Who is at fault?

Q. I built a house and moved in five years ago. From the beginning we had problems with water in our basement, but we applied modest fixes that we thought would alleviate the problem. Last summer was very wet, and we found we had a serious mold problem. We called in Vulcan to put in an interior drain with a sump pump. I’ve now discovered that the state building code says that when you build a basement, you must install an external drain, unless a lab test shows that the soil drains well. No soil test was performed when we built, but nevertheless, our architect didn’t specify a drain. Under these circumstances, do I have a case to sue the architect for malpractice?

A. You want satisfaction, and must show, with a test, that even though most of Long Island is sandy soil, yours isn’t. Where I first worked, in Ohio and Michigan, foundations had drain piping laid on the spread footing at the base of the outside foundation wall. When I began doing work on Long Island in 1983, I listened as masons complained that, in their opinion, drain piping wasn’t necessary due to the sandy, well-draining soil. A few, defiantly, even left pipe out without telling anyone, but we later discovered this when safety escape wells were installed for enlarged basement windows. Over the years, I’ve seen many instances when contractors or masons used rule-of-thumb instead of following contract plans, including methods for waterproofing.

A complete barrier must be installed, from underneath of the basement floor, continuously under the wall’s footing, up the sides, with drainage material against the exterior wall surface, keeping water running down and away from the wall. If not, water under pressure will get between the floor slab edges and the poured concrete footing. Unfortunately, many people believe that concrete is a waterproof barrier. Concrete, as I’ve written many times, is a sponge, drawing water in.