Basement Leak in STR

[Joe Stout]

Hey everyone! Got a basement leak in my STR and the cleaner who had 14 yr construction experience is saying I'll need to hire an excavator to deal with the issue from the outside. It seems to just be a small leak in my bathroom from heavy rain the night before and was trying to fix it with hydraulic cement from the inside. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures but it's a stone foundation. Seems pretty drastic to bring in an excavator here. Any ideas?

Thanks!

[Jimmy Lieu]

Quote from @Joe Stout:

Hey everyone! Got a basement leak in my STR and the cleaner who had 14 yr construction experience is saying I'll need to hire an excavator to deal with the issue from the outside. It seems to just be a small leak in my bathroom from heavy rain the night before and was trying to fix it with hydraulic cement from the inside. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures but it's a stone foundation. Seems pretty drastic to bring in an excavator here. Any ideas?

Thanks!

 Hi Joe, I'm a local investor and agent here in Columbus, and in my professional opinion, I wouldn't trust one person's judgement or opinion regardless of how many years of experience they have. I always tell my real estate clients to get at least 3 quotes from contractors and if they all say the same thing then okay, it's most likely needed to do X. But until you get 3 quotes, I wouldn't do anything. Especially in your case, bringing in an excavator will be pretty expensive so you should definitely double check and make sure there's no other cheaper solutions. If you want, I'd be more than happy to refer you over to a few foundation companies here!

[Brooklyn McCarty]

I would get an actual contractor out there to look at it. Maybe 2 or 3. And then figure out what you need to do 

[Remington Lyman]

Quote from @Joe Stout:

Hey everyone! Got a basement leak in my STR and the cleaner who had 14 yr construction experience is saying I'll need to hire an excavator to deal with the issue from the outside. It seems to just be a small leak in my bathroom from heavy rain the night before and was trying to fix it with hydraulic cement from the inside. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures but it's a stone foundation. Seems pretty drastic to bring in an excavator here. Any ideas?

Thanks!

 Definitely get some more opinions

[John Underwood]

Quote from @Brooklyn McCarty:

I would get an actual contractor out there to look at it. Maybe 2 or 3. And then figure out what you need to do 

 What Brooklyn said.

[Michael Baum]

Hey @Joe Stout, so as someone who has dealt with this exact problem here is my advice.

Get bids on the excavation. If you are getting water now, it will only get worse as time goes on. Especially since it has a stone foundation and not concrete.

Our first house had a full basement open to the back. It was a poured concrete foundation that was 80 years old give or take. It was obviously hand turned as there was quite a bit of stone aggregate that had congregated in certain areas. I had leaks in about 12 spots. I did try the hydraulic cement with limited success. On the smaller sections it seemed to work OK, the larger sections it just slowed the leak down.

In the end we had to tear off the front porch and dig down 9 feet to wash the foundation, 3 coats of elastomeric sealant along with a waterproof membrane over the whole thing. Solved the problem and allowed us to fur out the walls and build out the basement nice and warm.

This is in Olympia, WA which gets a lot of rain and is constantly wet from Oct to May.

[Henry T.]

Not a lot of detail here but.... Does the outside dirt/grade slope into or away from the house?  Raise or adjust the dirt level so that any water runs away from the foundation. Move all gutter downspouts accordingly, or extend them somewhere else. My 110 year old house foundation leaked horribly, I did the above, no more problems and its been 25 years.

[John Mausteller]

I agree with many above - get multiple opinions.  One of our investment properties is a walk out basement - and has had some leaks in the past caused by improper drainage.  regrading the area where the leaks are improved the drainage and caused the leaks to stop.  Make sure water can easily drain away from the area versus flow towards the house and have nowhere to go but down and eventually into your basement. 

[Benjamin Canyon]

Hey @Joe Stout! I had basement flooding in my DC row house and used a company called Value Dry Water Proofing. Not sure how far they are from your part of MD but I was really impressed with their technician Russ. He installed a French drain in the basement along the problem wall with a sump pump and vapor barrier on the walls, so we didn’t need to do anything on the outside of the house. That was in 2013 and we haven’t had any issues since. Hope that helps!

[Michael Baum]

Hey @Benjamin Canyon, did the water intrusion stop altogether? I was wondering about the vapor barrier. I removed a vapor barrier when I was helping a buddy do some demo. There was so much black mold behind it that he had to bring in a remediation company to take care of it.

Just curious.

[Carini Rochester]

I like @Henry T.'s comments. They are inexpensive, first things to look for and try, possible solutions. If these ideas are not applicable or don't work, then look at more invasive, more expensive options.

[Joe Stout]

Thank you so much for the advice. I'll be looking to get more quotes, look for a cheaper fix (I saw on youtube that we could possibly fill the hole from the inside with Hydraulic Cement which may be a 10 minute fix!). I appreciate even the people who commented "I agree with this^^", it's very helpful and adds to the credibility of the original answer. This is also a long distance investment.. so I am leaning on others a lot more than if I could be on site to take a look. But pictures/videos should give me enough info. Thanks again!
 

[Marc Rice]

Always great to get multiple eyes on it, most people who do not specialize in a specific type of repair will lead you astray. Hope you can get it sorted out!

[Zac Mckenzie]

Always good to get multiple opinions or build a relationship with 1 honest GC and save the time.