Who the hell makes these videos for a 30k subs channel? The quality from sound editing, to camera, to animation(!) is great! Like I wouldn't write a letter home about it, but holy hell is it refreshing for a home makeover YT channel!
It looks like he has a company doing this kind of work. This is a video that explains the process for homeowners and he probably has a backlog.of work for 2 years from this video. Its not rocket surgery.
This was probably the most informative video I've ever watched for a particular subject. Thorough explanation without unnecessary filler. Really, good job.
This guy is legit. I see so many videos on UA-cam where people are sealing their walls from the inside and saying their basement is "waterproof". He is showing us a real example of why that is a bad idea. Thanks!
This guy CLEARLY KNOWS what he's talking about. Love how he explains things in such a way that is easy to understand. And he doesn't only explain it clearly but also shows you right on the spot. I would def hire him to work on my basement. A
Love the open explanation of the design and the mechanisms that cause damage. Really appreciate your insights. It’s completely changed my understanding of the water issues in my basement.
This is great information every one should hear. I tell people all the time, first step to meliorating water in the basement is to deal with drainage above. Gutters, down spouts, pitch, drains etc. Get that water away from the excavation zone
this is so informative and thorough. My basement leaks in my basement when it rains and our maintenence dont know how to fix it, or anything else for that matter, and im always fixing up things with my own money. I have unfinished basement, i have A. D. D. But this was so good i watched the whole video. I was actually looking for a video showing how to waterproof my basement,but this is good to know.thnks
Nice to see someone doing the job the right way. I work for a basement waterproofing company up in New Hampshire and have removed quite a few of those gutter style systems. They never work.
No idea how or why i came across this video but I loved watching and learning. I dont even own a home... BUT I am an insurance agent.. and water claims are the 2nd most common claim (roofs #1). And learning about water tables and hydrostatic pressure is really good to know
Spent ANOTHER Saturday vacuuming water out of the basement (program areas) at my church! Thanks for your explanation of accelerated wall damage and useless systems to avoid!
Sir I admire your calmness and tact. When companies or individuals do ineffective or even harmful jobs it makes me mad. Where has common sense gone? Workers just making a wage and having no other value system? SMH over and over.
Great,informative video on how to properly waterproof your basement with the correct drain pitch,products for a dry basement! I love it and I'm excited about having my basement done! I'm thinking of doing it myself since I have the equipment and tools to do so. I'm in Maryland. I have been ripped off twice by two different people claiming to know how to do basement waterproofing. I'm out of $5,000-and my basement still is excavated and incomplete! The house was built in 1915. There is dampness in the basement properly because of several things:(1) there isn't a sump pump system in place to take the water away from the foundation(2) the backyard is also excavated in preparation for a newly poured concrete backyard. When removing excess dirt from the basement area,I noticed there was water underneath the foundation once excavation begun,tree roots from a tree growing two houses away and hundreds of oyster shells as the digging continued!!! I was beyond shocked by all of this. I had no idea! I couldn't believe my eyes to what I was seeing. Now the question is how do I go about fixing this correctly and properly even if I have to do it myself? I'm willing to put it the work and do just that! Remember, I been ripped off twice by two different people already. Thanks for these informative videos! You have no idea how much of a great help and inspiration you are and how the videos inspire! Kudos to American Dry Basement Systems!! P.S.I still think you should consider expanding to my area(Maryland/ Baltimore County; Nottingham/ White Marsh area). You'd love us here and we'd love to have you!!
I would uncover all the basement walls from the outside all the way to the foundation, one after another with an excavator and then paint their exterior with tar, then re-cover. Inside I would install a 1 meter deep French Drain system with steel-reinforced concrete poured over it to keep the walls in place. My parents had that done and it cost about 35,000 Euros, but PROBLEM SOLVED. They saved money by hiring a Czech company to do all the digging.
This guy is legit. His explanation is thorough and makes sense. I wish I saw him first before I got JES to install my french drain system but live and learn I guess
@@mikewidget7610 ok fair point. I have seen his other videos and he doesn’t use that lego/block connect set which JES does. I have an engineer degree and had to pull that card out when explaining to them before they were going to install that in my basement and the system was going to have no down pitch! The guy said “oh water pressure will push it towards the sump well”. I just shook my head at all the wrongness they were trying to pull over my eyes. But you absolutely right it has to be done from outside if possible.
@@briantheprion Isn't the water supposed to travel through the weep holes through the gravel to the perforated pit anyway? That round pipe that he installs without any flange can't meet any of the 90° surfaces and gravel is over the top of it anyway. I don't understand how that is a superior engineering principle.
Someone used deck paint on my basement floor and part of the walls before I bought it. I have a couple of spots where water seeps in. Putting new and wider gutters with a leaf guard really helped alot.
Nice tutorial. Back in the day I installed 3" pvc with 3/8 holes at 5 & 7 o'clock below footing. Covered in aggregate. Property on hill. Foundation was block. Area was clay based soil. Basement always flooded. After piping to a sump pump pit on 2 sides of basement never had a flood again. I quess I got the hydrostatic pressure to decrease by allowing water to find a least resistance path to pipe. After watching video I think in theory it's what you did for that home. I wasn't sure it was going to work but happy it did. All work on inside of basement.👍
I had a mason do the exact thing you describe here in my basement....he jackhammered a trench around the inside perimeter and installed PVC pipe with holes which all run into a sump pit. Haven't had a single water incident since and it's been 20 years. He told me there's no way to actually waterproof your basement but you can manage it once it gets inside....he was right!
@@XBKLYN Oh they can be waterproofed, torch on, and Xypex in the concrete mix and poly in the footing to slab joint. It is not something you do not want to do anyway. As you could literally have your basement float out of the ground if the water table is high enough..
Do NOT invest in a gutter system like what he’s ripping up. I just spent $22,000 for the sump pump and interior gutter system and my basement is flooding just as much as before. I am so disheartened (and out of money). What was explained to me is not at all how it works (or doesn’t) in reality. I just bought my house so I suppose this is a life long lesson I’ll never forget but just take your time and do research yourself. Don’t let anyone talk you into something and especially if you’re not knowledgeable about something (like me with my basement) it’s okay to wait and read up on things before making a decision. I wish I hadn’t paid to have this done. It’s a joke.
