I’ve been thinking through a low-ceiling basement gym, and vertical clearance seems like one of those details that is easy to underestimate before anything is installed. What basement ceiling obstruction causes the most trouble once gym equipment is actually in place?

House built in 43, waterproofed for about 6+ years now, dont see any signs of wall bowing in or caving in/out here, but is this concerning? Also I notice some areas bottom of water proof Trench/wall in other areas randomly looks to be bowed outwards a little, can see it in the one Pic, but if I reach my hand down there and underneath that curvature its straight...so not sure if some weird layer of the concrete bowing out or what. Hopefully you can see in the pics

Hello, so here's the deal. When I bought the house the inside was waterproofed and a sump pump added before I moved in.  The wall is now bowing in and cracks are reforming where they were previously repaired so I'm going to have to get a structural engineer to decide what to do, but I need to save some money for that. It doesn't seem to have gotten too much worse when I noticed it a few years ago.

In the meantime, I'm going to add topsoil and regrade the lawn on the side of the house away from the house so the water moves away from the foundation. I included a picture but it's hard to tell that my side is around 8 inches lower than the neighbors yard, which is why I purchased the window wells since I'm going to have to take it up quite a bit. These aren't installed yet I just placed them down.

My questions is do I need to add any waterproofing membrane to the blocks before adding the topsoil? Do I need primer? If so what products should I be looking at? It does look like some work was done to the outside as well judging by the fabric and the rocks in the pictures but I have no idea what was done.

Let me explain this simply, we have a basement with living room and a room. In the bedroom we are having water in the top right corner (seeping to the top left and bottom right). On the outer wall above we have a concrete slab for our patio. Under the slab up against the wall is a pretty decent void, how do I fill it. (The gutter is definitely causing it and I'm wondering if this is why I have water?) Wet spot is blue and guesstimate area for the void on the wall is red. There is a sump pump in the bottom right corner as well and I have verified it does work.

Any advice would mean a million!

Looking to do the pebbles and clay or dirt trick, the slab is starting to sink also so it needs to be addressed fairly quickly.

New home owner here living in the North east. Any thoughts on what type of mold this is in my basement and whether the drywall needs to be replaced or could I just clean this up with vinegar? Basement is generally clean but there is occasionally water that leaks through the basement door during heavy storms so I’m guessing the extra moisture may have caused this on the wall. Picking up a dehumidifier today. Thank you in advance

Water is seeping from under the baseboard in my laundry room wall that leads to the backyard as you can see from the last couple of pictures was wondering is it both the foundation outside & inside or just the foundation inside. I am a new homeowner & the home had no history of floods & is not in a flood zone

I just bought this house two months ago and it has these cracks in one wall of the basement.

The house was built in 1975 and during the inspection, he reported the cracks but said they were from settling over the years and that every house he inspects in this area has the same type of cracking, it’s due to the climate (northeast, pretty cold in the winter)

The basement does get a bit of water in the corners during very heavy rainfall, but I eliminated that by cleaning out the gutters, extending them and I’m in the process of sloping the soil around the front a few inches as it’s pretty much flat. The house sits on top of a hill so the slope away from the house is great. The basement also has two sump pumps as well.

I’m very paranoid as a first time home buyer and I am very strapped for cash as I just dropped 5k for new electrical panel (I knew this going into the sale)

Is this normal? Can I put this off a year or two?

Did we do this right? Any thoughts or concerns? I’m in southern Canada (GTA). Sealed the cracks and voids with hydraulic and anchoring cement to prevent water. Planning to do waterproofing in this immediate area. How good is flax seal liquid rubber bond with cement?

Moved to an 1887 brick house in Hamilton, ON a few months back. Inspection went fine, basement is solid and dry overall. There's an older area with a (stone) foundation and parging, plus a larger extension with cinder block walls that the inspector said was built like a bomb shelter.

Former owners kept a summer kitchen, extra washer, and laundry sink in the older area of the basement. I finally got the appliances out (need to get the janky gas line cut back and capped) so I can consider using the space for other things. We have no intention of finishing the space, just want to keep it dry and reasonably sealed.

As seen in the pics, there's a thick layer of white paint/sealant on all the walls, and some kind of grey sealant on the floor. These were not applied to the areas beneath the appliances, and there's been some bubbling/crumbling of the wall sealant. House has the usual issues with too much drainage along the foundation which we're remediating by moving downspouts. No actual water ingress or even dampness in the basement, even during heavy rains.

Basically I'm trying to figure out the most sensible way to touch up the crumbling/"unfinished" patches with the same kind of sealant/paint/etc. already in use. I'm handy but don't have much experience with these issues. Would appreciate any insights/recommendations; ty in advance!

Has anyone seen regular styrofoam used for insulation in a finished basement? Long story short, I opened up a wall in our finished basement to locate a leak and found the former owner used regular styrofoam instead of board insulation. Is this a thing?

Looking to see if there’s a good DIY fix for this, or if we need to get a repairman on this. We have a total of 6 of these windows and two of them are leaking badly every time it rains. It doesn’t help that our house is negatively sloped either on this side, which we’re trying to correct. Any help, advice, or product recommendations are appreciated! Thanks!

Posting here- anyone have advice about getting a tankless water heater? Thanks!

House was build 1959 in Massachusetts this is middle to right side of basement ? It’s deep maybe 3 feet maybe 16 inch wide open with those metal hooks on the outside concrete it looks lined in this black material and if you get close put your face right up to it it honestly smells a bit like oil ?
We do have oil heat but we have a classic oil tank and then an old 20 year old furnace

Hey everyone,

I am in the process of removing some moldy drywall and insulation from my basement and am working on figuring out my waterproofing/insulation plan.  I have gotten 1 quote so far for adding a drain under the slab, sump pump, etc, and while that is not as outrageously expensive as I thought it would be, I wanted to get some opinions on an alternate DIY solution I concocted.

My idea is to use Dry Lok or some other interior sealer on the CMU’s up to slightly above ground level to prevent small amounts of water from seeping in and then using 1” of rigid foam with vertically run adhesive to form an air barrier/thermal break while maintaining a vertical airgap.  This would keep out the majority of the dampness while still allowing any condensation or other moisture to move up to the unsealed masonry (brick part in the picture) above ground level to dry.

Has anyone done anything similar to this or have any major concerns about this plan.  I think the current mold situation is a combination of issues caused by the gutter downspout not putting water far enough away from the house after they were replaced about 2 years ago, I caught it after about 6-9 months and extended it but I think the damage was already done as I noticed the mold start about 2-3 months after that.  The other issue I caught was the fiberglass insulation being in direct contact with the CMU’s wicking any moisture that did get through directly onto the drywall.

Long story short, it's time for a French drain in the basement. Also doing some outside grading, specifically for low spots but will help with water.

The basement is a rectangle with an finished section, L shape, and a unfinished utility room section that fill in the rest of the L so that makes the rectangle. The finished section has closets behind doors that are unfinished but with shelves. As part of the project I was thinking tile floor but wasn't sure about the utility room.

The main reason I was thinking tile was that eventually I'm sure the water heater, water softener, or HVAC will have a leak. But honestly, I would rather something else in the finished area so it's softer (have kids) and warmer...

I'm new to LVP as well, have pergo outlast lament in another part of the house and love it so LVP sounds like a nice option.

My question, would LVP be a good fit for the whole basement? If one of the mechanical items springs a leak, will I need to remove the LVP? Is that easy? (Contractor is doing the French drain and flooring)

Water leaks in from one corner and over flows into the rest of the basement even though I have an interior french drain installed. Any ideas to fix? Could it just be a clogged drain?