Moisture Damage: The Root Of Problems In Buildings
One of the most common problems with buildings and infrastructure is the damage caused by moisture to buildings, affecting the quality of life. Moisture penetration can result in the formation of mould, rot, and interior damage. Intense moisture problems and their solutions are hard to fix due to the complexity of finding the factors affecting them, such as airflow, dew points, and vapour transmission. These factors leading to moisture damage can only be identified with invasive inspection and modern tools such as infrared scanning and mixture metres. Read on to learn about the most common problems faced by home associates and condo boards due to moisture damage. Leaking Foundations The foundation of a building is generally constructed by using concrete blocks or pouring concrete. The foundations in modern times are safeguarded with waterproof coating on the outside surface and a foundation drain at the base of the footing surrounding the foundation perimeter, along with an under-slab drainage system. These measures should protect the foundation from moisture. However, with time, as the foundation becomes old and experiences water infiltration, this could mean that there is something going wrong with the protective measures, and the possible source is surface water. Someone might say that the water source is the rising groundwater, for which you need to be skeptical. It is important to know that the water table is the depth of the earth, which is always saturated with water. Based on the building code, slabs for the modern foundation are built above the water table. The building will not be able to have a basement if the water level is too high, and it would rather be built on a slab on grade. ProEng can help you identify the original source of water that is causing moisture damage and restore your building to its original condition. Two-Step Approach In case of a leaking foundation, you will require a two-step action plan to solve the problem. The first approach is to eliminate the wall problem, which is letting the water infiltrate into the basement. The second approach is to prevent the surface water from reaching the exterior of your wall foundation. Opting for waterproofing will prove to be challenging and, at the same time, very expensive; therefore, you can protect the wall exterior by repairing it with pressure injection of polyurethane or another type of foam product right into the wall cracks. The second step is as important as the first one, which is to prevent the water from reaching the exterior of the wall foundation. The source of the surface can vary based on the circumstances of the weather for other reasons. The source could be rain or the melting snow on the roof, rain falling on top of the soil, or water reaching from sloping land near the foundation. The poor design of the gutters can also be a problem as some are not of the appropriate size for handling the flow of water. Some people are off the roof area, or they do not have sufficient downspouts to handle the amount of water running down. Another case could be a broken or incorrectly placed gutter/ downspout. The placement of the gutters matters as the wrong placement of the gutter or downspouts can lead to the discharge of water near the foundation, which can cause infiltration through the wall. It is recommended that a minimum of six feet be extended to the end of the downspout. The drip edge along the foundation wall should also be treated. This means sealing the drip edge area to prevent the water from the roof from landing on the soil near the foundation. A positive slope on the surface away from the foundation should be constructed to deal with the problem of soil collecting water near the foundation. Sloping your neighbour’s land may also be required as a way to deal with their contribution to your surface water. These are some of the measures you can take to protect your leaking foundation. You can also contact ProEng for evaluation and assessing the problems that might be affecting your building’s strength and integrity.
