HELP - New Home Owner seeks advice on basement flooding

[robotron -X-]

Ok i just moved into a 40 year old house that had been renovated. I've been here for 2 months. It was perfectly clean(upstairs and basement) until it rained real hard. The basement has flooded 3 times in

2 months. Now there is mold on the baseboards, in the basement and the new carpet is waterlogged(trash).

Now for the questions...

1 - Is the person who sold me the house Liable for the flood damage?

2 - To fix the flooding should i call B-dry, basements.com or someone else?

3 - Water is coming from under the house and leaking into the basement, i've dug trenches around the house to keep the water away from the foundation but water is still leaking into the basement.

Could the water be going down the chimney, draining into the foundation and then leaking into the basement??????

The chimney isn't covered with anything(like a chimney cap).

[robotron -X-]

[Art]

Honestly you need to get someone out there to look at it. Some areas of the country have had record rainfalls and flooding has occurred where it has never occurred before. Talk to your neighbors and see if they know about any flooding on your lot and call a few waterproofing companies to get an estimate. Watch out though..... there are many crooks out there. Get references. If you are in central NC I can suggest one to talk to.

[xrongor]

let me guess. perfectly clean means new paint in the basement? you gotta watch out for that...

there are some basic 'disclosure' issues and i believe flooding basements are one of the things that a homeowner MUST disclose. part of your sale should have included a generic disclosure document signed by the seller. you can read that for specifics. when i shopped for a house, i made a list of very specific yes/no/when/what/how was it resolved type questions compiled from a few books, that i had the owner fill out, sign, and became part of the contract. i had one guy baulk at the questions, but i figure if he didnt want to give straight answers to straight questions, thats all i needed to know anyway.

the hard part is actually proving that they knew about it. look carefully for signs of previous flooding. unpainted areas behind things that would have water lines. ask the neighbors if there are flooding issues or if they heard about anything.

basically call a lawyer. not disclosing a flooding/wet basement is a dirty trick and those who play it deserve to feel the pain.

cant help ya here...

it could be an actual spring... the basement floor could be below the water table.

its doubtful... could be a roof leak at the chimney maybe... could be lots of things. bout the best thing i can suggest is next time it rains, go down there and see where its getting wet first. if you dont find the culprit, try letting a hose run near the sides of the house and see if its seeping in that way. if the hose doesnt wet the basement you probably got a water table problem.

randy

[B]

A. The seller is required to have dislosed a known flooding problem. B. I don't think it's your chimbley. C. Hear what the water proofer has to say, but consider regrading the yard to divert water way the heck away. Would the Titanic have fared better with a tarry waterproof seal, or by staying in dry dock?

-BAM

[Childfree Scott]

If you want to find out where the water is coming from (crucial if you want to fix it) then you need to be there when it is raining hard and watch where it comes in. I was able to fix mine but I had to go out during the rain and watch where my water draining from my roof went. It wasn't going where it was supposed to :O

And in Maryland disclosure of known defects is required, but if you had an unusual amount of rainfall, they can always claim that that never happenned when they owned the house.

[robotron -X-]

I am in VA . The person who sold the house to me only bought the house to re-sell it. He had it for about 5 months, renovated it and sold it to me. He never lived here but is familiar with the area and knows my neighbors, the neighbors knew about the flooding so i'm sure he knew also.

The water is coming thru the floor very close to the hot water heater, the hot water heater is sitting on a wooden platform and i can hear water leaking from underneath the wooden platform while the water is leaking into basement floor.

I'm getting an estimate on thursday from mid-atlantic waterproofing. I'll be talking to the previous owner right after i get the estimate. I guess the big question now is, is the previous owner liable if he claims he didn't know about the flooding?

Oh one more thing the previous owner built a patio which had a brick wall around it in the back yard. Well when the water hit that wall it went thru the basement window, so the wall acted just like a dam. I fixed this problem but like i said the water is still coming from underneath the house.

[xrongor]

do NOT go talk to the guy yourself first. get a lawyer and let him handle it. you will somehow shoot yourself in the foot trying to handle it yourself and as you say, you dont even know what approach to take. the lawyer will tell you what he thinks you can and cannot do and how to get it done.

its a legal matter, not a personal one at this point. if you want personal satisfaction wait til the lawyers are done and go egg his house

randy

[Judy McAllister]

My husband and I just had Mid-Atlantic Waterproofing come out and put in their drain system and sump pump in our basement. It was a nightmare! We were told that the job would take one day. It ended up taking almost a week. We have had them come out twice as our basement still leaks. We now have leaks where there were dry walls before they came out with their jack hammers. They are coming out again this week to hopefully correct the problem. Their workmanship was very sloppy. The crew that did the initial work was late getting out to our house every day and left early. One of our walls is so wet now we have mushrooms growing on the wall! It was like taking $8,000 and flushing it down the toilet!!! Think twice about having them come out to do anything.