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mhcountry

07:22AM | 04/30/06
Member Since: 01/01/05
23 lifetime posts
Bvmisc
Sorry for the previous jumbled description. I tried to clean it up a bit.

Hello. I am not sure if I have this posted in the right spot, but here it goes. I have a cement front porch that comes up to the front of our house, 5 steps. Well, it rained good last night and water is dripping in. We sealed up some cracks behind the trim pieces where the door trim comes down and sets on top of the front porch. That was done when we had a new front door put in. My front porch has numerous other cracks. It looked like we tackled all the ones by the door and around it, but I know others need to be sealed because I am still getting water. Who can I call to work on something like this? I am confused because I do not know whether to call a concrete place, a masony place for the surrounding brick, a waterproofing place, etc. This is my first time having to deal with something like this and don't want to get taken by someone. Does anyone have any suggestions? Anyway, suggestions are appreciated. I guess I am just confused because of the area the water is coming in. It could be the cement front porch where it meets the house, it could be some of the cracks in the porch itself, it could be the brick on the house around the porch, or something else in that area. Oh, by the way, this spot where the water is coming in is above ground, around the level of the top of the porch, so it is way above gound level. Sorry for the jumbled description.

k2

09:20AM | 05/01/06
Member Since: 06/06/03
1250 lifetime posts
Hi mhcountry, think of all that rainwater that's saturated the ground as being TONS of water applying what's referred to as hydrostatic pressure. This is one reason that so-called "waterproofing" efforts often are somewhat futile.

You'll want to do whatever you can to reduce this. A couple of tried-and-true methods are being sure that the ground is sloped AWAY FROM THE HOUSE, and making sure your gutters from the roof are directed away from the foundation.

Also, this is (unfortunately) a very common problem. You might try some searches over at the Basements forum. Also post there; you might be lucky enough to have a pro answer for you.

Good luck!

Regards,

-k2 in CO

Moderator, Miscellaneous Forum

http://www.bobvila.com/BBS/Miscellaneous


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