WOW everyone!

I have read all of your comments and appreciate you spending the time to write them.

Just wanted to give a quick update and clarify a few points.

We have not yet decided what we will do to resolve the issue but we are exploring the option of fixing it on the outside which I have told everyone who has been to the house from the beginning would be my preference. For two reasons:
1. I don't like the thought of managing the water on the inside for my own reasons and reasons mentioned by you above.
2. I believe the right and proper way to remedy the situation is on the outside where it should have been done correctly in the beginning.

We don't live in a bowl but we are in an area which at times will have probably quite high levels of ground water.

We have increased the distance our downspouts are depositing water to about 20-30 feet from the house. When we experienced water seeping into the house it was during an extremely wet period with 4 feet of melting snow and 50mm of rain within two days. The amount of people experiencing flooding was enormous even if they had a perfectly dry basement for the last 20 years.

I still don't believe it should have leaked if the water proofing was done correctly, however if it was ever going to leak then that would have been when it would happen.

We want to stay in the house because despite this we do love the house itself, the design suits us perfectly and we love the location.

I have noted your debate about the correct way to waterproof on the outside, until we look we don't know what was done here. But at least now I have more knowledge.

Thanks once again everyone! I will update this saga when I get more info!

temporary high water levels are not a problem if the waterproofing is done correctly - it's what it is for. Take pictures of the mold and water on the inside and more pics of what you find as you dig outside. If you are able to recover any damages the pics will be invaluable.

Posted By mojoe on 13 Mar 2018 02:05 AM
temporary high water levels are not a problem if the waterproofing is done correctly - it's what it is for. Take pictures of the mold and water on the inside and more pics of what you find as you dig outside. If you are able to recover any damages the pics will be invaluable.

Completely agree. We have lots of photos and will be ensuring we document the entire process.

> I still don't believe it should have leaked if the water proofing was done correctly

As others have said, basement leaks are mostly about a) preventing water from being deposited outside the walls and b) preventing water from creating any pressure against the walls. A basement isn't a swimming pool - waterproofing isn't the most important issue.

For decades, before peel and stick, dimpled, etc., good results in waterproofing basements were achieved with a roller or brush applied coating of a bituminous product to the foundation walls, a continuous 4" perforated foundation drain at the footing level that flowed [meaning downhill] to daylight or an adequate equivalent. The pipe was covered with washed stone and the backfill against the foundation was something like sand that would provide good drainage properties. Some would slope the bed of stone away from the wall and put felt paper over the stone before backfilling with the sand. It kept the bed of stone [and pipe] from clogging with the sand over time and directed water away from the footing. Obviously, the grade should slope away from the building and any water accounted for. It's not rocket science.

The above description was for bare concrete not meant for icf walls.

1 - Make sure you have proper drainage around the house. All soil should slope away from the house.
2 - No landscape near the house. No bushes, trees, plants, etc. Keep all sources of moisture/water away.
3 - Make sure there isn't a landscape irrigation line that is leaking. Very common since there is no code/inspection with landscape lines which are typically thin wall black plastic.

Any below grade ICF/concrete should always be waterproofed. Either with peel&stick, hand applied coating or a parge coating. I used synthetic waterproof parge coating on my home. It protects the EPS from bugs and stops water from attempting to pass through.

Most people want landscaping plants and shrubs around their homes and if the sub-grade waterproofing is done correctly, there is no reason not to have them. They are shallow rooted and should not interfere with the waterproofing system. Any irrigation should be timed properly to water to a required depth and even if a pipe is leaking, it would only be while watering is cycled on for the timed period. Obviously any leak should be fixed promptly but should not be a major concern to a properly done job. A house with no plants or shrubs or even as someone suggested - without windows! - is not a home. It's a warehouse or a prison or an industrial building like a factory. Energy efficient homes don't have to sacrifice aesthetics.