@@batencheetos rot is any form of chemical degradation. The lime's chemical bond with the other components in concrete is deteriorating aka rotting. Rot isn't limited to organic material. I agree with you that this guy isn't explaining anything scientifically. Infact it sounds like the man in the video works with smart people who understand the science and has had it explained to him and is now trying to regurgitate that information he only kinda understands. But I also believe in supporting your opinions with correct knowledge acquired to the best of your abilities.
In Puerto Rico most houses don't have basements but the walls do that. Most people put a small sidewalk around the house to make the water fall away from the wall
I'm glad I saw this video before I looked for a contractor to put a basement under my house. I heard of someone once who used a generic Rino-Liner, like what’s sprayed on truck beds. Sprayed on all the outside walls of their basement. I don't know how or what they did to the floor, but after hearing what he just said, I would like to know what would happen to a basement like that. Thanks in advance for any advice.
Loved all the info. Felt like I didn't really get an answer on what you would've done differently on some of those example, but maybe it's a matter of me not understanding everything. But learned a few things regardless! Thanks
Crazy… I almost felt like it was my home for a second. Caught myself starring into that concrete wall being like… “how am I going to afford this repair?!” (This dude is mesmerizing, I don’t even own that home).
Haha. Concrete tends to do that to me too. Like any major repair on a home, replace windows, roof, new heater, etc. - Basement waterproofing is vital in maintaining home comfort and structural integrity. What is the worth to you?
Great job my home has the same problem my father in law had a b-dry system put in from the outside without digging up around the house the company drilled holes into the ground then pumped some junk into the ground but never stopped the water
This video was very helpful. I have a fairly dry basement but has been showing signs of deterioration. Previous owners look like they may have applied white “drylok” type paint. May need to do a lot of searching to find a good contractor in NJ that can help and not make it worse
@@jasonjack5915 That “flat” or “box” system works ok if you don’t have a major water problem. But with a high volume water issue, those shallow systems are easily overwhelmed.
Great information! I watched a few of the videos before I finalized my decision to go with American Dry. The videos were great and helped to "seal the deal". We are just about to start the project. I have watched more of the videos and I am so much more informed about what will be done. I will follow-up with additional comments when the work has been completed.. Looking forward to this project!
Type of soil and the landscape plays a big role. Our house is on compact fine sandy soil. And we are on a hilly street. Water seems to drain very well. However, we did install a weeping tile under our basement floor. It runs all over under the floor, and along the outside walls. We also put a loose dimple board membrane on the inside brick walls that leads down to the weeping tile. So the brick breathes, although not a lot. The membrane had spray foam insulation sprayed over it, to a depth of about 4”. I honestly think it’s better for brick or concrete to just be able to breath freely into room, but we needed the living space in our basement. It would be great if we could monitor the amount of moisture in the walls.
I bought Drylok last week and planned to paint the basement wall where water was seeping in from nail holes holding 2x4s that where soaked and rotted. I sprayed flex seal on the wall because I had it on hand. Didn't know if I could paint drylok over flex seal. Seeing this video I'm no longer going to use drylok. Not sure what I'll do but at least I won't make it worse
What an excellent video. Direct and to the point explaining how water travels through soil and then through concrete. My only question is, why remediate a water problem inside the house, isn’t it better to capture it on the outside??
I'm bias. I could be in the business of doing both inside and outside waterproofing, but I have find that most failed jobs are done on the outside. So, I refuse to do any exterior perimeter drainage. Sub-terrain movement of the soil is very active. Most outside systems fail in 3 years. Interior systems are protected inside below the slab floor where water can easily enter, even with a outside system in place. Outside systems cannot protect you against the ground water that can push up beneath your floor.
With a high water table you’re absolutely correct. Inside and outside is a must. I was more talking about runoff when it’s raining. The concept of catching the water before it makes it into your basement is the way to go. But if you then have a contractor that does a lousy job, then yeah you’ve wasted money. But the same thing applies when you’re dealing with a crappy contractor doing inside waterproofing (as per video)
The only time I got water in my basement from rain, was when hurricane Ivan dumped over western Pennsylvania here, and my gutters were filled with leaves. I got about a quart of water in one corner of my basement.. The gutters and downspout were not carrying the water away from the house like they should. The water was overflowing out of the gutters, and down into my lawn.. since then, I have been up on my roof using a leaf blower to keep the gutters clear whenever a multi day heavy storm is threatening in the fall when the leaves are falling.. if you want to keep water out of your basement, make sure your gutters are clear and the downspouts send the water away from your foundation, first.. here in western Pennsylvania, we average about 55 inches of rain every year.. my house is built on a half acre wooded lot on a slight hill side. It was a construction class project for students in the 1950s. It’s a 62’ ranch were the main/1st floor is at ground level in the front of the house, and the rear of the house, because the house is built on a slope that is Terraced, around the rear the basement and garage are level with the ground. So from the front, my house looks like a one story ranch, but from the rear at looks like a two story ranch. all brick, the foundation block is a very hard type of block they used back in the 50s. I had to have a door cut in because there was no man door in the basement to go outside. To get in and out of the basement, I had to keep opening the garage door when I first bought the house in the 80s. The acquaintance I hired to cut in a door which was what he did for a living, he was a specialist door installer on new construction..he said, that is the hardest block he has ever seen. After about an hour of cutting with his usual block cutting saw,He had to go and rent a more powerful saw and buy a diamond blade to cut this block. It took him 2 days, and there was so much dust.. I didn’t really know this guy that well, he was One of the guys I rode dirt bikes with on the weekends,and I could see he was frustrated because it took an extra day, so I paid him $300 more for a total of $900 including the new door And renting the bigger saw and buying a new bigger blade.. that was in 1989 dollars… I know how fragile regular cinderblock is. You can easily break i with a ball peen hammer. I had to cut a vent for our clothes dryer and 2 holes for our new condensing furnace pipes in this block. Using my compressor, a heavy macho drillgun, and a pneumatic air chisel,It took me more than two hours to cut each hole.. my point is, this is some tough block that doesn’t seem to be very porous. Maybe that’s why I don’t get water in the basement unless my gutters are clogged and a hurricane slowly passes over dumping over 5” of rain on already saturated ground from the previous week of rain .. they don’t build them like they used to
Yikes! What an education! I don't personally have a basement that has these kinds of issues (though I'm looking at this to understand how to think about waterproofing issues). However, I would certainly advise this video for people who live in areas that might have this kind of problem. Also, I do have a concrete retaining wall. So, this helps me when thinking about structural issues in that.
