Interior and Exterior water proofing.

[John Evans]

David,
I do not test concrete now, tried a few times. Actually, I was referring to Mr. Macy.

[Marcel R. Cyr]

Originally Posted by dmacy

1931 year old home.

Home had an interior basement system installed. The interior system was no longer being used. (I wonder why ) There were 2 sumps that were abandoned with standing water. (Stinky, smelly and nasty) Concrete floor recently painted with numerous cracks and high levels of moisture.

Exterior excavation was done and they replaced 1/2 of the one foundation wall with concrete block. Rest of foundation was Terra Cotta Bricks. Entire exterior was excavated.

My issue is with the floor. The stinky smelly water needs to be removed. I recommended the floor and pumps be evaluated.

There was mold at portions of the interior panels and since exterior was done I recommended removing all the panels.

There was an area of damaged Terra Cotta. You would think they could patch these areas when the excavation is done. 11, 000 dollars

What do you think about the floor and pumps. The water needs to be removed. I would reinstall the pump(s)

Hi. David and hope you are well and all is good.

The replaced portion of the wall in your picture appears to be regular CMU and mingles in pretty good with what you call terra cotta.
My version of terra cotta is this as pictured below.




It must have been replaced due to structural problems with the wall.

These blocks were originally call Structural Terra Cotta Blocks.
AKA as Hollow Structural Tiles
Strucvtyural Clay Tiles
and Structural Clay Load-Bearing Wall Tiles.

Why would they go to the trouble of ecavating the exterior and not replace the whole lot of those terra cotta tiles as you call them?

Seems like a waste of money, if the complete assemble is not replaced as a whole.

Hopefully there is a water proofing system that was installed.

The high moisture in the floor system and the water at the sump could be indication of hydrostatic pressures from the exterior if the perimeter underdrains were not properly installed.

If it is that there is still a moisture problem after those remedial repairs to the exterior, something was not done right.

Taking a moisture reading on concrete floors with a moisture tester of the one you used might prove inaccurate.
The relative humidity readings of a concrete floor acceptable to flooring manufacturers is 75%.
No more than 3 lbs. of moisture per 1000 sq. ft..

Chances are there is an improper vapor barrier under the floor anyways, just contributing to the problem.

The sump pumps have to be replaced so they are functioning.

I would defer this whole thing to professionals that deal with this type of issues with moisture problems.

To many variables in the circumstances of the information you have provided. I would walk away from something like this and defer it to other experts in this type of scenario.

Good luck in your findings.

Hope all goes well.