St. Louis Real Estate - Building Inspection - Basements

Modern Basement BASEMENTS by Harry Morrell, Allied Building Inspections, LLC

Basements are common throughout the St. Louis metropolitan area, and are very popular for a variety of reasons. Extra storage space for one, but many of today’s home buyers look for more than just storage. Finished basements are becoming more and more popular for living, recreation, or entertainment rooms. Keep in mind that I referred to the basement as a room. When you install ceilings, walls, and carpets, that cold damp basement with bare concrete walls and floors suddenly becomes a living space in your house. This is exciting but there are serious concerns.

Early water control within basements in older homes was never a big issue. These typical stone foundation basement would seep ground water, which was absorbed by the dirt floor. When basement floors were first poured with concrete, floor drains were added and the slab was heavily pitched. This allowed the utilitarian use of the basement for mechanical equipment and laundering needs. As construction methods progressed, masonry block and poured concrete foundations were installed. Exterior drain tile systems were installed to help control high water tables, interior sump pumps were added as well to help with water problem. So far, an unfinished basement with laundry and mechanicals only is still not a big concern as far as water and moisture penetration affecting the interior spaces of the basement. The general feeling was, OK we have some water intrusion. The water will drain to the floor drain and we will have a nice dry basement in the summer.

Fast forward to the year 2008 with your up scale finished lower level, (Do not call my lower level a basement anymore) Finished walls and ceilings and expensive carpet make for a truly livable space for family and entertainment, however now more than ever you cannot afford to have any water or moisture intrusion at all. Mold can develop very easily and cannot be detected visually if you do not know what to look for.

Your home inspector will check these walls carefully with a moisture meter and scrutinize the exterior drainage, grading, gutters, and downspouts very carefully. In addition to making sure the sump pump is operational with a dedicated sump pump drain pipe, the inspector will recommend a battery back up for the sump pump to ensure the pump is operational when electrical service is interrupted. This is when you need that sump pump to do its job the most.

Your inspector will go over the details of the operation of drain tiles and sump pumps, and let you know the condition of the grading and drainage at the time of your inspection. Be sure and voice your concerns before investing in that expensive finish work.

Harry Morrell Harry O. Morrell
ASHI Certified Inspector
ASHI#203651

Harry can be contacted at harrymorrell@stlouisrealestatevoice.com

Tags: St.+Louis+Real+Estate, Building+Inspection, Basements, ASHI

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 28th, 2008 at 10:26 am and is filed under Building Inspection News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.