The house that I bought had a very bad water infiltration problem in the basement (not disclosed by the seller), and the only entry was blamed on a single window well that was below grade with no well and a concrete sidewalk sloping towards it. 2 years later, a very wet spring showed what I was in for, when there was a literal river flowing from the basement walls to the sump pit. The paneling in the basement 'flowered' with mold! I had a basement waterproofer come in (I checked BBB first) and did an interior waterproofing/weeping tile/sump and added a whole house dehumidifier. 5 years later, all is still good, problems solved. As you note, they did NOT seal the concrete, but installed a thick membrane sheet against the wall that allowed it to 'breathe' at the top and outside, and directed any weeping down to be collected to the sump.
This just happened to us! (The weeping walls, the window wells letting water in) How much did this cost you? I just had the estimator come Monday, and they haven't sent the est cost yet. What damage are we looking at?
@@amieloudaway4938 this happened to me when i bought my home, and there are signs that they tried to repair it just enough so it got by the inspector. $30,000 later i have a dry basement. The home inspector was clearly a complete idiot and apparently so was I for hiring him. Harsh lesson learned
WOW Thankyou so much for the. INFO!! We just realized our foundation is Crumbling as well and has "been" in need of repairs! We were planning on Dryloking the intire basement. Thanks to your video we will be planning a Plan B!
this is the best explanation ive heard for that white powder on the wall. my last home had it in the basement on the one side. house was on top of the hill so water was sitting on the other side. what i did was tarped from the bottom of my aluminum siding down to the ground and over to my neighbors driveway. she had a small wall between us maybe 3 ft high and i knew her for my entire life so she didnt care. it looked shitty but i never had water flow in. only crystal powder. i was going to drylok it but then i figured the water would prob re route somewhere else and since i had crystals instead of water i just left it. my new house the previous people had no gutters. and water would rush in through all the basement walls. really messed up things underground. i used lik 4 buckets of cement patching cracks in the winter.
There is a really simple solution. I bought a house with water in the basement, big puddles. The only reason it don’t flood was it would run out the basement garage door. I took one afternoon with a shovel and fixed it. Been over 30 years and no problems. All I did was dig a very shallow ditch along the drip edge of the roof and put the dirt against the basement wall. So the ground surface sloped away from basement walls instead of towards them. The shallow ditch is sloped towards downhill with some shallow surface ditches to carry the water away down hill. This works for surface run off from heavy rains. Will not fix high water table level that causes flooding without a rain.
There is no simple solution. You solved your problem by doing what should have been done in the first place. We have made these recommendations to homeowners if we see a problem on the outside of their home. Sometimes the remedies work and there are times it is not enough. Many homes have basements perpetually surrounded by ground water.
@@AmericanDryBasementSystems My basement in Ohio had groundwater issues that surfaced, primarily in the Spring. As you said it was no simple solution. The perimeter of the basement was dug up and drainage tile leading to a sump pump was installed. Our builder had not put drainage completely around the perimeter. We never had another problem after that was done.
This is rather educative. I have an unfinished basement. There is, as far as I know, no waterproofing. The basement does have a tendency to be humid, but we don't have any water problems. I think that a large part of what is preventing problems is the fact that we are on a slope. The parking side and front of the house only has a foot of foundation wall exposed. By the time you get to the rear of the house, the ground is level with the basement slab. We've got an outside door at the rear of our house. The foundation tile is also obviously working quite well. There's an area of about one foot near the foundation that is always bone dry during summer.
I'm surprised you didn't talk about the outside of the walls maybe applying a water barrier or French drain on the outside of the basement walls and back filling with rock or something. Not saying I'm an expert or anything just some things I've heard other people did in damp or flood plain areas have done to keep their basements dry. You make all of your points crystal clear and show what was wrong on this basement install. This will help a lot of first time home buyers/builders as well as those with existing problems seek out better solutions to their wet basement problems. cheers!
We are only in the interior waterproofing business for a reason. Outside waterproofing after the initial construction waterproofing makes no sense. The results are temporary, inconvenient and very costly. Most people don't want it and I don't blame them.
I come from a company performing the gutter work he was removing, and it was a real eye opener! Thank you for this video! I would love to know what the proper fix is for that type of foundation?
We do installations that exceed building code requirments. Here is the video demenstrating the installation we do to fix this basement/foundation water problem: ua-cam.com/video/g-fxnswPLB4/v-deo.html
Mine is so much worse! I don’t know what to do to fix it! So glad to see this video even more that this house is near my town it’s just made me realize how bad my walls are
Proper air gap helps too. Love basements. Cheapest sqft so long as you can control the moisture. Building science has come so far now with butyl membranes and dimple boards to apply on the (business) side of a wall. Guys back then we’re just using the normal stuff
Problem is, when you’re dealing with an old 1920s house, anything went back then, from footing thickness, wall thickness, & lousy hand pouring of the concrete mix. I don’t even have 8 ft of space around one exterior side of the house.
When you say "business" side of the wall, am I correct in thinking you mean the outside of the wall? Water proofing material needs to be applied to the outside of the basement, right?
Love your content. I am wondering how you can know what system is correct for your basement in order to be best informed when getting the basement finished and waterproofed?
My cellar was built in 1150 (yes, 1150) from Yorkstone, its all vaulted ceilings and gargoyles which is very nice but damp. At some stage long ago it was painted and layer upon layer has been added over the years Efflorescence is rife and the stone is slowly crumbling. This cellar is in my pub and is used to store and dispense my ales. What is the best thing to seal it with to stop the constant water ingress and slow down the crumbling? Thanks for a great video.
