Basement mold


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Old 10-14-19, 07:15 AM
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Basement mold

Figured I'd post here - didn't see a foundation category. I have mold in basement. Trying to find the cause. The font and driveway side appear to be not affected. I recently bought this house so I don't know much history. I'm trying to get info and records on past work done.

I'll post pics from the outside. Im wondering if the source of issue is with neighbor's rain downspout and or maybe lack of crush stone and proper setup around my house for drainage. Here are some pics...





 
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Old 10-14-19, 07:43 AM
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Most basements are somewhat more humid than the outside air in the summer. This is because the ground at floor level and a few feet up is at a lower temperature than the outside air. Fresh air from the outside, when it cools down in the basement, will attain a higher relative humidty.

The humidity can get so high (like 100%) so the moisture condenses on the walls. Now mold can form easily.

You may need to run a dehumidifier all summer long although in some cases just additional ventilation with the help of some fans will keep the humidity from getting excessive.

Now that you have the mold, you need to kill and remove it also.

Of course, if the inside walls get wet when it rains any time of year, you need to stop the water seeping in, beginning with preventing rain and gutter water from pooling or lapping against the foundation outside.

(In winter, the outside air entering the house and warming up attains a lower relative humidity compared to outside.)
 
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Old 10-14-19, 08:08 AM
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So the first thing to understand is that mold needs 2 things, moisture and organic material to grow.

You need to now determine where the moisture is coming from.

A water leak, like from your neighbors gutter, maybe even yours, could allow water to enter the basement, that needs to be be corrected outside as well as having a way to remove excess from the inside, like a sump pump with perimeter drains.

High humidity is easy, venting and or dehumidifier will lower humidity to point where mold can not form!
 
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Old 10-14-19, 10:53 AM
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Info to add;
- there's a french drain without sump pump
- its a finished basement with drywall etc.

If the neighbors down spouts are the cause, I could ask him to reroute his spouts. He may sure, so long as you pay for the work. It maybe just as well that I excavate around my foundation and build or add a system that exceeds the normal and will handle plenty more water.

Thing is, I'm an amateur at best. I don't know how or were to obtain blueprints of were the sewage and drainage pipes actually are.
 
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Old 10-14-19, 11:07 AM
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I don't know how or were to obtain blueprints of were the sewage and drainage pipes actually are.
You are not allowed to connect drain lines to sewer/drainage lines!
 
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Old 10-14-19, 01:23 PM
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You are not allowed to connect drain lines to sewer/drainage lines!
Where is water gonna go? These sites beg to differ:

"When you have a footing drain installed, it generally drains to either a storm sewer, sump pump, or to the surface." https://www.basementsystems.com

"home basement floor drains are usually directly tied to the sewer system of the whole house. In some houses, they even run directly into a sump pit from which the water is lifted to the exterior surface with a pump." - a1tank.net
 

Last edited by 1800diyguy; 10-14-19 at 02:15 PM.
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Old 10-15-19, 08:50 AM
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See, im trying to make critical decisions as an inexperienced diy person, and misinformation creates doubts, uncertainty about following through
 
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Old 10-15-19, 02:06 PM
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What is the routing of the French drain (every foot of it) and where does the water ultimately drain to?

You do not want a depression along the foundation wall filled with crushed stone or mulch. That will harbor water that will aggravate basement flooding as opposed to drain the water away.
 

Last edited by AllanJ; 10-15-19 at 03:24 PM.
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Old 10-15-19, 04:40 PM
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No misinformation, just clarifying a comment!

It is illegal to hook up any kind of sump pump or gutter drainage to a sewer system.

There may be older homes out there that this was done but today, as mentioned it is illegal.

Sump systems, gutter drainage, french drains are solutions but they are not connected to the sewer!

connecting your sump pump to the sanitary sewer is in fact illegal in much of the U.S.
 
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Old 10-17-19, 09:12 AM
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What about the storm drain, is it legal to connect to storm drain system?
 
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Old 10-17-19, 11:12 AM
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That is something you would have to confirm, physically tapping into an existing pipe may be illegal, discharging a drain line next to a grate might be ok!
 
 

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