Home Improvement

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Picasso3

Silver Baronet of the Realm
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It's important for ridge vent to have eave vents as well so the air will flow underneath the roof deck.
 

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
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Nice!! and then not so nice. So what does this mean for your roof. That your whole roof is gonna rot out eventually, much sooner than it should, and you'll have to get a new roof?
Yeah basically. I could replace it now but we're not getting water inside or anything. Just means the shingles aren't gonna last as long and the roof will go
 
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Picasso3

Silver Baronet of the Realm
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Lanx Lanx The contractor that I'm using to fix the damage had just water proofed our neighbors basement. We do not have a basement. We have just a crawl space, that apparently is supposed to be 18" per code, and gets down to as little as 8-10" in some spots under the house. It's in this crawl space that he found other problems after the water had been pumped out.

House was built in 1949, and it's had a TON of addons. Previous owners lived there 8 years and did most of these addons.

18" crawl space code is probably for access and not surprised 1949 doesn't meet it. Collapsing is probably dramatic, it'll be frost heaving and settlement. Besides, the most it can fall is 8-10", right? Excited to see pics
 

Lanx

Oye Ve
<Prior Amod>
60,072
131,382
Lanx Lanx The contractor that I'm using to fix the damage had just water proofed our neighbors basement. We do not have a basement. We have just a crawl space, that apparently is supposed to be 18" per code, and gets down to as little as 8-10" in some spots under the house. It's in this crawl space that he found other problems after the water had been pumped out.

House was built in 1949, and it's had a TON of addons. Previous owners lived there 8 years and did most of these addons.
is that common to have one neighbor have a basement and the other without? i mean idk, sure i see 1story vs 2stories on the same block, but thought everyone would have a basement. But i also live in KS where everyone has a basement so we don't die from Dorothys revenge.
 

Lanx

Oye Ve
<Prior Amod>
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My own little update

Had the contractor come out today and he told me $500 to redo the missing shingles. Insurance quoted us 900 so figured that was good. He came out today, did the quote and finished before I was even home. Can't complain about that.

He also gave me some bad news. Not crone news, but bad enough. Basically guy that did our roof originally "new" 5 years ago before we bought it just slammed the shingles right on the plywood, rather than putting down the tar sheets. Also there's not any ventilation on the roof. Just one single vent on the side of our house. I assumed inspector would've seen that, but here we are.

He offered to put this new vent on the peak in, the kind that's this 4 foot plastic thing that bends to shape to the roof.

VentSure® Rigid Roll Ridge Vent - Owens Corning Roofing

Like that but different model.

Originally he said $1000 but then said $500 because he's trying to make a name for himself.

All In all weird dude but did a great job. He also resealed my chimney and another vent for free.
lulz Noodleface Noodleface gonna be like GUYS!!!
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haaalp
 

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
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Yeah I mean on the one hand he did great work, was extremely nice and mostly professional (the phone call was weird).. but his practices definitely reeked of "new guy trying to make a name", which honestly I'm glad to support. Just seemed overeager. Anyways, he pointed out shit wrong with my roof, offered solutions, went above and beyond by resealing my chimney and an exhaust pipe, and offered a 50% discount on ridge vents (which.. I think at $1000 was even really cheap).

Can't really fault the guy. He's a chatterbox for sure. When he was at my house he talked NONSTOP
 

Crone

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
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Pictures in the spoilers. The 5 gallon bucket pic didn't get sent over from the contractor, but the wife says he saw it on his phone, so waiting for that one to come over. That's gonna be the best one! I've got no idea if these pictures actually show normal underneath a house, or it's bad? Dude says it's bad.

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Dandai

Lesco Brandon
<Gold Donor>
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Well fortunately (or unfortunately for your insurance claim) it definitely doesn’t look like an imminent threat of collapse.
 

iannis

Musty Nester
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It looks like the guy was trying to dig out space to pour concrete slabs and just didn't finish.

Maybe after realizing what a monumental task that really is.

The nigrigs gotta be where a support rotted out. Definitely need some kind of drainage solution. And probably replace all the insulation. Those black streaks in the yellow look awful suspicious. But I dunno.
 
