Recently we moved to new home, initially all the water from gutters used to go outside, my builder adjusted the gutters, since then whenever there is heavy rain, we can see the basement leaks through the corner. is there anyway can it be repaired?. Thanks in advance.
Un-adjust the gutters, put in long splashblocks, and keep the water away from the basement wall. Very simple. -B
Not sure what "adjustment" the builder made to the gutters, but it appears he messed them up. If they work as they should, all rain, even in heavy downpoars, should drain out the spout and well away from the house.
Is the area where you are getting the leak where the spout is located? If so, then it isn't draining as it should, perhaps a block, or improperly fit connection. Is it a corner away from the spout? Does the water pour over the side of the gutter at that point? Then the gutter isn't draining towards the spout. I can't say that I know of any way to adjust this short of taking the gutter down and re-hanging it so it drains properly.
If it's a new build, it seems it would be the builders responsibility to get it fixed. If the gutters are new on an older home, then I'd get the installer on the horn for the repair.
I am not at all sure what "all the water from gutters used to go outside," means or what adjustments may have been made, but it sounds like the builder messed up something.
All water from the gutters should be directed away from your home and the ground on all sides of your home should be graded away from your home so all the water is directed at least 15 feet away from your home on all sides. If that is not happening, call the builder back and have him fix it.
Besides what other said. The 'crack' in the foundation also should be repaired by the builder for free.
In addition to the good advices other people have already said, you may climb up a ladder and check the gutter to see if fallen leaves are clogging the drain hole to the downsprout. This only takes a few leaves to clog the drain hole. In a heavy rain, the leaves will slow down the drain hole just enough that the rain water will overflow the lowest point of the gutter that is where the downsprout is.
Better yet, use a water hose to fill the gutter and see how/where the water goes. Water can go in an unexpected way that you cannot predict in a dry day. You want to channel the water away from the house foundation. I don't remember what is the recommended distance to direct the water away from the house foundation. I direct water from the downsprout at least 5 feet away from my house foundation, and the corners of my basement stay dry since then (there is exception; but let don't get into details here).
Jay Chan
All the water falling outside means, the water never used to go through gutters, it used fall from top on to the floor (this water suppose to go through gutters), since it is dalling on outside floor, it washedout the clay near the plants and then we reported this to builder, then they came and adjusted the gutters, so this way the rain water should drain through gutters, into the pipes close to the ouside basement wall, one day there is heavy rain, that day we saw lot of water leaking from the sameplace where gutters are outside, we can it leaks from top to the bottom of that cornet, even before we have many times heavy rain, but we never saw water in the basement, but at that time, water directly falls from top to the yard and it used to washout all the mud around the plants in the yard. That is what happening, since my first year is going to be in Dec, so that is why if this is builder problem, I want to be done with builder before the one year turns up.
Seem like the rain water used to completely bypass the gutter and fall directly to the ground. Therefore, the rain water kind of distributed evenly around your house foundation. If there was not that much rain, the problem was not bad enough to show up in your basement. Now that the builder adjusted the gutter to catch all the rain water, the captured rain water is all channel to the downsprout at the corner of your house. I assume that the downsprout simply dumps all the water directly at the corner of your house instead of having an extension to channel the water further away from the house foundation. I assume your have one downsprout in each corner of your house. Now, the rain water of 1/4 of your roof is combined together and dumped at the corner of your house. This amount of water is so large that the water starts showing up in your basement.
Seem like you need to find a way to channel the rain water from the downsprout much further away from your house foundation. Some people has underground piping that channel the rain water from the house foundation all the way to the curb.
If you don't have this kind of underground piping in place, you can use downsprout extension pipe to extend the downsprout away from your house foundation. If this is the case, I am not sure if this is your builder's responsibility to install this kind of thing. If this is the case, you may want to ask around in this newsgroup to see how far you should extend the downsprout, and what is the proper slope that you want to position the downsprout extension. Just keep in mind that the water in downsprout extension pipe may freeze in cold region, and you may have a block of ice formed inside the downsprout extension pipe. Again, you need to ask around here to see if newsgroup members have suggestion on solving this issue.
Jay Chan
I showed it to my builder, he says, they won't do that since we already signed for second walk-in, but before second walk-in, we never had more rain at all. Now he says, they won't do that, I have do part of my maintenence.
It not one year we got this new house, how can I approach this, till one year, builder's responsibility for any leak/damage right?. How can I fight with him legally since it is not even a year yet?. Any suggestion appreciated.
Start by posting the biggest freaking sign in your yard that zoning will allow, stating: "This house was built by xxxxx, the basement leaks, and they won't fix it."
I also went through the new home construction and have many stories of dealing with the builder. I know how frustrating it can be.
My basement had cracks that were repaired professionally. I researched what they used and found the same technique available from:
Ben
The OP is asking some very basic questions. There are some big mysteries too. Like how gutters could have been installed on a new home in a way that would leave all the water going past them and to the ground instead. And how this could be fixed by an adjustment?
The new home warranty is expiring soon. Clearly the OP does not have the knowledge base to know what problems he has or their correct solution. I would hire a home inspector and get a complete inspection done immeadiately. Be sure to get references and check out before hiring. This could be the best money you ever spent.
For some reason the first time i tried to reply this goofed up so am trying again...mainly i wanted to give you a link:
May I suggest not? Most home inspectors are glad-handing gloss-over specialists. I'd suggest you find a competent attorney with the full story, and if your attorney feels need for expert advice, to then seek someone expert in such matters.
Right now, you might collect any records you have concerning the matter, and make careful notes of anything else significant that you don't have paper-trail for. You could even take time to put together a short history on paper. Couple go-rounds with that should extract all your recollections for the story to hand your attorney.
Quite possibly a single phone call from the right person can cure this builder's constipation.
TTFN, John
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