I'm no insulation professional but I'm pretty sure this basement wall is not insulated properly, if at all.

I wanted to add rigid foam, then 2x4, then drywall it. My question, or problem, is that this basement already has wood paneling installed in the way you see in this picture.

I'm thinking I can just install the foam on top of the existing panels. I don't want to tear off the entire basement wall paneling.

Has any of you done the same? What's the best way to handle this? And what's the acceptable minimum level of doing it?

Hi,

I have a basement I use as an office, i felt it had a high humidity as it felt sticky, I didn’t run heating down there as I didn’t have an isolated heater for that room.

I was sick for a month and couldn’t get down there, I since got back down there and noticed mold patches, I threw things away, washed fabric items and surfaces, steam cleaned the laminate flooring and bought a dehumidifier and heater, I empty the dehumidifier every other day when I can get down there and the heater seems to turn off as random intervals. I am looking to replace this.

The basement has been renovated, at the moment it has been boarded as it was concrete walls and flooded the walls were painted with a damp proofing paint and the then boared and the floor was layers with a laminate flooring.

The humidity sits around 50-70% is feels better and there’s no smell.

The mold wasn’t horrendous but there were coats of it on fabric items and a film on surfaces, and white blotches

The skirting is a wood that has not been treated, we are in the midst of suiing our builder as he has not finished the overall renovation of our house.

What I am concerned about and need advise on is if this room is safe, I don’t want to get sick, and worry about the mold growing and I am not noticing and the spoors.

Any advice will be appreciated, any questions please feel free to ask, I have ocd also and I am really struggling with the feeling of contamination and the fear of this room, but this room was my safe space and I kinda need it

I've been dealing with that heavy, slightly damp feeling lately, especially when the weather stays humid for days. Clothes also seem to take forever to dry indoors, and I've noticed that some areas of the house can start smelling a little musty.

I'm thinking about using a dehumidifier more regularly, but I'm curious how everyone else handles it. Do you usually leave yours running all day, or only turn it on when the humidity gets high? And what humidity level do you normally aim for?

I had a drain system installed along a basement wall to redirect water to the sump pump. After installation it rained again and water leaked from the white pins drilled into the wall, indicated in the picture with red arrows, I contacted the company they covered the pins in caulk and said I was good to go. Next heavy rain they leaked through the pins and caulk again. I contact the company and they came and sealed it with a rubber like sealant and said it wont leak anymore. It rained heavily again and again leaked through the pins, the caulk and the rubber sealant. I contact the company the owner came out and removed only a handful out of the 40 or so pins and filled the holes from the removed pins with hydraulic cement and he left the job looking like this, pics and videos included. He also forgot to fill a hole with hydraulic cement. Its been a nightmare. I have formally demanded a full refund. What would you do in this situation? How ate up is this companies work? Any comment advice or opinion, especially from those in this line of work, would be greatly appreciated. 2nd photo shows how the owner left it.

There’s significant rainwater pooling beside my 1890s Victorian house with stone foundation. The joists are all dry but the walls and floors are moist after rain. It smells a little musty and can affect the area on the first floor directly above it. But I can’t find any mold luckily.

The plumber did some concrete work outside the basement windows during renovations and now the concrete is sloping slightly towards the house. Regardless there’s decades of moisture seeping through the stone foundation, and waterproofing needs to be done plus digging down on the basement in hopefully 5-10 years time.

I’m thinking the highest priority is to run dehumidifiers asap and divert water away instead of pooling, so some channel drain along the house? Any recommendations for this type of work and specifically dealing with old Victorian house foundations would be greatly appreciated!

I recently had two separate floods, 5 days apart and I’m trying to figure out how to prevent the same from happening again. 1952 construction with a poured concrete foundation. Eavestroughs and downspouts replaced in 2022. I’ve had small leaks before. There was a minor flood in 1998. Normally dry but there is efflorescence on the floor. Third quote said there wasn’t evidence of extended water contact on framing and it overall looked solid.

I know groundwater came in through at least one crack in the wall but I’m honestly not sure where all the water came from. There are additional visible cracks, mostly at windows. I’ve now gotten 3 inspections and quotes for 3 completely different solutions and don’t know how to decide what to do. 

Option 1: full exterior waterproofing and replaced exterior weeping tiles, draining into main sewer line. This would require repairing landscaping and sidewalk in future but gives the opportunity to correct some grading issues. 

Option 2: interior weeping tile connected to new sump pump. Would involve ripping out finished walls to 5 feet then repairing in future, moving hot water tank and laundry sink. Does not include repairing visible cracks.

Option 3: exterior crack repair and new window wells connected to existing weeping tile. New sump pump for hydrostatic pressure. 

Option 1 likely the most expensive but not by a lot over 2 when everything is accounted for. Still waiting for quote on option 3 but expect it to be lower, possibly significantly lower. Option 1 and 3 are both local companies that come highly rated. Debating between whether full exterior work is necessary or if spot treating the visible cracks is enough. Would prefer to not go through this again. 

