One of the biggest fears I find with anyone buying a home is does the basement have water. No one wants water in their basement, not even a teeny bit. I personally have had two homes that have had water in the basement. It ain’t no fun.
The other afternoon I was inspecting a small cape in an area near the water, as in the ocean. The house was not on the water but in close proximity. While walking around the outside I find a pump installed at the front corner of the home. Interesting, I have only seen this a few times. The buyer tells me there is another one in the back yard.
Really!
Two pumps and we’re not in the house yet.
The basement looks like a pump show room. Two installed sump pumps, a few that appear to have bit the dust or should I say drowned, and an assortment of portables. The stud of the bunch was a newer 3.5 horse power, gas powered unit. That baby had a 2 inch hose attachment. It will move a LOTof water in a short period of time. The best touch of all was two pair of rubber boots against the wall. Nothing says water problems like a pair of big rubber boots.
The basement was partially finished. It looked as if the wall board had been removed because of water damage. No surprise there. There was a closet built in under the stairs. I opened the door and the water stain told the reason for all the pumps. It was several feet up the wall. I would speculate a pump failed and the water coming in was too great to handle with the small units that were in place.
The buyer wants to finish the basement into a man cave. He wanted to know if I thought the new pumps outside would keep the basement dry.
Well I ain’t touching that one with a 20 foot pole let alone a 10 footer.
My advice is always that there is no way to tell, until you live in the house. Obviously there have been water issues, so there should be no surprise if water comes in. There is also no way I can, as a home inspector, predict what will occur in the future or if the system is adequate. I do however have a pretty good idea what could happen based on what I see.
My advice was, don’t build a man cave in the basement.
James Quarello
Connecticut Home Inspector
2010 - 2011 SNEC-ASHI President
NRSB #8SS0022
JRV Home Inspection Services, LLC
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