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alavaz

Trakanon Raider
2,001
713
I don't think there's anything I can do about this, but I just gotta vent a little as I'm pissed!! U mad bruh?!? YESSSS

So I live in the Pacific Northwest, and it's raining a shit ton lately. Pretty normal, but we noticed in our living room that water is coming into the house when it rains a lot. Not much, it's kinda like seeping in, not just pouring. It's right near a down pipe from our gutter, and so we figure water is just being water when it rains hard. But anyway, we call up this general contractor that had water proofed our neighbors basement and recommended them.

They come out today, and apparently there's a foot and a half lake under my fucking house that of course is gonna start rotting out everything if I just leave it. WTF! We just bought this house back in June of last year, and from Google images, and what we know, the previous owner was a DIY asshole that did things like fill in the garage to add 2 rooms. It's a 5 bed, 2 bath house. Anyway, this contractor today says that there is no way the previous home owner didn't know that they put the vapor barrier under the house just far enough to where the inspector would pass it, but it's not up to code.

The contractor is running back into town to get his pumps to get this water out. Says it'll be ok for another couple weeks while we figure out how to fix all this shit. Straight out of my pocket. Thank goodness a tax return is coming this year I guess?

FML!

Edit: First bid in to pump all the water and fix under the house. Reviewing the contract shortly. $4800. Double FML.


Have you determined the actual cause of the flooding? You don't want to pay to solve a bunch of problems you don't have. This guy saying that stuff about the vapor barrier would already have me suspicious. Vapor barriers aren't going to do shit about a flood and home inspectors should know the code and not be tricked by a too short vapor barrier. I mean I'm sure there are some bad ones, but a blanket statement like that seems a bit ridiculous.

You might just need to have the downspout fixed so it takes the water further away. I'd definitely get at least another quote.
 

Crone

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
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Have you determined the actual cause of the flooding? You don't want to pay to solve a bunch of problems you don't have. This guy saying that stuff about the vapor barrier would already have me suspicious. Vapor barriers aren't going to do shit about a flood and home inspectors should know the code and not be tricked by a too short vapor barrier. I mean I'm sure there are some bad ones, but a blanket statement like that seems a bit ridiculous.

You might just need to have the downspout fixed so it takes the water further away. I'd definitely get at least another quote.
I do not disagree about a second quote. Our gutters are terrible, and not a single one is routed the way it should be. Certainly not to a big hole with a sump pump or any thing.
 

Dandai

Lesco Brandon
<Gold Donor>
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I agree that you should try to locate the source of the water. I’m not familiar with these problems or their solutions, but it seems to me that a sump pump is a second line of defense and bandaid at best for your current situation and doesn’t address the root cause (possibly gutters?).
 

Captain Suave

Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris.
4,681
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Our gutters are terrible, and not a single one is routed the way it should be. Certainly not to a big hole with a sump pump or any thing.

sump pump is a second line of defense and bandaid

Sump pumps are a last resort. Your downspouts should empty to a place where they drain away from the structure. Ditto for any other moisture coming off your roof by other means.

If you have standing water in your crawlspace at all it means you have a grading problem somewhere, unless your basement is below the water table or it's coming through the roof and structure. If you're on a slope and it's coming from uphill you may need a french drain.
 

iannis

Musty Nester
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The only direct experience I have with it was my aunts house. They built it into a hillside, basically, and a steep grade at that. They had real issues with flooding and sweating in the basement.

The solution was not cheap. They had to pretty much make a french drain around the foundation and lay down piping. Nothing active though like a sump pump. Just a lot of digging and filling and some strategic drainage/redirection. Part of the solution was even shrubbery!

I imagine it's a common enough consideration in the mountains. But whoever built that house built it as if the plot was flat.
 
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Crone

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
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Yea, we have bad grading in a few places, and other places that are flat, and when it rains it'll get standing water. All right at the foundation of the house. I presume the water is rain water, and it just doesn't have anywhere to go because of said problems.

Fixing the gutters would for sure help, but I'm not sure it'd eliminate the need for a sump pump, as I think water would still get under there? I don't know. Guess this is why I need a 2nd bid, or just ask more questions.