grading and drainage: And A River Ran Through It - The House, That Is
- 01/25/17 02:57 AM
And a river ran through it - the house, that is. Inspecting a crawl space, as I am wont to do, the dirt floor was completely covered with thick, black plastic. That's good! The underside of the floor was insulated. That's good! The ventilation was open all around. That's good! But on one end I heard water dripping. It was raining that day, hard, and all day long. But dripping water? I looked at all the plumbing all around and saw no dripping. So I followed the sound. It was at the top of the crawl space, which inclined from the front of the house … (9 comments)
grading and drainage: When The House Rests On A Foundation Wall And Looks Like This ...
- 03/01/16 05:07 PM
When the house rests on a foundation wall and looks like this ... From the outside I could see this house had problems - poor grading; leaky gutters; downspouts that were broken or missing; rain water regularly inundated the house around the foundation wall; a porch and a deck that were attached to the house to allow water into the structure. It was a mess. I could have taken a zillion photos just like this one. But redundancy is not more instructive. One could almost hear the termites at work munching down at their Valhalla banquet. It was a sight to behold. I thought I heard … (21 comments)
grading and drainage: How Deep Does The Water Get At Times In This Crawl Space?
- 12/29/15 07:09 PM
How deep does the water get at times in this crawl space? I report, you decide. All around the foundation wall there was staining consistent with the staining you see here. You can see from the different lines that the water level happens regularly, and at different heights. It had not rained in many days previous to this inspection, but there were still puddles here and there on top of the plastic vapor retarder, dried stains on the plastic from other puddles, and very soft spots all over underneath. This is a crawl space that gets very wet, and often! And apparently this has gone mostly … (12 comments)
grading and drainage: The Culprit - And The Result
- 08/09/15 06:56 PM
This is the story of the culprit - and the result. Culprit - noun - the cause of a problem or defect. From the old French word culpable, meaning 'guilty.' Walking up to the house there was a brick sidewalk in front and leading around the garage to a side door. It was cracked in many places, from settlement. There was an extra smoosh of mortar in the gap between the sidewalk and step. And the sidewalk was inclining toward the house. It had inclined since that smoosh of mortar, put there, ostensibly, to fill the gap from previous movement. Why that extra mortar? My guess - a wet … (21 comments)
grading and drainage: You Don't Always Get Everything You Pay For
- 05/02/14 09:05 PM
No matter the price, you don't always get everything you pay for. Sounds like - you can't always get what you want, but if you try, sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need. This couple noticed leaking. And smelled musty. So set this up: this is a $16mil house in Georgetown, Washington DC, with a $5mil remodeling job including an addition. A cellar was dug out to create a lower level and the addition was built with that lower level. The house was originally built in 1805, and many bricks from older out buildings were used in the addition. … (16 comments)
grading and drainage: This Is What A Negative Grade In The Front Yard Looks Like Over Time
- 01/29/13 07:31 PM
A photo will follow. This is what a negative grade in the front yard looks like over time. The first thing I do when I get to a house is walk around it a couple of times. And hopefully that before the client arrives. Then I walk around again with the client, and we talk. One thing we often discuss is grading and how water is carried away from the house. Water comes from rain, snow, downspouts and sump pumps. The square footage of a roof represents a lot of water. One inch of rain in an area only 11"x19" is … (45 comments)
grading and drainage: The Grand Canyon
- 07/31/12 08:13 PM
So to speak. No, not THAT Grand Canyon. But certainly a good reminder of how THE Grand Canyon was formed. Water and time! Erosion! Incline and slope in one direction. Water and time! In this case I walked around the rear corner of a house to see a slope in the rear corner of the lot that went directly to the house. Thinking that might be an issue I went further and saw this. It's a gorgeous guardrail! Gorgeous maybe, but, um, 1. There is no deck on this house, so where did it come from? 2. I confess to never, … (29 comments)
grading and drainage: Grading And Drainage: "Negative Drainage Conditions"
- 12/30/11 12:54 AM
Grading is essential to a house and home inspector reports often say something like, "Negative drainage conditions." What is a "negative drainage condition?" ANY GRADING THAT DOES NOT ENCOURAGE WATER AWAY FROM THE HOUSE STRUCTURE. Here is what I say on EVERY report, whether the grading needs attention or not: "Grading/drainage: be sure that any surface water or downspout discharge drains easily and well away from the house – a good rule of thumb for soil grading is a slope of 6” in the first 4’ of run away from the house, and 1” of slope for every 4’ of run … (26 comments)
And a river ran through it - the house, that is.
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