2408 Dewalt St. Houston TX, 77088 – City of Houston – Foundation Moisture Control

The potential for moisture problems exists anywhere building components are below grade, whether you have a basement, crawlspace, or slab-on-grade foundation. To create an energy-efficient and comfortable living space in your basement, you will need to insulate as well as properly control moisture.

Most basement water leakage results from water flowing through holes, cracks, and other discontinuities into the home’s basement walls or water wicking into the cracks and pores of porous building materials, such as masonry blocks, concrete, or wood. These tiny cracks and pores can absorb water in any direction — even upward.

The best approaches for preventing these problems will depend on your local climate, type of insulation, and style of construction. If you need to correct moisture problems in your existing home, consult a qualified builder, basement designer, and/or insulation contractor in your area for specific basement moisture control measures tailored to your climate, type of insulation, and construction style.

If you’re building a new home, pay particular attention to how water will be managed around the foundation. The following guidelines will apply in most circumstances:

• Keep all untreated wood materials away from earth contact.
• Install well-designed guttering and downspouts connected to a drainage system that diverts rainwater completely away from the house.
• Slope the earth away from all sides of the house for at least 5 feet at a minimum 5% grade (3 inches in 5 feet). Establish drainage swales to direct rainwater around and away from the house.
• Add a gasket under the sill plate to provide air sealing.
• Install a protective membrane, such as rubberized roofing or ice-dam protection materials, between the foundation and the sill plate to serve as a capillary break and reduce wicking of water up from the masonry foundation wall. This membrane can also serve as a termite shield on top of foam board insulation.
• Damp-proof all below-grade portions of the foundation wall and footing to prevent the wall from absorbing ground moisture by capillary action.
• Place a continuous drainage plane over the damp-proofing or exterior insulation to channel water to the foundation drain and relieve hydrostatic pressure. Drainage plane materials include special drainage mats, high-density fiberglass insulation products, and washed gravel. All drainage planes should be protected with a filter fabric to prevent dirt from clogging the intentional gaps in the drainage material.
• Install a foundation drain directly below the drainage plane and beside (not on top of) the footing. This prevents water from flowing against the seam between the footing and the foundation wall. Surround a perforated 4-inch plastic drainpipe with gravel and wrap both with filter fabric.
• Underneath the basement or on-grade slab floor, install a capillary break and vapor diffusion retarder, consisting of a layer of 6- to 10-mil polyethylene over at least 4 inches of gravel.

If you your new or existing home has a crawlspace, you can also Install a 6-mil polyethylene vapor diffusion barrier across the crawlspace floor to prevent soil moisture from migrating into the crawlspace. Overlap all seams by 12 inches and tape them and seal the polyethylene 6 inches up the crawlspace walls. As an option, pour two inches (51 mm) of concrete over the vapor barrier to protect the polyethylene from damage.