It's hard to believe builders haven't sorted this stuff out over a century of building homes. If everything in this video makes total sense to me as a layperson, a builder that was once at least forced to think about it should never have made these mistakes.
Thanks for the video. It was really informative on what not to do and the effects. I would have liked to see the system you recommend on this video. I'll look at your other videos to see if you captured that part of the work. Any recommendations for companies in the Northern Virginia area?
If you subscribe and check the notification bell you would have an alert to this video, ua-cam.com/video/g-fxnswPLB4/v-deo.html showing the work in its entirety. We are not familiar with Northern Virginia. I do know you get a lot of ground water there.
*I'm not a professional but using logicst i believe the best way to deal with water in basement is by fixing it from outside not the in side just my personal opinion* 🙄
I think everyone should research, compare, and try a couple of affordable DIY remedies before committing to anything. My customers exhausted every opinion, including, in some cases, exterior excavation and drainage around the perimeter, without success. Walls still crack, and after 3 to 5 years, water returns with a vengeance. If logistics brought you to that conclusion, I think attempting simple grading for 8 to 12 feet from the house and directing runoff and roof water into a dry well might help. If not, time to do a reality check.
I couldn’t agree more. Why wait until the water has intruded into your house, then have to sump pump it back out? Agree the first DIY is to direct water away from the house and/or install French drains 8-12 inches from exterior foundation walls. If the water table is high, an interior drain system may be needed too.
I'm a plumber in Australia, we water proof the outside not inside. Seems wrong to us in Aus to allow water to seep through a wall to inside just to remove it back outside again. Why not prevent it entering in the first place.
@@rockerctereo2851 exactly. And where I’m from, huge rain storms also come with high winds, knocking out power. There goes a sump pump when you need it most.
Great info. I think in our case, we need to adjust the walkway around the side of the house. Thankfully, the amount of water we are dealing with is small even on heaviest of rainfall.
Thank you so much for the video. I will definitely share this with my clients. I explain this to my clients on a regular basis. Wrong systems installed on a regular basis.
Amazing information. Makes me realize that my 130yr old home is better built than homes of the 20th century. My issue is the surface mortar over the brick is crumbling in certain areas. Mostly the wall the faces what used to be a rural route and is now major highway traffic 😢😢 Vibration from massive traffic is partly the speed up of deterioration. Gonna cost a fortune which I refuse to pay... 😢
Great video and amazing work. I wish you were in NJ. I am currently having the same issue on a 5 year old home. Do you know anyone in NJ who can perform similar type of work? Appreciate your help. I am in South Jersey area.
Two thumbs up. Unfortunately the cost to correct the work of the the quick fix geniuses can easily be double the cost of doing it right in the first place. Sometimes the damage is non-reversible, left long enough. Also the glib talk of "cheap and simple" even gets past the building inspectors.
Who the hell makes these videos for a 30k subs channel? The quality from sound editing, to camera, to animation(!) is great! Like I wouldn't write a letter home about it, but holy hell is it refreshing for a home makeover YT channel!
I was thinking the same! This is the best video I’ve found on UA-cam! Haha!
Agree!!!
not to mention the high quality of the content. the guy is brilliant.
I agree. I loved the content. No dramatization, just “we have a problem and this is why”. Very good video
It looks like he has a company doing this kind of work. This is a video that explains the process for homeowners and he probably has a backlog.of work for 2 years from this video. Its not rocket surgery.
Ol dude is passionate about water damage, and I'm here for it.
It’s a serious matter. Everyone should be! 😅
This was probably the most informative video I've ever watched for a particular subject. Thorough explanation without unnecessary filler. Really, good job.
Totally agree 👍
GUYS. HOMEOWNERS, EVERYONE. this guy knows what he's talking about. Commercial WP and roofer PM for 15 years here. He's right. Id hire him.
This guy is legit. I see so many videos on UA-cam where people are sealing their walls from the inside and saying their basement is "waterproof". He is showing us a real example of why that is a bad idea. Thanks!
i mean, he was applying something from the inside too... do you know what that brown product was he applied to walls?
Nothing I do is related to construction but this channel is so interesting. Peter is great at making this stuff understandable.
This guy CLEARLY KNOWS what he's talking about. Love how he explains things in such a way that is easy to understand. And he doesn't only explain it clearly but also shows you right on the spot. I would def hire him to work on my basement. A
Just wanted to say thank you for taking your time to explain this process. We are getting ready to have a company basically do this exact thing.
Well i gotta know. How's it going? Is the project done and was it worth it?
This video was a master class for the layman's understanding of how basement walls, footings and floors are supposed to work. Great job, thanks!
Yeah old boy knows exactly what he is talking about
Love the open explanation of the design and the mechanisms that cause damage. Really appreciate your insights. It’s completely changed my understanding of the water issues in my basement.
I don't even know why i'm watching this, we don't even have a basement 😅
😂
Same 😂
Same
This gave me a good laugh. Thank you
🤣🤣🤣
This is great information every one should hear. I tell people all the time, first step to meliorating water in the basement is to deal with drainage above. Gutters, down spouts, pitch, drains etc. Get that water away from the excavation zone
That should be your first defense, but I've seen more often than not, water still getting into the basement or crawl space.
Great video on basement waterproofing! Thank you for explaining the complicated process of how the old waterproofing system didn't work. Bravo 👏
Great info! I live in California but am considering a house with a finished basement in Georgia. This helps and educates me on basement water issues
What is that stuff you use paint on to crystallize and repair the wall?
Aquafin IC.
this is so informative and thorough. My basement leaks in my basement when it rains and our maintenence dont know how to fix it, or anything else for that matter, and im always fixing up things with my own money.
I have unfinished basement, i have A. D. D. But this was so good i watched the whole video. I was actually looking for a video showing how to waterproof my basement,but this is good to know.thnks
Nice to see someone doing the job the right way. I work for a basement waterproofing company up in New Hampshire and have removed quite a few of those gutter style systems. They never work.
Can you please post the name of the company? I live in NH and am evaluating how to waterproof my basement now.
@@rickhoro Rescon basement solutions. We are located out of hooksett.
