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kba
Registered Users
Posts:3
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| 07/18/2008 9:58 PM |
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Hi,
We have an ICF house with brick veneer - built seven years ago. It has a sealed crawlspace.
The house was originally waterproofed with the black spray-on stuff. It was applied over the brick veneer. All the gutters were piped to daylight, and there's an exterior foundation drain that runs along the footers and drains to daylight in the woods behind the house.
Shortly after we moved in, we noticed water seeping into the crawlspace and accumulating under the poly. After pulling up the poly and doing a little digging in the crawlspace soil, I saw that the seepage was occurring where the bottom of the ICW wall meets the footer.
The builder addressed the problem by excavating the foundation, applying more spray-on waterproofing to the brick, and adding Warm-n-Dri fiberglass foundation board over that.
Everything was fine for the next seven years, but now there are a couple of spots where water is again getting into the crawl under the poly - creating sort of a "waterbed" effect under the poly. After reading this site and others, I suspect that the builder didn't adequately waterproof the ICF walls before the brick veneer went up. I'm wondering what can be done about it now. I don't mind excavating around the foundation, but the exterior of the ICF walls now is inaccessible behind the bricks.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
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James Eggert
Registered Users
Posts:1001
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| 07/19/2008 9:00 AM |
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This sounds like the brick veneer was installed down to the footing? If so, and they didn't create a point at grade where any water intrusion can "weep" to the exterior, the installers/builder created a direct path to the top of the footing so any waterproofing on the exterior can't stop what is inside the walls and eventually ponding at the lowest point....the top of the footing.
Its an unusaul way to install brick, if my guess is correct. And if so, no additional excavation will fix it permanently, although you had 7 years of no problems.
If this water problem only happens after a long-term rain, such as a couple days, you may be able to mitigate the issue by observing whether all the daylight drains are working, and especially any roof run-off is taken far enough away from the house. Note if possible is the water points all on one side of the house for example!
If this is really a minor water issue, you could install a sump pit, and keep the water level below the footing, hopefully stopping the water from sitting on the top of the footing. HOWEVER, if this is water behind the brick your options are to have it fixed differently not easily explained.
I could guess some more, but even more info would be helpful! |
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Take Care
Jim
Design/Build/Consulting
"Not So Big" Design Proponent |
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walltech
Registered Users
Posts:469
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| 07/19/2008 10:59 AM |
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I think James is correct, it sounds like water penetrating your brick wall which is not waterproof (above grade)is getting trapped behind the spray-on damp-proofing. It's likely following the easiest path to top of footer until a little presure builds and then leaks thru to the inside. The intendeed weeps by the brickers probably got sprayed over and plugged causing this issue.
This is a inhearent problem in the building industry nation wide, most believe the brick, stone veener or cement board siding is water-proof when its actually far from it. A very good inside source says the industry will require drainage plain over wood behind these pervious claddings down the road a few years in which BI will watch the brick senarious closer seeing they have had the drainage plain previous that continue to fail when installed improperly. This is just another good reason to build ICF and not have to worry about decay from moisture issues.
Dave
Dave |
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kba
Registered Users
Posts:3
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| 07/19/2008 1:02 PM |
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Thanks for the responses.
The brick veneer was indeed installed all the way down the footings. (The crawlspace is only about two feet high.) There are weep holes in the brick veneer at grade.
The gutters are connected to a series of underground corrugated pipes that drain to daylight at least 20 feet away from the house. I've monitored them during rainstorms and they all drain properly. The exterior foundation drain also is piped away from the house, though I've never seen water flowing out of its output.
One thing we don't have is an interior french drain in the crawl. Though I'd prefer to keep the water out of the crawl in the first place, it's sounding like the interior drain might at least provide a path for it to escape. |
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Manfred
Registered Users
Posts:58
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| 07/20/2008 10:02 AM |
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| kba, for what its worth here are my thoughts not considering any monetary implication. Your idea about the french drain inside the footers should work. The problem is at one or two points an exit needs to be created to connect to the outside drainage. The more labor intensive way to fix this problem is to excavate down to the footers one side at a time. Then cut the brick above topsoil in 2-3 foot sections. Carefully remove the brick. Build up from the footers with 4" concrete block to just one brick height underneath the existing brick work. Use a waterproof barrier that will be cut into the ICF right underneath the existing brick work, install the bricks. Now do the same for the other 2-3 foot sections. |
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James Eggert
Registered Users
Posts:1001
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| 07/20/2008 1:20 PM |
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There are weep holes in the brick veneer at grade.
However, was there a flashing placed behind the brick into the ICF so any water within the wall has TO ACTUALLY come thru the weeps, or does it get to fill up the wall below the weeps first??
Manfred's solution was where I was heading, however, because you have the weeps, I would check inside the crawl first to see if the water table is high. Then you could install a sump and hopefully keep it under control.
We protected an ICF basement on a new home once by digging in a 60' french drain about 75' away and uphill of a house where we knew water from a lake had a tendency to flow across the woods and field each spring, working its way toward the house. We essentially diverted the ground water to the lower elevation near a creek carrying water from the same lake. Worked like it was supposed to! |
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Take Care
Jim
Design/Build/Consulting
"Not So Big" Design Proponent |
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kba
Registered Users
Posts:3
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| 07/20/2008 9:22 PM |
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I've uploaded a couple of photos that I took during construction:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39783936@N00/
It appears to me that there's at least one row of cinderblocks directly on top of the footings, then five rows of brick that were in place before the forms were poured. I don't have any photos that would show if the builder installed flashing behind the brick, but I don't recall that he did. The only waterproofing that took place was done on the exterior of the brick, as the third photo shows.
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PatrickT
Registered Users
Posts:138
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| 07/31/2008 7:48 AM |
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KBA,
It is good you do have a grade that allows drainage to light. I would drill a large weep hole on the low grade side of the craw at footer height. You could tie this in to your perimeter drain as long as you do this some distance away to insure it is lower than the point of start. So maybe 5' away?
I'm a bit concerned you do not see your perimeter drain working. How much gravel was used? I always reccomend a massive amount of drainage gravel as back fill.
The inside drainage is good for the fact that water can get under the footer as well. Footers are not sealed to the ground. With enough hydrostatic presure water will push up.
Good luck!
Patrick T |
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