Solutions To Exterior Basement Waterproofing

By Iva Cannon


The process takes into account the measures taken to prevent any ground water from passing through the basement and accumulating in the crawlspace. Such measure include putting up interior walls and outside drainage. So to those who want to build, it is recommended that exterior basement waterproofing must be incorporated in the initial construction of the building. These include planning for the outside perimeter drains, materials to be used for waterproofing walls, digging gutters and making sure that the slope next to the building is properly sloped.

These may mean keeping in mind there will be outside perimeter walls, exterior basement materials to be acquired, construction of trenches and ensuring the slope adjacent to the building is well sloped.

Some contractors forget to incorporate this measures in their preliminary construction stages which result to some difficulties later because of poor drainage system of the building, which could have been prevented by including a waterproofing plan anytime a structure is built. The builders should always be aware of the ground level they are building at and if the ground water can likely result to a water table.

One of the main reason why we should manage basement water from outside is necessary is because water comes in from the outside. These water comes from the surrounding soil below it or around it.

Water leaks due to the following reasons, subsidence which is the descending, damaged downspouts, very narrow footings which can be susceptible to soil movements and if the concrete mixture are not given enough time to cure.

There should be adequate pitch to prevent the drains from accumulating water to the foundation instead of draining it from the foundation. This method requires frequent maintenance of the pipes to remove mud, sediment and solid materials that might clog the pipes.

The selected location should be relatively below the footer. This is to enhance effective flow of drained water without the use of any pumps, and there should be enough terrain to avoid the pipes from storing water around the footer instead of getting it out of particular foundation.

The disadvantage of the method is that the temperature keeps changing making the product very brittle, this causes the tar sprayed to the wall to crack with time and start leaking. Due to the shortcoming of this method, some builders shifted to vinyl sheeting.

The ever changing temperature conditions weakens the tar sprayed on the walls making it breakable. Once these stage is reached, the wall produces cracks which lets water to push through.

The final technique for managing the water leakages is through the use of vinyl sheeting. But it's also faced with the challenge of dampening with time hence creating a water table which forms a good breading environment for fungi and decay. The builders should be committed to getting rid of these problems for its residents through concrete sealers fixing bowing wall and repairing sagging floors.




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