Posted By mojoe on 02 Apr 2018 03:51 PM
Most people want landscaping plants and shrubs around their homes and if the sub-grade waterproofing is done correctly, there is no reason not to have them. They are shallow rooted and should not interfere with the waterproofing system. Any irrigation should be timed properly to water to a required depth and even if a pipe is leaking, it would only be while watering is cycled on for the timed period. Obviously any leak should be fixed promptly but should not be a major concern to a properly done job. A house with no plants or shrubs or even as someone suggested - without windows! - is not a home. It's a warehouse or a prison or an industrial building like a factory. Energy efficient homes don't have to sacrifice aesthetics.

Sure, you can have bushes and plants next to the wall of a home but you are inviting problems not only with the foundation but with the wall. Aesthetics can be achieved without compromising footings, basement walls and wall cladding. Roots can cause cracks in the foundation wall, compromising the structural integrity of the home and leading to leaks, also utility pipes and drainage systems are often damaged by invasive roots. Vegetation against the house leads to mildew problems and can invite termite problems due to the moisture around vegetation.

Of course a house cannot be without windows as this would violate fire and building codes. All homes must have egress windows. A home does not require shrubs to be planted next to the homes walls. Planting landscape 5+ feet away from the home still provides the aesthetics without creating other problems.

We avoid plantings near house too. Not so much for avoiding moisture and attracting termites, but to reduce fire risk. Having plantings under or near eaves is a sure bet to catch a house on fire in wildfire prone areas.

We have successfully designed/built a couple windowless homes over the years for survivalist types. Not my style of living, but it can be done. You just use doors, more CO2/smoke detectors, video cameras, and flat screen displays. If not aesthetically pleasing to all, they are certainly energy efficient, quiet, highly fire resistant, can be made bulletproof and are very secure if doors open outward.

Fire codes require a means of egress - not windows specifically.

I sure hope my daisies and tulips don't compromise my footings, crack my foundation walls, or set my eaves on fire. As Ron White says, "You can't fix stupid." If I lived in a wildfire prone area, I wouldn't pile kindling against the house. Neither would I plant large trees or shrubs with invasive roots near my foundation or septic system for obvious reasons.

dimpled membrane and clear stone back fill is way to go....

I am having the same issues as you where water is sitting between the floor of my basement and the ICF. I have dug around my home put in all new weeping tiles, dimple wrap also sealed the walls and I am having the same problem. Digging didn't help. Did you find a solution?.

Is the problem only in one area or around the whole perimeter ?

Jeanette, I have the same issues as yours and was thinking about excavating the exterior to fix the ICF waterproofing membrane (from the outside) until I read that you put in new weeping tiles, dimple wrap and sealed the foundation walls, but these repairs still do not stop the water leaks.
My house has weeping tiles draining to a basement sum; this system seems to work properly as I notice the amount of water drained to sump increases with amount of rain. In heavy rains, I could hear a continuous stream of water draining to the sump. In winter times (and no water drained to sump), I notice fewer and smaller spots of water leaks. This makes me think the peel-and-stick membrane on the exterior of the ICF foundation wall is damaged. I don't have a dimple wrap layer. So I was thinking about excavating the outside of foundation walls to repair the waterproofing membrane (peel-and-stick Soprema membrane) but I don't know if I can just add another layer of Soprema sheet over the existing layer ? Would the 2nd p-s layer adhere well onto the existing layer ? Since excavation is very costly, I definitely would add a dimple wrap layer, and might as well put in a new weeping tile system like you did.
To help me understand if the situation of my house is comparable to yours, could you please elaborate whether your house already had weeping tiles, dimple wrap and sealed foundation walls prior to the repairs ? Could you also please describe how the foundations walls were sealed (or resealed) ?
To everyone, I was also thinking about pouring a concrete slab (or using paving stones), 10 ft wide around the 3 sides of the foundation walls to keep the area underneath dry, but I am not sure if this would solve the water leaks. (The front side of the foundation wall is where the attached garage is located). Thank you.