Do you still work for rescon? I'm in Maine just over the border do you guys service here
9 times out of 10 these "specialists" just keep talking until you just hear noise.
This man is a genius and knows what he is talking about.
💯 true
I really enjoy this guys energy and how he speaks when explaining. Competent!!!
No idea how or why i came across this video but I loved watching and learning. I dont even own a home... BUT I am an insurance agent.. and water claims are the 2nd most common claim (roofs #1). And learning about water tables and hydrostatic pressure is really good to know
Water has a nasty way of disrupting someone's life.
Spent ANOTHER Saturday vacuuming water out of the basement (program areas) at my church! Thanks for your explanation of accelerated wall damage and useless systems to avoid!
Sir I admire your calmness and tact. When companies or individuals do ineffective or even harmful jobs it makes me mad. Where has common sense gone? Workers just making a wage and having no other value system? SMH over and over.
It is important to do your research before hiring a contractor. A house is a big investment to risk.
Great,informative video on how to properly waterproof your basement with the correct drain pitch,products for a dry basement! I love it and I'm excited about having my basement done! I'm thinking of doing it myself since I have the equipment and tools to do so. I'm in Maryland. I have been ripped off twice by two different people claiming to know how to do basement waterproofing. I'm out of $5,000-and my basement still is excavated and incomplete! The house was built in 1915. There is dampness in the basement properly because of several things:(1) there isn't a sump pump system in place to take the water away from the foundation(2) the backyard is also excavated in preparation for a newly poured concrete backyard. When removing excess dirt from the basement area,I noticed there was water underneath the foundation once excavation begun,tree roots from a tree growing two houses away and hundreds of oyster shells as the digging continued!!! I was beyond shocked by all of this. I had no idea! I couldn't believe my eyes to what I was seeing. Now the question is how do I go about fixing this correctly and properly even if I have to do it myself? I'm willing to put it the work and do just that! Remember, I been ripped off twice by two different people already. Thanks for these informative videos! You have no idea how much of a great help and inspiration you are and how the videos inspire! Kudos to American Dry Basement Systems!! P.S.I still think you should consider expanding to my area(Maryland/ Baltimore County; Nottingham/ White Marsh area). You'd love us here and we'd love to have you!!
I would uncover all the basement walls from the outside all the way to the foundation, one after another with an excavator and then paint their exterior with tar, then re-cover. Inside I would install a 1 meter deep French Drain system with steel-reinforced concrete poured over it to keep the walls in place. My parents had that done and it cost about 35,000 Euros, but PROBLEM SOLVED. They saved money by hiring a Czech company to do all the digging.
This guy is legit. His explanation is thorough and makes sense. I wish I saw him first before I got JES to install my french drain system but live and learn I guess
@@mikewidget7610 ok fair point. I have seen his other videos and he doesn’t use that lego/block connect set which JES does. I have an engineer degree and had to pull that card out when explaining to them before they were going to install that in my basement and the system was going to have no down pitch! The guy said “oh water pressure will push it towards the sump well”. I just shook my head at all the wrongness they were trying to pull over my eyes. But you absolutely right it has to be done from outside if possible.
@@briantheprion Isn't the water supposed to travel through the weep holes through the gravel to the perforated pit anyway? That round pipe that he installs without any flange can't meet any of the 90° surfaces and gravel is over the top of it anyway. I don't understand how that is a superior engineering principle.
Someone used deck paint on my basement floor and part of the walls before I bought it. I have a couple of spots where water seeps in. Putting new and wider gutters with a leaf guard really helped alot.
Competence and passion. Great video.
Nice tutorial. Back in the day I installed 3" pvc with 3/8 holes at 5 & 7 o'clock below footing. Covered in aggregate.
Property on hill. Foundation was block. Area was clay based soil. Basement always flooded. After piping to a sump pump pit on 2 sides of basement never had a flood again. I quess I got the hydrostatic pressure to decrease by allowing water to find a least resistance path to pipe.
After watching video I think in theory it's what you did for that home. I wasn't sure it was going to work but happy it did. All work on inside of basement.👍
Ya it's called weeping tile. It's been building code in Canada since before WWII...
I had a mason do the exact thing you describe here in my basement....he jackhammered a trench around the inside perimeter and installed PVC pipe with holes which all run into a sump pit. Haven't had a single water incident since and it's been 20 years. He told me there's no way to actually waterproof your basement but you can manage it once it gets inside....he was right!
@@XBKLYN Oh they can be waterproofed, torch on, and Xypex in the concrete mix and poly in the footing to slab joint. It is not something you do not want to do anyway. As you could literally have your basement float out of the ground if the water table is high enough..
Wow, I’m glad I saw this. My basement recently flooded and I was thinking I needed something like that gutter system.
Do NOT invest in a gutter system like what he’s ripping up. I just spent $22,000 for the sump pump and interior gutter system and my basement is flooding just as much as before. I am so disheartened (and out of money). What was explained to me is not at all how it works (or doesn’t) in reality. I just bought my house so I suppose this is a life long lesson I’ll never forget but just take your time and do research yourself. Don’t let anyone talk you into something and especially if you’re not knowledgeable about something (like me with my basement) it’s okay to wait and read up on things before making a decision. I wish I hadn’t paid to have this done. It’s a joke.
@@kyungyae6297 thank you for that, it turns out that the flooding in my house was caused by a backed up sewer line.
Such a good video, all homeowners with concrete basements should watch this.. I certainly learned a lot.
Glad it was helpful!
New home owner here watching this, and it's downright terrifying!
Really explaining the science and technical aspects of waterproofing a basement. Excellent video!
Standing water rotting out the wall. Science? This dude said cement is rotting!
@@batencheetos rot is any form of chemical degradation. The lime's chemical bond with the other components in concrete is deteriorating aka rotting. Rot isn't limited to organic material. I agree with you that this guy isn't explaining anything scientifically. Infact it sounds like the man in the video works with smart people who understand the science and has had it explained to him and is now trying to regurgitate that information he only kinda understands. But I also believe in supporting your opinions with correct knowledge acquired to the best of your abilities.
