4 ms·
The strange thing is that I live is a place where it rains 9 months out of the year and my 40 year old house violates many of these. No waterproofing or French
by irrational 6y ago
The strange thing is that I live is a place where it rains 9 months out of the year and my 40 year old house violates many of these. No waterproofing or French drain around the outside (over the 15+ years we have been in the house I have dug down pretty deep along the foundation in various places working on projects). The bottom floor is four feet under soil level. We are at the bottom of a hill and all the water above us drains around and past the house (if you stand in the back yard after a major rain storm you can actually hear the water flowing). The driveway slopes towards the house (the very bottom slopes up a tiny bit in front of the garage where it flows into a sump pump next to the garage door). The ground doesn’t slope away from the house. The front yard is feet higher than the backyard. It’s all sloping past the house. The eaves are narrow. Honestly, I’ve wondered many times why we don’t have water problems, but we’ve never had a one.
- snarfy 6y agoHey, you just described my house, sump pump and all. Good luck! I have a ton of water issues.
- irrational 6y agoWhat water issues have you had?
- snarfy 6y agofoundation slab is sunken and cracked by various amounts, rotten sill, bugs. This was all before my time. From old pictures it looks like the property was re-graded at some point.
- hinkley 6y agoAre you in Seattle? I’ve heard it said Seattle doesn’t have an architectural style, and what if has isn’t suited for the environment. It’s all imported ideas. We passed on a house because a solid floor deck with a plugged drain had dumped water into the house, right next to a lintel. Not dealing with that. I don’t understand how the houses with no soffits (not tiny soffits. Zero soffits) haven’t rotted out ages ago.
- hinkley 6y agoFrench drains are not permanent! My dad had to replace one that was going on 20, and the guy who replaced it told him not to count on more than 10 years. There was a sump involved, which might shorten the life, but they are a temporary solution.