Failing water control system



                   Original clay footing tile packed with roots



Some system companies propose limited outside work such as shallow drains, typically halfway down your wall, or exploration trenches.  This limited exterior work benefits the homeowner very little.  It allows the system company salesman to sell the benefits of excavation, without obligating the company to do a whole lot of digging.  The most important foot of any exterior dig is the foot that gets you lower than the level of your basement floor.  This is where your drain tiles are, and ground water collects.  Any measure short of this depth accomplishes very little.  This is the reason that interior drains and pumps are still necessary with the shallow drain approach.

Interior water control systems require a sump pump in order to discharge the water to the outside.  System companies usually call their sump pumps something different like pressure release systems, or super water extractors.  The salesman may even tell you that their system is completely different than a sump.  A pump placed under the floor is a sump pump regardless of what it may be called.





Typical shallow drain approach.  The tar shows how deep they dug.                           
The footing and footing tile is five feet below the tar line.


Almost every municipality in Northeast Ohio issues separate permits for waterproofing and water control.  If a company claims to be offering waterproofing, insist on seeing a waterproofing permit.   I believe it is unethical to represent that you are waterproofing a home, when in fact you are installing a water control system.  Recently a court awarded damages to a home buyer who was lead to believe the home he purchased had been waterproofed, when in fact it only had a water control system installed. 



Clay Expansion



Horizontal cracking, or wall shearing, is caused by expanding clay.  It is estimated that clay expansion is the single leading cause of home damage in the United States.  If your foundation is showing signs of cracking, if it appears to be bowing, or if there is movement of any kind, clay expansion is the likely cause.   In their efforts to avoid digging, system companies have come up with many devices such as wall anchors, carbon fiber straps, carbon fiber mesh, and beams of all kinds, to attempt to stabilize the wall.   Doesn't it make more sense to eliminate the cause of the movement, the clay, than to try and counteract it?  Besides, it can make a home difficult to sell when you have anchors, beams etc. attached to the inside of your walls.


The basement floor provides lateral support which stabilizes the bottom of the wall.  If your walls are showing signs of movement, such as horizontal cracking, or stair cracking in the corners.  If it is beginning to bow, or if the cracks open and close seasonally, never allow the floor to be cut or jack hammered in order to install an interior drainage system.  A wall that is cracking needs all the support it has.  Lose the lateral floor support and you will hasten wall failure.



Notice the clay footing tile.  It sits next to the footing.  Now notice the small
ledge above the footing.  This is a wall shear.  The entire wall above the
ledge has been pushed in by the expansive clay.  The bottom course of 
the wall is being held true by the lateral support of the floor.  If you were to
jack hammer or cut the basement floor to install an interior drain, you would
lose the lateral support of the floor and most assuredly cause complete wall
failure.  The cable is a failed wall anchor.  We eliminated 12 on this home.

                                                                       

This is a cement block foundation.  Wall anchors can only hold in place
the blocks they are attached to.  Notice the bowing that the anchors
actually caused.  Also notice that the holes this company punched into
the walls were never repaired or sealed.  Shortcuts are often hidden 
in this type of work.