In Puerto Rico most houses don't have basements but the walls do that. Most people put a small sidewalk around the house to make the water fall away from the wall
I'm glad I saw this video before I looked for a contractor to put a basement under my house. I heard of someone once who used a generic Rino-Liner, like what’s sprayed on truck beds. Sprayed on all the outside walls of their basement. I don't know how or what they did to the floor, but after hearing what he just said, I would like to know what would happen to a basement like that. Thanks in advance for any advice.
Loved all the info. Felt like I didn't really get an answer on what you would've done differently on some of those example, but maybe it's a matter of me not understanding everything. But learned a few things regardless! Thanks
Crazy… I almost felt like it was my home for a second. Caught myself starring into that concrete wall being like… “how am I going to afford this repair?!” (This dude is mesmerizing, I don’t even own that home).
Haha. Concrete tends to do that to me too. Like any major repair on a home, replace windows, roof, new heater, etc. - Basement waterproofing is vital in maintaining home comfort and structural integrity. What is the worth to you?
Great job my home has the same problem my father in law had a b-dry system put in from the outside without digging up around the house the company drilled holes into the ground then pumped some junk into the ground but never stopped the water
This video was very helpful. I have a fairly dry basement but has been showing signs of deterioration. Previous owners look like they may have applied white “drylok” type paint. May need to do a lot of searching to find a good contractor in NJ that can help and not make it worse
Thanks for this - what a great introduction to why floors can be damp even with a "drainage" system
Glad it was helpful!
THEE authority. Fantastic info. Instructional and practical. Lends his decades of experience to the viewer in an understandable manner.
Looking at a house today with Killz all over the bowed in walls. Inspector said similar things; came here for research. Thanks ADBS!
Great job in explaining your product and issues that you point out making this very important and easy for any homeowner to understand.
I had that flat type drainage tile put in my basement, and it completely dried my basement, don't see why he's bashing it
@@jasonjack5915
Right product installed correctly!
Wrong product installed incorrectly.
Lucky you had a contractor who knows the difference!
@@jasonjack5915 Because the system was installed incorrectly. The best product can be the worst if it doesn't work
@@jasonjack5915
That “flat” or “box” system works ok if you don’t have a major water problem. But with a high volume water issue, those shallow systems are easily overwhelmed.
Great info. I’m digging out crawlspace in my 115 yo Craftsman bungalow in Tacoma.
Good luck!
Thank you for the information! I was going to cover my basement walls with that sealant. Good thing I watched your video. Clueless DIYer here!
You're welcome! I'm glad you found our video before doing it.
Great information! I watched a few of the videos before I finalized my decision to go with American Dry. The videos were great and helped to "seal the deal". We are just about to start the project. I have watched more of the videos and I am so much more informed about what will be done. I will follow-up with additional comments when the work has been completed.. Looking forward to this project!
Great video! I learned a lot in less than 14 minutes! I am not sure there is ANY waterproofing system in mine!
Very logical and helpful. Thank you.
Type of soil and the landscape plays a big role. Our house is on compact fine sandy soil. And we are on a hilly street. Water seems to drain very well. However, we did install a weeping tile under our basement floor. It runs all over under the floor, and along the outside walls. We also put a loose dimple board membrane on the inside brick walls that leads down to the weeping tile. So the brick breathes, although not a lot. The membrane had spray foam insulation sprayed over it, to a depth of about 4”. I honestly think it’s better for brick or concrete to just be able to breath freely into room, but we needed the living space in our basement.
It would be great if we could monitor the amount of moisture in the walls.
I bought Drylok last week and planned to paint the basement wall where water was seeping in from nail holes holding 2x4s that where soaked and rotted. I sprayed flex seal on the wall because I had it on hand. Didn't know if I could paint drylok over flex seal. Seeing this video I'm no longer going to use drylok. Not sure what I'll do but at least I won't make it worse
What an excellent video. Direct and to the point explaining how water travels through soil and then through concrete. My only question is, why remediate a water problem inside the house, isn’t it better to capture it on the outside??
I'm bias. I could be in the business of doing both inside and outside waterproofing, but I have find that most failed jobs are done on the outside. So, I refuse to do any exterior perimeter drainage. Sub-terrain movement of the soil is very active. Most outside systems fail in 3 years. Interior systems are protected inside below the slab floor where water can easily enter, even with a outside system in place. Outside systems cannot protect you against the ground water that can push up beneath your floor.
With a high water table you’re absolutely correct. Inside and outside is a must. I was more talking about runoff when it’s raining. The concept of catching the water before it makes it into your basement is the way to go. But if you then have a contractor that does a lousy job, then yeah you’ve wasted money. But the same thing applies when you’re dealing with a crappy contractor doing inside waterproofing (as per video)
@@AmericanDryBasementSystemsAha… never ever considered seepage from beneath the floors
Love these type of building videos. 👷♂️ 😊
This man is so on point
I’m rolling 😂
Really great information with a great delivery
Big up yourself King
Thanks for the video 😎👍🏾
I'm looking to buy my first home and would like a basement so this has been very informative for what to look for and to do.
Great to hear!
Great video. And I don't even have a house with a basement but I watch the whole thing.
The explanation of everything was fantastic.
The only time I got water in my basement from rain, was when hurricane Ivan dumped over western Pennsylvania here, and my gutters were filled with leaves. I got about a quart of water in one corner of my basement.. The gutters and downspout were not carrying the water away from the house like they should. The water was overflowing out of the gutters, and down into my lawn.. since then, I have been up on my roof using a leaf blower to keep the gutters clear whenever a multi day heavy storm is threatening in the fall when the leaves are falling..
if you want to keep water out of your basement, make sure your gutters are clear and the downspouts send the water away from your foundation, first..
here in western Pennsylvania, we average about 55 inches of rain every year..
