Bricks, Masonry, Asphalt and Concrete - basement worries

Hello
I have a brick house built in about 1935. The basement is concrete. the concrete in those days seems to have been mostly sand. A few exterior pieces, a kind of facing have broken off over the winter and worries me a little. My neighbour,with the same type of house recently spent about forty thousand dollars to brace and lift up his basement. I am not sure it was as bad as all that. It was worse than ours, as it had some cracks and let a lot of moisture in. Ours simply has some moisture in the back ( where it is covered over with earth). No cracks. No leaks. Just moisture. Now, I can see some of that white evervesence on some of the bricks, indicating this dampness. My question. Can I dig this out myself and simply put some kind of waterproof membrane on the outside wall and add some kind of drainage, including tilting the landfill away from the house? Or, am I going to need something else? I know it will be hard to say much not having seen it, but I'd appreciate any comment, it helps me to understand the situation.
thanks Joe

Efflorescence is not a problem, but it is a symptom of water in the materials that is carrying the normal salts to the surface and depositing them when the water evaporates.

Is the basement poured concrete or concrete block?

What type of a coating is comng off and how thick is it?

If you have no cracks, the moisture must be coming from the soil or surface moisture if the drainage has been changed the past few years.

Just digging and replace will be of little help unless you know what you are trying to remove and correct.

As usual, proper drainage and long downspout extwnsions are the easiest, most economical and productive method to keep water away from a foundation.

Dick

Dick,
thanks for the reply. It is a poured concrete basement. Quite thick, maybe two or two and a half feet thick. there is a kind of layer on the outside that seems to have broken loose. Less than an inch thick. When you dig at the wall, a bit of it is loose, though. but there is a lot of wall there, even if some of it is loose. I wonder if this is something I can do myself or whether I need experts. I called an evaluator the other day and just to come down and look at it for a visual inspection, it was going to cost me five hundred. I don't mind paying for something I really need, but I have a feeling that he's just going to tell me what you just told me--drainage and slope.
thanks again, joe

You probably have more than enogh strength and "beef" in the foundation to last many years, so a structural problem does not seem to exist.

The key is to control the moiture that falls on your house and how it drains away.

Since this seems to be a fairly new occirance, I would revisit your exterior and especially try to find something that has changed in the pasr few years. Sometimes there can be something like a new sewer, new development or drainage pattern in the neighborhood that has affected the general water table.

It does not sound like you have an immediate problem. I would watch for increased presence of moisture or cracks.

Dick

As Dick mentioned, what might have changed recently to cause this? This may provide the clue to this newly manifested problem. Could it be that some drainage tile (if it exists) has become choked with roots or finally gave way? This is a common problem with older structures.

Any excavation in the area recently that could have cut off your storm hook up? It can be a terrible job to dig up the exterior of your house basement and provide for dewatering or tiling......but it's not as bad as replacing basement walls.

bs5

Hello again,
Sorry to take so long to get back but I was having a contractor look at the basement and didnt want to reply until he had his say. He comes recommended as reliable and honest. He says that moisture has seeped into the basement wall for years and has damaged the walls. The concrete when the place was built, at least in this area, he says, was not very good, made largely of sand and large rocks. It is now deterioating and you can scrape it off the surface. it is so bad, he says, that you could never even glue a water-resisting membrane to it. The only solution: dig it all out, scrape from four to six inches from the outside of the basement wall, refill with new cement, which will extent out beyond the present wall. This will succeed in supporting the building and in preventing more moisture from entering....thirty thousand dollars later. If I have to do it, I have to do it, I guess. Anything I may not have thought of?
thanks Joe

Well, I would say if you in fact have 2-21/2 feet of poured concrete with rocks, even being slightly over-ratioed with sand, you still have some structure to work with. I mean, cmon. Does this mean every house for your genre is going to fall down... Gimme a break.


I would do some testing of your own. Poke and pull away the loose stuff in an area that wont matter if it goes to far. There are more than 30 ways to plugs a hole or whatever if you mess up badly. If you scrape off alittle crap, but it starts to get hard in the middle, dont worry about it.

Just think of it this way. 2 feet of rock is stronger than most newer foundations put up these days. ALso, what have you go to loose by doing some vigerous testing?? What the heck. If your going to spend 30k, you mise well learn something about the place......