A case review of a recent project revealed numerous DIY steps that a home’s owners had taken to correct a chronically wet laundry room window and stone foundation wall, all without any success. Upon site inspection and inquiry of past home improvements, little was found to identify the root cause of the chronic leaks. Even the replacement concrete and driveway contractors had failed to find the answer to this mystery. Those contractors chose to complete major rehab steps instead of looking at the long-overdue wood-framed leaky basement window. The focus needed to be on property maintenance such as gutters and grading.
The window itself was inoperable due to multiple attempts to caulk the inside perimeter of the window frame, and the homeowners could not even reach the window to vent it, due to the washer and laundry tub. Visually it looked terrible and was of absolutely no effect against storms. Even the custom-made Plexiglass window-well cover and the galvanized higher window-well liner, which were recently installed, did not improve the situation in the least. The homeowners were so desperate that they started using a sandbag diverter, which was temporarily working far better than any of the extensive exterior renovations.
The new concrete patio had obviously been installed too low. And the recently redone driveway had not been properly sloped away from the house. Unfortunately, correcting those two engineering mistakes would mean starting all over, and that was simply not an option financially or timewise.
After the homeowners had endured many expensive but unsuccessful attempted solutions and the resulting sleepless nights, the actual solution was to go after the weakest link of the total project, and not the flaws in previous well-intended steps to “beat the water.” In the end, the solution was to replace the Plexiglass window-well cover, with no change to the two new extended galvanized liners, and install a solid glass-block window with waterproofing cement on three sides. The homeowners also keep handy a few sandbag diverters to use when huge rains are expected.
No re-do or backhoe excavation was needed, much to the homeowners’ relief.
An experienced weatherproofing specialist can often implement a simple, inexpensive solution that not only eliminates water and moisture problems but also brings homeowners much-needed peace of mind!