my house is built on a half acre wooded lot on a slight hill side. It was a construction class project for students in the 1950s. It’s a 62’ ranch were the main/1st floor is at ground level in the front of the house, and the rear of the house, because the house is built on a slope that is Terraced, around the rear the basement and garage are level with the ground. So from the front, my house looks like a one story ranch, but from the rear at looks like a two story ranch. all brick, the foundation block is a very hard type of block they used back in the 50s. I had to have a door cut in because there was no man door in the basement to go outside. To get in and out of the basement, I had to keep opening the garage door when I first bought the house in the 80s. The acquaintance I hired to cut in a door which was what he did for a living, he was a specialist door installer on new construction..he said, that is the hardest block he has ever seen. After about an hour of cutting with his usual block cutting saw,He had to go and rent a more powerful saw and buy a diamond blade to cut this block. It took him 2 days, and there was so much dust.. I didn’t really know this guy that well, he was One of the guys I rode dirt bikes with on the weekends,and I could see he was frustrated because it took an extra day, so I paid him $300 more for a total of $900 including the new door And renting the bigger saw and buying a new bigger blade.. that was in 1989 dollars…
I know how fragile regular cinderblock is. You can easily break i with a ball peen hammer. I had to cut a vent for our clothes dryer and 2 holes for our new condensing furnace pipes in this block. Using my compressor, a heavy macho drillgun, and a pneumatic air chisel,It took me more than two hours to cut each hole.. my point is, this is some tough block that doesn’t seem to be very porous. Maybe that’s why I don’t get water in the basement unless my gutters are clogged and a hurricane slowly passes over dumping over 5” of rain on already saturated ground from the previous week of rain ..
they don’t build them like they used to
Yikes! What an education! I don't personally have a basement that has these kinds of issues (though I'm looking at this to understand how to think about waterproofing issues). However, I would certainly advise this video for people who live in areas that might have this kind of problem. Also, I do have a concrete retaining wall. So, this helps me when thinking about structural issues in that.
This video was awesome. Showed me everything wrong with the system they took out while showing me nothing of how they "fix" the problem.
The house that I bought had a very bad water infiltration problem in the basement (not disclosed by the seller), and the only entry was blamed on a single window well that was below grade with no well and a concrete sidewalk sloping towards it. 2 years later, a very wet spring showed what I was in for, when there was a literal river flowing from the basement walls to the sump pit. The paneling in the basement 'flowered' with mold! I had a basement waterproofer come in (I checked BBB first) and did an interior waterproofing/weeping tile/sump and added a whole house dehumidifier. 5 years later, all is still good, problems solved. As you note, they did NOT seal the concrete, but installed a thick membrane sheet against the wall that allowed it to 'breathe' at the top and outside, and directed any weeping down to be collected to the sump.
This sounds like a very extreme case. I glad you found someone capable of getting your situation under control.
how much was all that $20,000?
This just happened to us! (The weeping walls, the window wells letting water in)
How much did this cost you? I just had the estimator come Monday, and they haven't sent the est cost yet. What damage are we looking at?
Same .just bought a house that the foundation is leaking in the basement that the seller didn't disclose
@@amieloudaway4938 this happened to me when i bought my home, and there are signs that they tried to repair it just enough so it got by the inspector. $30,000 later i have a dry basement. The home inspector was clearly a complete idiot and apparently so was I for hiring him. Harsh lesson learned
like the thickness of that stuff, I have older home 1920. I thinking about getting some as well for my basement
This guy is spot on! I enjoy these videos.
WOW Thankyou so much for the. INFO!! We just realized our foundation is Crumbling as well and has "been" in need of repairs! We were planning on Dryloking the intire basement. Thanks to your video we will be planning a Plan B!
Glad it was helpful!
this is the best explanation ive heard for that white powder on the wall. my last home had it in the basement on the one side. house was on top of the hill so water was sitting on the other side. what i did was tarped from the bottom of my aluminum siding down to the ground and over to my neighbors driveway. she had a small wall between us maybe 3 ft high and i knew her for my entire life so she didnt care. it looked shitty but i never had water flow in. only crystal powder. i was going to drylok it but then i figured the water would prob re route somewhere else and since i had crystals instead of water i just left it. my new house the previous people had no gutters. and water would rush in through all the basement walls. really messed up things underground. i used lik 4 buckets of cement patching cracks in the winter.
The explanation and knowledge is so in depth and well explained. Thank you!
You're very welcome!
There is a really simple solution. I bought a house with water in the basement, big puddles. The only reason it don’t flood was it would run out the basement garage door. I took one afternoon with a shovel and fixed it. Been over 30 years and no problems. All I did was dig a very shallow ditch along the drip edge of the roof and put the dirt against the basement wall. So the ground surface sloped away from basement walls instead of towards them. The shallow ditch is sloped towards downhill with some shallow surface ditches to carry the water away down hill. This works for surface run off from heavy rains. Will not fix high water table level that causes flooding without a rain.
There is no simple solution. You solved your problem by doing what should have been done in the first place. We have made these recommendations to homeowners if we see a problem on the outside of their home. Sometimes the remedies work and there are times it is not enough. Many homes have basements perpetually surrounded by ground water.
@@AmericanDryBasementSystems My basement in Ohio had groundwater issues that surfaced, primarily in the Spring. As you said it was no simple solution. The perimeter of the basement was dug up and drainage tile leading to a sump pump was installed. Our builder had not put drainage completely around the perimeter. We never had another problem after that was done.
I can't picture it.
Do a video PLEASE.m
Need more guys like him!!!
This is rather educative. I have an unfinished basement. There is, as far as I know, no waterproofing. The basement does have a tendency to be humid, but we don't have any water problems. I think that a large part of what is preventing problems is the fact that we are on a slope. The parking side and front of the house only has a foot of foundation wall exposed. By the time you get to the rear of the house, the ground is level with the basement slab. We've got an outside door at the rear of our house. The foundation tile is also obviously working quite well. There's an area of about one foot near the foundation that is always bone dry during summer.
IF that's the case I would keep it unfinished and maybe use a dehumidifier when it gets too humid.
@@SunRabbit We have a dehumidifier.
Thanks for the video. Who do you recommend in Michigan? Thanks to you I was able to Ovid this gutter system.
I'm surprised you didn't talk about the outside of the walls maybe applying a water barrier or French drain on the outside of the basement walls and back filling with rock or something. Not saying I'm an expert or anything just some things I've heard other people did in damp or flood plain areas have done to keep their basements dry. You make all of your points crystal clear and show what was wrong on this basement install. This will help a lot of first time home buyers/builders as well as those with existing problems seek out better solutions to their wet basement problems. cheers!
