved away from the foundation, the moisture can run right down the foundation wall and find its way into those same cracks much easier than it can be absorbed by the clay! It’s a loose, loose situation!
Foundation cracks can be sealed using epoxy injection and there are number of qualified companies that specialize in that area. Unfortunately, moisture will find another way in. It can enter through the seam between the footing and foundation and work its way through the joint at the floor or is will travel to the first available crack in the concrete floor itself. If that doesn’t work, it will form new foundation cracks to find a way in.
It sounds like I’m equating moisture with some evil alien that is bound and determined to invade your home! That is how you should feel, because once water has infiltrated your finished basement there are a number of serious consequences. First and foremost is ruined carpet and personal property but what goes on behind the walls is far worse. Moisture is absorbed by the wood framing, insulation and drywall and that can mean an expensive repair. Drywall has to come off, insulation has to be replaced and many times, the wood is rotten and has to be replaced. With all of that, the mold and mildew can be the biggest headache. Although easy to eradicate with a double dosing of half bleach, half water, the smell of a wet basement due to mold and mildew can be hard to get rid of. It’s important to go much further each side of a leak than you would imagine because the water will travel a long distance along the inside of the wall before it shows up on the outside. Most homeowners and many remodeling contractors may not realize just how far it can travel and they repair just the immediate area. Two weeks later, the smell is still there and no one can figure out why!
There is a solution to this challenge and it’s expensive but worth every dollar spent. An interior drain tile system with a sump pump will solve all moisture infiltration in your finished basement. The better new home builders are putting them in before the basement floor is poured and that’s a plus. Older homes don’t have them which means breaking out the floor and digging down to the bottom of the footing, about 18” from the wall, around the entire perimeter of the basement. A layer of rock is then put in the trench followed by a sleeved, perforated drain tile then more rock. The drain tile is terminated at both ends into a sump basket that is set in a large hole and rocked in place even with the top of the basement floor. Then concrete is poured into the trench and around the basket and finished at the same level as the old floor. Then a sump pump is placed in the basket and piped to the exterior of the home. Along with the drain tile, there is a product called cove base that goes between the floor and the wall that allows any moisture running down the wall to go into the drain tile instead of on to the floor. We at RIGGS Company & Design recommend a dedicated circuit for the pump and a battery backup just in case the electricity goes out during a storm; when you might need that sump pump more than ever!
With a properly installed drain tile system and epoxy injection of existing foundation cracks, you can be 99% sure that moisture will not ruin your newly remodeled basement. Just remember that uninvited water in your home is the evil alien that can destroy your most cherished possession, your home.