This is why I don't use peel and stick as a primary water proofing. I'm a dimpled guy. I'll ask you the same question. Is the water coming in in a lot of spots or is it contained in certain areas?

Thank you for replying. On the front foundation wall, there is an attached garage. The middle section (where there is a staircase going from the basement to the inside of the garage) is the only area I can observe the intersection between foundation wall and basement floor, and there is no water leak. Probably because the garage roof sheds all water away from this area.
On the west wall where the drain sump pump is located , I removed 3 drywall gypsum sheets. There are 4-5 wet spots on the concrete floor (1-2in wide) and on the bottom foam (1-2in high) immediately above the concrete floor. These wet spots are not continuous and their length varies 1foot to 2 feet on the concrete floor, but the wet spots on the foam are only 1-2in long. On the concrete floor, the wet spots are 2ft to 4ft apart. There is one wet spot located at the gap between the lowest icf block and the block right above it. The west wall is the worst side because the yard on this side is 2 times larger than on the east side. The slope from the house to the fence is about 1.5% (house is higher than boundary). Last summer, we covered the ground on this side with 6ft wide poly vapor barrier as a test, and this seemed to reduce the size of the wet spots. It is noted that gas line, power and AC pad are also located outside of the west foundation wall. The AC pad is also a low spot, we are hoping to raise it this summer with the hope the pandemic will subside by then.
On the back wall, there is a full-width deck so there is much less snow accumulation. I did not remove any drywall. This winter I notice only two small, white dried efflorescent spots and one darker spot on the concrete floor. These spots are about 1in wide x 5in long. Like on the west wall, these damp & dried spots are located at the intersection between the bottom of the foundation wall and the concrete floor.
On the east wall, at this time (winter) there are 3 small dark spots on the concrete floor (4-6in long) and 4 small, dried, white efflorescent spots (4-6in long). The spots are not continuous and don't seem to correlate with the location of the window wells. The yard on the east side is half as wide as on the west side, so the slope from house to fence is better, about 2% - 3% roughly.
In term of general landscape slope, the land is slightly sloped from west to east (~ 1%), the lot of the neighbor on my west is at highest spot, higher than my lot, and mine is higher than the neighbor on my east. All the lots face North; the slope from back of my lot to front of lot (in South-North direction) varies from 1%, 1.8% and 3%. All lots shed runoff water to a street located North of the lots.
It is strange that almost all wet or dried out spots show up at the bottom of foundation walls and on the concrete floor areas immediately touching these walls. At first I thought the outside water enters through through the junction where the foundation wall meets the concrete footing. But after seeing the plastic ties embedded in the foam of an ICF block, I wonder if outside water seeps in from a puncture on p-s sheet and follow these ties to reach the bottom of the foundation wall by gravity.
Your help is greatly appreciated. I would like to know more about how to identify the sources of the leaks (to minimize the excavation work, if needed) and how to fix the leaks, of course. And if we need to "re-seal" the outside of the ICF foundation wall, how do I apply a 2nd p-s layer ? Or how do I reseal it, with what material ? Thank you.

I like to add that the worst water leak on the west foundation wall occurred after the 1st year of construction, water was pooling in a 2ft long x 1ft wide spot. The builder only fixed the outside landscape, which reduced the size of the pooled water. Now this spot shows up as a wet-to-the touch streak on the bottom foam and as a dark, wet-to-the-touch streak on the concrete floor, but no water pooling. On the east wall, the wet spots showed up over years as I started to notice them only 3 or 4 years ago, at first 1 or 2 and then more spots later on. The house is 13 years old. Thanks.

There is a typo error: the corrected sentence is as follows:
The west wall is the worst side because the yard on this side is 2 times larger than on the "east" side. Thanks.

The reason I asked is that I would attack the areas directly where the water appears. To excavate the whole foundation outside would be overkill. Unfortunately it shows that you got a wall pour with voids in it. A excavator with a mini track hoe should be able to open up the wall areas showing the leaks. I would get ahold of some dimpled membrane. You can get it from Superseal online.