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Leaking Storm Shelter
Last Post 18 Mar 2010 04:26 PM by erumsey. 10 Replies.
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drbrUser is Offline
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16 Mar 2010 09:33 AM

Our house was built in October of 2009.  We had a storm shelter put in the house which is underneath the front porch.  Poured cement basement walls and the ceiling of the storm shelter is the front porch.  The way the builder made the shelter is pouring the front porch (a slab of cement) on top of the poured basement walls.  Now we have water leaking into the storm shelter where the porch meets the walls when it rains/snows and possibly from cracks in the front porch as well.  There is NO barrier of any kind between the porch and walls.  It is just cement setting on top of cement.  “Plan A”, we are having a different contractor coat the front porch with Aquafin 2K/M.  According to the website it is a cementitious waterproof coating.  We are looking for a “Plan B” in case “Plan A” does not stop the leaking.  Any ideas are appreciated!!! 

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16 Mar 2010 12:25 PM
Is the porch level with the surrounding soil or raised a few steps above it? When you state that it is leaking where the porch meets the walls I assume you are talking about house walls that go above the porch slab height. Has the original contractor tried to correct/fix the issues already? If it is an issue where it is leaking where the slab meets a vertical wall I'm not sure that a concrete coating will prevent leaks at that location (although it should fix leaks from cracks in the slab). The issue at the wall/slab joint is the expansion/contraction of the concrete slab. A form of caulking may be in order instead.
drbrUser is Offline
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16 Mar 2010 12:44 PM
The porch is a few steps above ground.  The leak is where the porch is sitting on top of the basement walls (cement on cement) not the house walls (studs & drywall) that are above porch slab height.  The contractor has put caulking in the cracks on top of the porch slab and also caulked where the porch slab and basement walls meet each other.  The leaks seem to be coming in where cement is sitting on top of the cement.  Is this an expansion issue???  Can something be done here???
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16 Mar 2010 01:27 PM
How is the slab finished at the sides and front(is the underside of the slab angled from mid way or 90deg)?
Is it a 2 corner extension of the basement and is it covered?
Have you put a level on top of the slab to agnoledge where the slab slopes?

Something can surely be done. Just got to figure out point of entry.
drbrUser is Offline
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16 Mar 2010 03:15 PM
The porch is on the northwest corner of the house.  The porch is covered by overhang of the roof.  The north side is about 5 feet wide and the west side is about 21 feet long.  There is brick attached to the west side (front of the house) basement walls to make it look nice.  The north side is just the poured cement wall, no bricks attached.  I believe the finish of the porch is 90 degree, I'd have to double check to be sure.  There is maybe an inch or two overhang on the north basement wall.  There is less overhang on the west side because of the bricks.  We have not put a level on the porch.
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16 Mar 2010 03:54 PM
Put the level on and make sure the slope is not towards the house. If so the coating you were talking about could fix the problem but it needs to slope away from the house. Depending on the slope needed a couple coats mmight be required. If the slope is bad enough you might have to sand it down and then a thin layer of coating.
If you can, soak the slab with someone keeping an eye out under for first sign of leekage to pinpoint area.
Let us know what happens.
Good luck!
Matt GUser is Offline
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17 Mar 2010 08:03 AM
I find it difficult to get the details of construction from your descriptions.

Being that the house is only 6 months old it should be under warranty and be the total responsibility of the builder. Is this not the case? If it is under warranty, and you or other contractors do work on it this will relieve your builder of his responsibility.
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17 Mar 2010 01:36 PM
The builder states that he can't guarantee concrete not to crack and that some dampness in the basement is to be expected.  This is beyond a little dampness.  He has pretty much refused to help us on this matter so that is why we are looking to others who actually want to help us.
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17 Mar 2010 03:17 PM

In the case of a leaking basement, one picture of the porch area might be worth a thousand words.  Could you post some pictures so we can look for the problem and suggest a cure.

Where is the location of this home.  If your home is close to me I will come to take a look.  Over the years I have made many house calls.  Seeing something in person sure helps to spot the problem.
Alton C. Keown
Residential Designer and Construction Technology Consultant
Auburn, Alabama
E-mail: alton at auburn dot edu
drbrUser is Offline
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17 Mar 2010 03:36 PM

How do you get the picture to post when it is above the 100kb size limit?
erumseyUser is Offline
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18 Mar 2010 04:26 PM
try uploading it to flickr, photobucket, etc. then post it here using image tags (img)image url(/img) replace the ( ) with [ ].
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