Water seep through and under foundation.

[buyer52]

We are buying home, inspection showed water coming under foundation, not a lot but some wet dirt, small puddles and wet block, sellers did some landscape work but still did not stop it so they had pest control co. put french drains in crawspace and sump pump in. Wood moistures were high too. My questions is if we can lower wood moistures and if drains/sump pump remove the water is it OK to buy it or does some wet foundation and water seep under it going to destroy the foundation eventually? Home is age 7 in SC.

[Ben H]

Pics? Is there a vapor barrier in the crawl? Is it the whole foundation, or just a few spots? Are the downspouts actually flowing roof water away from the house? How is the grading next to the house +/-? What is the moisture level of the wood?

[kurt]

Woof.....get a good inspector. Theres lots of stuff to think about.

[buyer52]

There is new vapor barrier, downspouts are hooked to plastic pipes taking water out, there is about 10 feet wide of rock gravel at rear wall where the problem is and yard has downslope toward thehouse, does not look like slope from foundation is backsloped. Sellers also had near surface french drain along the outside wll but that appears to only get surface water at best.

[Ben H]

It's likely that surface drain isn't doing much at all. They should have taken it deep, and waterproofed the foundation wall while it was dug out. The problem is, that's not cheap to do, and people never go in their crawlspaces. Out of sight, out of mind.

Water management can be pain to deal with. Kurt's got a point, you may want to have second opinion, perhaps from a waterproofing company. Someone who deals in these types of situations daily.