Basement Insulation

[stealth]

So I bought a house back in 2011 brand new and the basement has insulation and the poly barrier in place on the perimeter walls.

I have an issue where water is coming into the basement in a small 3 foot area. I regraded the side of my house with some clay and asphalt to help carry the water away, and nothing comes in during normal rains, but if its a heavy down pour I will still see a little bit.

I am thinking of pulling back the vapor barrier and insulation and seeing if there is a crack in the cement wall. Will I be damaging anything if I pull back the poly and insulation and staple it back when I am done?

[mr2mike]

Nope. But you may need to buy some acousti seal to redo parts that need it.
The poly tears easily along the staples. If you go slow, should be just fine.

[eblend]

Yah you will be fine. I developed my basement myself and had to do all of this just to install the electrical sockets and run all the wiring, there is nothing sacred about that setup, just some file on top of insulation.

[stealth]

Thanks!

[CapnCrunch]

Originally posted by mr2mike
Nope. But you may need to buy some acousti seal to redo parts that need it.
The poly tears easily along the staples. If you go slow, should be just fine.

If its getting wet, wouldn't he need to tear off the poly and remove the insulation anyways?

[EK69]

If it's getting wet check the insulation if it's wet or moldy then find the leak seal it up and wait to see if it leaks again if not then put in new insulation and put some poly up again (u can use tape to reattach it probably )

[UndrgroundRider]

Is any of your foundation exposed on the exterior? You should be able to see any cracks from there.

If you're going to take the PE down, I would pull it back from an existing seam. Don't tear it. The seams are supposed to overlap a minimum of 6"... if you're doing it "right."

As you already guessed, you likely you have a crack in your foundation wall. One thing to be aware of is that usually cracks come in pairs. You will probably find one crack where the moisture is, and another on the other side of the house.

One possible fix for foundation cracks is epoxy injection. I had this done which solved all of my moisture problems. It was somewhat expensive at $400/crack, but it did take two guys a full day for two cracks.

[stealth]

When you say in pairs are you talking about the opposite side of the house?

I hope I don't have a crack but where else would the water be coming from. I will pull out the insulation and take a look.

[colsankey]

He means a crack inside touching your insulation and the other end of it outside on the wall somewhere, I think.

[UndrgroundRider]

Originally posted by stealth
When you say in pairs are you talking about the opposite side of the house?

I hope I don't have a crack but where else would the water be coming from. I will pull out the insulation and take a look.

Yes, opposite side of the house. Having two cracks is more common when the cracks are from the house settling. You mentioned a grading issue, so your crack might just be from the water pressure along side the foundation. Another way the water could get into the basement is through the cold joint (where the concrete floor meets the foundation). If there is a lot of water pressure along side the foundation wall, it can force water back up through that cold joint. Really, you won't know what you're dealing with until you get the insulation off and take a look.