We are only in the interior waterproofing business for a reason. Outside waterproofing after the initial construction waterproofing makes no sense. The results are temporary, inconvenient and very costly. Most people don't want it and I don't blame them.
I come from a company performing the gutter work he was removing, and it was a real eye opener! Thank you for this video! I would love to know what the proper fix is for that type of foundation?
We do installations that exceed building code requirments. Here is the video demenstrating the installation we do to fix this basement/foundation water problem: ua-cam.com/video/g-fxnswPLB4/v-deo.html
I'm such a total amateur. I really needed the insight. Thank U.
I LOVE YOUR VIDEO SO WELL EXPLAINED AND PROJECTED. THANK YOU.
Glad it was helpful!
Wish you had a Company in Chicago Illinois. GOD BLESS!
Maybe one day!
6:38, watch this before exiting the video.
Please do your self a favor and listen to this man.
All the graphics were very helpful
Mine is so much worse! I don’t know what to do to fix it! So glad to see this video even more that this house is near my town it’s just made me realize how bad my walls are
I hope you find a solution to your basement problem.
Proper air gap helps too. Love basements. Cheapest sqft so long as you can control the moisture. Building science has come so far now with butyl membranes and dimple boards to apply on the (business) side of a wall. Guys back then we’re just using the normal stuff
Problem is, when you’re dealing with an old 1920s house, anything went back then, from footing thickness, wall thickness, & lousy hand pouring of the concrete mix. I don’t even have 8 ft of space around one exterior side of the house.
@@vallee7966 What do u mean by spacing
When you say "business" side of the wall, am I correct in thinking you mean the outside of the wall? Water proofing material needs to be applied to the outside of the basement, right?
Love your content. I am wondering how you can know what system is correct for your basement in order to be best informed when getting the basement finished and waterproofed?
Very, very useful videos!
Thank you very much!!!
You are welcome!
My cellar was built in 1150 (yes, 1150) from Yorkstone, its all vaulted ceilings and gargoyles which is very nice but damp. At some stage long ago it was painted and layer upon layer has been added over the years Efflorescence is rife and the stone is slowly crumbling. This cellar is in my pub and is used to store and dispense my ales. What is the best thing to seal it with to stop the constant water ingress and slow down the crumbling? Thanks for a great video.
Well done, Mr. O'Shea.
Thank you.
It's hard to believe builders haven't sorted this stuff out over a century of building homes. If everything in this video makes total sense to me as a layperson, a builder that was once at least forced to think about it should never have made these mistakes.
I don't know how I got here but this is a fantastic video!
the best basement tutorial ❤ thanks for sharing sir
Thanks for the video. It was really informative on what not to do and the effects. I would have liked to see the system you recommend on this video. I'll look at your other videos to see if you captured that part of the work. Any recommendations for companies in the Northern Virginia area?
If you subscribe and check the notification bell you would have an alert to this video, ua-cam.com/video/g-fxnswPLB4/v-deo.html showing the work in its entirety. We are not familiar with Northern Virginia. I do know you get a lot of ground water there.
*I'm not a professional but using logicst i believe the best way to deal with water in basement is by fixing it from outside not the in side just my personal opinion* 🙄
I think everyone should research, compare, and try a couple of affordable DIY remedies before committing to anything. My customers exhausted every opinion, including, in some cases, exterior excavation and drainage around the perimeter, without success. Walls still crack, and after 3 to 5 years, water returns with a vengeance. If logistics brought you to that conclusion, I think attempting simple grading for 8 to 12 feet from the house and directing runoff and roof water into a dry well might help. If not, time to do a reality check.
I couldn’t agree more. Why wait until the water has intruded into your house, then have to sump pump it back out? Agree the first DIY is to direct water away from the house and/or install French drains 8-12 inches from exterior foundation walls.
If the water table is high, an interior drain system may be needed too.
I'm a plumber in Australia, we water proof the outside not inside. Seems wrong to us in Aus to allow water to seep through a wall to inside just to remove it back outside again. Why not prevent it entering in the first place.
@@rockerctereo2851 exactly. And where I’m from, huge rain storms also come with high winds, knocking out power. There goes a sump pump when you need it most.
Yes, outside
As I am about to get estimates from a couple of waterproofing companies, this video was very helpful...
I'm glad it was helpful.
Great info. I think in our case, we need to adjust the walkway around the side of the house. Thankfully, the amount of water we are dealing with is small even on heaviest of rainfall.
Thank you so much for the video. I will definitely share this with my clients. I explain this to my clients on a regular basis. Wrong systems installed on a regular basis.
Thanks for sharing!!
Thanks for the education
Good that you got it before it was too late though
For those of us not in your service area, what is the name of the product you use to seal the bottom section of the wall?
It is not available for resale.
Amazing information.
Makes me realize that my 130yr old home is better built than homes of the 20th century.
My issue is the surface mortar over the brick is crumbling in certain areas.
Mostly the wall the faces what used to be a rural route and is now major highway traffic 😢😢
Vibration from massive traffic is partly the speed up of deterioration.
Gonna cost a fortune which I refuse to pay... 😢
Many stone basements are amazing in their ability to holdup after 100-200 years.
What should we do with big cracks going thru our foundation
Good demo and explanation. Not sure how the previous contractor did this. Bizarre
It was advance basement waterproofing located in Chicopee Massachusetts !
Great video and amazing work. I wish you were in NJ. I am currently having the same issue on a 5 year old home. Do you know anyone in NJ who can perform similar type of work? Appreciate your help. I am in South Jersey area.
this is an amazingly informative vid! Thank you
Great video. What do you do with that wall with old tar on it? Cover it with closed cell? Waterproof the exterior?
Can you recommend a long island contractor?
Two thumbs up. Unfortunately the cost to correct the work of the the quick fix geniuses can easily be double the cost of doing it right in the first place. Sometimes the damage is non-reversible, left long enough. Also the glib talk of "cheap and simple" even gets past the building inspectors.
This man is a hero.
Great video!!! I've learned allot from you just now!