jimmy18103

I had the same question. I guess the drain is just dug deeper to the right side. But it won't drain until it comes to the surface and only if that point is at an elevation that's lower than the sump. Could it be that rainwater is actually flowing the wrong way? Marc The drain was the second attempt that the builder did to address the issue after my complaints. It made slight improvement but still can not get rid of the watermark completely. I will find it out during next rain event on site.

I had the same question. I guess the drain is just dug deeper to the right side.

Good drawing. I had something very similar with my house. The water was simply oozing out of a seam in the clay soil. A spring or underground stream, if you will. I ran drain tiles to the wet spots and haven't had a problem since. The drain tile is next to the block wall already...

My hired inspector did not want to come back. He told me this is a problem. My builder said the watermark is normal and its hired 3rd party inspector said the moist is within normal range.

I post the house layout. Now you can see that the sidewalk limit the grade slope between front porch and garage. Please note, the front concrete block between the front porch and garage is dry. So where is moist from? Click to Enlarge 24.26 KB

I wish I could check the presence of waterproofing on the exterior of that block wall. Like I said above, the block wall is under a garage. Its exterior is not adjacent to any outside grade. To check its exterior, the garage's concrete floor needs to be cracked open. There is no utilities enter or exit near where the wet spot shows. Yes, there is a drain tile passing by and along that wall about 1 foot away. The builder said the drain tile is functioning right without any issues.

The grade close to that wall is not good and acutally it is flat. Because the top of soil is only barely four inches below the top of foundation. There is no room to make good slope, so the builder installed drain sump w/grate to guide water away.

Yes, soil in the crawl space is damp and is clayey even without rain. The concrete blocks is dry most of time. But both soil and blocks get very wet after rain. I verified them twice in past three weeks. My inspector did not want to come back and check again. He only said that he seen many crawl spaces and most of them are dry even after rain. The nearby down sprouts got extended at 10 feet away by the builder. There are plenty of vents in the crawl space. Grass were laid already just like carpet. Both walls are under a garage. These two locations are not on the house perimeter. Namely, the other side of walls are not connecting to any grade. I am afraid the moist in soil and masonry watermark mean mold growing problem in the future. Is the a house a buy or not?

I am buying a new house from a builder. The house is about to be closed. I found the masonry was wet after 0.35 inches of rain. Please see the pictures. They represent different locations. On the very same raining day, I checked the crawl space in my current 20 year old house. The soil and masonry around the perimeter of the house is completely solid and dry. No sign of moist and watermark on the masonry. My builder told me it is normal to be wet after raining event. The house already receive certificate of occupancy form the local government. Is it normal to be wet like this after 0.35 inches of rain? Click to Enlarge 34.08 KB Click to Enlarge 37.8 KB