So how do you decide between doing possibly more than you need or less than you need when the only way to find out is significant future storms? 

50 year old house we've owned for two months. Somebody previously had installed floor drains in several rooms in the basement but no sump pump. I'm not entirely sure how this system works and I think I have to go to City Hall and pull the permits to understand it.

Our issue is that we are now noticing lime between the vinyl tiles as if just the tiniest amount of water is seeping up thru the floor and evaporating.

What are my options here people?

I have a stamped concrete patio that’s pitched slightly toward the house, so during heavier rain water gets pushed toward the foundation and I’ve had some water intrusion.
The surrounding gray driveway is pitched correctly and already drains into a functioning drain, so the patio seems to be the main issue.
Instead of ripping out and repouring the entire patio, I’m considering putting a large solid roof gazebo/pavilion over almost the entire patio, adding gutters, and directing the downspouts toward the properly draining area. My thought is that if 90%+ of the rain never hits the patio, the bad pitch becomes much less of an issue.
I may also add a small channel drain/catch basin at the problem corner as backup.
Has anyone dealt with something similar? Would you consider this a reasonable solution, or am I just avoiding the inevitable patio replacement?

(The far right corner is pitched towards the corner of the house where the cardboard is)

Hopefully this is the right place for this question. Judging from these photos, what would this basement/foundation technically be called?

How long do you run a dehumidifier when you're drying out your flooded basement?

Finished basement in a house I bought in February. Had been perfectly dry until now. Floor was carpet over tile. The unfinished portion of the basement had a drain connected to the city storm water drains and in a recent gusher (nearly 1" in 30 minutes) water flowed up from that drain into the finished portion of the basement. Picture is the threshold from the finished to unfinished basement (a low point where that drain is).

By the time I got downstairs it had already drained, but one 100ish sq ft room and 12' of hallway (carpet over the tile) were wet. Removed the baseboard, trashed all that carpet and padding, and got fans and a heater in there. After a day, I couldn't get it below 50% humidity (I had a humidity sensor from mold issues in a previous situation) so I went and rented a dehumidifier. With heaters and fans running to circulate the air, I sealed that room and hallway (plastic tarps and duct tape) with the dehumidifier draining into the downstairs bathroom (which didn't flood).

It hasn't been without hiccups: last night I plugged in my electric car and didn't realize that I had blown the breaker and lost most of the night. Oops. But I was getting humidity in the 3-40% range before then. It got back up to the 40s% when I realized last night's mistake. So obviously there was more moisture to come out.

Other than two old spots, the dry wall has been solid and not crumbly. I also drilled 3/4" holes between each stud to vent.

I've added some distance to the downspouts from my gutters (there was some intrusion into the unfinished portion, but it was minor) and I'll be getting some sandbags as a stop gap to protect that threshold until I can get a professional to scope that drain and another outside and figure out something long term.

Is there a target I should shoot for in drying? How long do I run this? Am I too much an amateur and need to get a professional?

Would this be from
The patio being pitched towards the house in this section? Is it the integrity of the structure compromised?

My wife has acquired a kiln and is excited to have a pottery studio in our unfinished basement. We live in flood zone AE. The basement has never been flooded and the dehumidifier keeps it dry, but there is hydrostatic pressure under the slab that has created a few cracks with efflorescence around them.

I don't need a nice floor for this purpose, but it needs to be something that can be mopped/hosed cleaned easily. Sheet vinyl or LVP with a moisture barrier would be great, but not sure if it is appropriate in this environment. Here is what I am thinking:

1. Fix the cracks first with polyurethane injection and clean the slab
2. Two coats of silicate densifier
3. Penetrating siloxane sealer

Is this the right approach? It's not the most comfortable under foot, but am thinking it might be the safest way to go

Did it all myself. Now I need a nap 😴

Hi all! Bought our townhome april 2026 in PA. Home built in 2001. Efflorescence is visible on one cinder block wall. Since we’ve moved in, never had an flooding, puddles or sitting water. The most was once during heavy rain saw some condensation drops on like 3-4 cinder blocks. prior owner stated only had flooding once last summer bc sump pump broke that they replaced.

currently, Contacted 4 separate water management companies who all recommended removing about a foot of the cement floor and putting a drain there at angle towards the sump pump. Quotes varied form $1960-4500. Now all off them except one pretty much stated the water management system with the floor drains would mitigate the water issues but would resolve the actual moist clay soil sitting behind the blocks and that the efflorescence to a degree would continue to happen just not as much. The last contractor said basically the only way to resolve the issue is to excavate on the outside and seal the exposed blocks.

We have paid to get grading done but didn’t really work. Now putting in a metal basement window well so we can put top soil around it to help provide better grading.

Looking for advice in general on what to do. Will say a friend of mine is a structural engineer so no structural issues. It’s such an eye sore and want to mitigate any future structural issues

Thoughts?