What home improvement work did you do today?

Yup! That’s one of 20ish crawl space / foundation vents. It’s drying out a bit at this stage but it’s still very soft and squishy even right up against the foundation. For sure a problem. Will have to continue to monitor because if this happens every time my neighbor waters his grass or it rains, then totally not acceptable. I don’t expect the hear from warranty rep till Monday. They will need to address this somehow.


On the plus side....I got the fire pit table put in place

 

A few things strike me as odd...
the biggest one is that you should have foundation walls down below frost level (at 3-4’ in ID) and the exterior of those walls should have perf pipe and river rock (french drain) to collect water away from the foundation, which should be routed to some sort of diversion or swale or storm sewer to prevent water from collecting against the foundation.

The second is that your backfill is so close to the bottom of your siding and crawl space vents. Normally you want 6” clear or to the bottom of the vents to prevent water damage to your siding/trim from splatter or standing water.

and third is where the hell is that much water coming from? Unless your neighbor’s soil is solid hard pan (and yours too) and he still chooses to run his sprinklers for hours or you had several inches of rain in the last day, you shouldn’t be seeing ponding like that anyway.

 

Really neglected yard clean-up last Fall, now its time to pay the piper. My piece of sh*t Ryobi leaf blower has been dripping gas for the last few years, really hasn't bothered me that much. Today I came in and the wife smelled gas and saw a wet spot on my back, and insisted I go out and buy a new blower because it was too dangerous. Picked up this nice Echo today, and wow what a huge difference in power V/S the Ryobi. Highly recommend if you're in the market.

 

Went to Living Spaces and bought/ordered an L-shape sectional couch. Reclining seats with headrest adjustment, all powered of course. Got a coffee table and throw rug with it too. There goes the tax return.

 

I honestly have no idea if there is perf pipe but I highly doubt it. The soil is clay and gets very sticky and soupy when wet. I agree the backfill seems a bit high but all the houses here are like that so idk what to do about that. Lastly, I agree where the hell did all that water come from, particularly that high up the slope of the hill too! It has been completely dry since I moved in with the exception of the one day of rain we had and it dissipated within 1 day. It has not rained in over a week. I have been watering but just twice a day by hand with a hose since irrigation is not turned on yet. Enough water to get the ground under the sod moist but no more than that. The front yard and all other areas of the yard are perfect! So yes, this amount of water “out of nowhere” is very concerning to me and so I’ve filed a formal warranty claim with the builder and sent the rep all of these pictures and videos illustrating the softness. I sunk down 3-4”. Also the walls of the foundation do go down about 4+ feet from what I can tell from all the other poured foundations going in down the street

 

Nice!!!!

 

Is it possible they just turned it on and the system has a massive leak?

clay soil is brutal and makes drainage and sloping much more critical. Once you get down about 6” below surface at my house it’s solid red clay so I feel your pain there. Good sloping away from the foundation, good drainage at the bottom of the foundation, and some well thought out French drains are the only defense.

 

Yeah, I don’t think the drainage is up to par and so I’m going to push for French drain heavily for sure. Irrigation on my property is for sure not on yet though, made sure to check that first. Sprinkler controller is off, as is the ball valve at the street to supply the system. Thanks for mentioning to check though for sure! I knew from the second I saw the back of the house and the “trough” they created that it was gonna hold water but of course they wouldn’t listen until there was a problem and now it’s going to be warranty’s problem. I would have addressed it during the build but I bought it as a spec house that was almost done. Didn’t get to pick anything or make sure things were included in contract to address this kind of stuff to prevent the problem. Cause of this....they’ve thrown it on their warranty department to rectify something that should have been preventable and that honestly irks me a lot. Trying to still be nice and not jump to full a-hole mode

 

When we had a Pulte home, I always started with the "I know it's not your fault because you weren't the supervisor /worker/whatever but..." and then proceeded to talk shit about whatever thing they screwed up. Then I get mean if they don't give me what I want. Those warranty people/customer liaisons rarely get anybody calling to compliment them on the build quality of their homes.

 

I've learned that it's best to lift with your legs, not your back and if all else fails, just blame it on the dog.

 

“Fuhking dog”

 

and "ewwwwwwwwwwwwww, what the hell did he eat?!"

 

So the master bathroom is getting close to being finished. Tile guys need to finish the shower next week then doors. We still need to find the right lights and mirrors.

 

Sorry to hear about your recent water drainage or leak problems. Here are a few things I would start with first.

I would make sure everything inside the house is turned off and go take a look at your water meter. Make sure your water meter isn’t rotating or moving. If the meter is still moving, this can indicate you have a leak somewhere.

Do you have any irrigation lines that run in that area? I doubt this is the issue but I would still double check.

I like seeing that the builder put drains from your downspouts to divert the rain water. The question I have is, where did they run the drain lines to?

Sometimes seeing a site from an aerial prospective can also answer a lot more unknown indicators. I’m wondering how the grades and flow lines for drainage are flowing from your neighbors properties. We can’t tell how the grades are flowing behind your fence line. I would take a laser level and shoot some grade marks from the bottom of your fence to the side of your house. This will give you a reference of how much slop from the fence to the foundation you have or may not have. You can also run a string line from one side to the other. I would prefer to see this area with a slight low spot in the mid point of the fence and house. This will help water flow between the fence and house. I believe you mentioned you have clay in your area. If you do have clay and a weed barrier down this may also be causing an issue. All though weed barrier is made to allow water to pass through it sometimes weed barrier will slow the drainage process down if it’s get clogged from dirt or bad soil conditions below the weed barrier.

Next time your ground is wet like this I would do some investigational digging test with a shovel. I would start checking the gravel next to the fence line and the house to see where the water is coming from. This may help you determine the source of the water.

have you asked your neighbor if they were using their irrigation on their lawn?


Hopefully this information helps you find the source of the issue.

 

Decided to install french drains for gutter runoff
What they looked like Before



After install (not the same one obviously but you get the idea

 

Wow, I really dig the tiled walls.

 

Finally got around to hanging one of the wife's Christmas presents lol. I'm not a woodworker by any means, but it turned out pretty good. Used hurricane joists and tack plates so I really don't think it's going anywhere. 8" lags through the 4x4s and lags / SDS screws for all the other hardware. Kinda overbuilt...like everything I do when I have no real clue what I'm doing.

 

Replaced the front storm door. The old one was very heavy and falling apart. Plus, I’m not a fan of wrought iron over doors or windows. Gives off a pawn shop vibe.

Old door and frame:


New door (Andersen with the self-storing pull-down screen). It looks so much better. I still need to tidy up the trim around the frame and fill in where I took the doorbell out:

 

I've liked the Larson ones we've had. It's worth the money to go to the all aluminum doors.

 

Like the other poster I went with the Anderson 3000 available at Home Depot. Has the built in screen and seems very well made!

had to special order mine because of the color, and they didn’t screw it up either!


-t

 

We’re wrapping up a bathroom project and I just installed a fake beam on the end of a wall. I used hard maple, the same stain as the Kraftmaid vanity then polished it with wood wax.

John

 

Agreed. This aluminum Andersen is so much lighter than the wrought iron beast I pulled off the house. The self storing screen that rolls out of the top of the door is a nice touch too.

 

Same. Pro tip - if you write down the model/serial # on the door when you buy it, you can pretty much build a whole new door from all the available parts you can buy for it. Our shocks on our door crapped out this last winter; a few days later I had a new one installed.

 

I love this!

 

Thanks a lot!

John

 

Twins. Did mine a few days ago.

 

Is that a beer I spy on the bathroom counter to the right? I also like to drink in the tub. That way I don't have to get up to pee.