Walk - out basement question. (?)

[Keesha]

Most good walk out basements I’ve noticed are purposefully built on sloped land. This is to insure that rain or snowmelt runoff flows away from the house. Here’s a photo of what I mean.


These two examples shows how building a house on sloped land provides the proper water drainage needed.

There are ways of creating walls to help the water flow away from the house like this example.

Here is an example of a side entrance basement walk out that doesn’t seem very well designed.
There’s a slight hill on the left with a bit of a retainer wall but at the front of the house there’s another hill. You can’t really see how it slopes due to the fencing but by the looks of the bricks in front of the door, I’m guessing it gets too much water. The house also has an air exchanger going on 24/7.


This house has a deck going all the way around 3 sides of the house. Would you be concerned about excess moisture or am I overthinking this?

 

[Aunt Marg]

Hubby is with me right now looking at the photos, and he said he would have built a poured concrete retaining wall where the last deck pillar is on the far left (bottom picture), and then would have poured a large concrete pad to cover the entire area under the deck and outward with a slope to allow for runoff.

How unsightly and dirty that raw dirt/soil entry into the double paned-glass doors would be. A homeowner would be tracking in dirt all of the time.

 

[Keesha]

Thanks Aunt Marg and Mr. Marg.
I thought it could have been finished a whole lot better. It’s totally unsightly to me also but my biggest concern is water damage to the house but I suppose only a home inspector could say for certain.

Does Mr. Marg think it can be successfully repaired with some effort? I also thought there should be some retaining walls and who knows what’s lurking behind that lattice. Otherwise I thought the house was really cute with 25 acres of land.

 

[Aunt Marg]

Hubby said if the home was built on a poured concrete slab and has a daylight basement, water issues shouldn't be a problem, but he said as for the latticework, he would take that down, and depending on how much work you and your husband would be willing to do, Keesha, he said a better and cleaner design would be to continue the poured concrete pad from the double glass entry door side, right around to the front of the house, ensuring that a slight slope to allow for runoff was applied to the concrete.

Dear husband's concern is in how the deck supports (uprights) were put in, whether they are formed and are above ground (he doesn't think so), or below the frost level (which he's hoping so with proper footings). He said for you and your husband to look into that.

His suggestion to help save you and your husband money, would be to put in a proper footing where there looks to be a short retaining wall already (left-hand side of the double glass entry doors), rather than go outside of the far left-hand side of the deck, then pour a proper concrete wall (4' in height) that extends outwards and past the deck by 2-3', grade the existing substrate to the left away from the house, and then put in your poured concrete pad.

As for labour involved to excavate the area directly next to the double entry doors and pour a suitable concrete wall approx. 4' in height, you would be looking at (if you did the work yourself), roughly $2,000 - $3,000.

We both love the home! The deck is totally WOW! What a lovely place to relax, and with 25 acres, double wow! No problem with enjoying privacy there.

P.S. Dear husband said if you need any further advice, please feel to ask. He'll try an answer any/all questions you may have.

 

[Keesha]

Oh Bless your hearts. What a fabulous couple you are.

Except for this part of the house, the rest of it I absolutely love. Upstairs: It’s a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 2 walk in closets, living room / dining room, sunroom, downstairs hobby room, storage room , large family room with wood stove, walk out and bathroom. The home faces south towards the water and has a rap around deck. It has a separate 2 car garage / workshop and wood storage place. $2,000 to $3,000 would be worth fixing it. Isn’t it cute?

 

[Aunt Marg]

OMG, triple wow!

Not cute... GORGEOUS!!! Just love the open design and high double-cathedral ceiling in the main area of the house!

Looks like all is done so well.

I would have no problem putting a few dollars into cleaning up the side entry as discussed. Money put to good use.

I would even look at figuring in a reduction of $3,000 - $5,000 on the asking to pay for the work you guys are looking at doing or having done.

 

[Keesha]

OMG, triple wow!

Not cute... GORGEOUS!!! Just love the open design and high double-cathedral ceiling in the main area of the house!

Looks like all is done so well.

Thanks. It IS pretty sweet.
The thing I think I like the most is the brightness.
This is a colourful , cheerful house. We both love it. Thank your husband for his help also. My husband says I worry too much. Lol. I just want to make sure it’s fixable and not a major deal breaker.

Yayyyy. Anyway I need to shut my eyes now and go to sleep. Thanks again Marg
Goodnight.

 

[Gaer]

No basement but I dig a run -off ditch around the back after the first Spring rain, while the ground is soft.

 

[Aunt Marg]

Bright, clean, airy design, right colours, it has everything going for it!

Dear hubs is back, and he said not to tear down the latticework on the corner now that he can see the design of the front of the house. Just clean-up the main area on the side entry and call the home done.

Not carrying the concrete entry pad around the corner of the home will shave off a considerable amount of money.

You are now looking at the short and no overly high retaining wall, a little grading which can be done by hand very easily, and otherwise just a poured concrete pad.

A real gem of a home.

You are so very welcome from the both of us.

Sleep tight.

Edited to add, so happy for you and your husband I am, Keesha!

Fingers crossed for you guys!

 

[Jules]

Lovely house. Appears that there’s a huge garage & workshop too. Good luck with acquiring it. I can just imagine sitting out on that deck.