Noah DuMass
09-04-2008, 04:15 PM
I'm in AZ and I've not yet been able to find anyone "qualified" to determine if a basement leak in a commercial building is CAUSED by vines penetrating a poured concrete foundation. There are many vertical structural cracks in the cmu portion of the building (cmu on poured foundation / basement) which measure out to coincide with the interior point of "the mystery leak". No excavation has been done and NONE of the interior leak points coincide with the visible vines (above ground). Naturally the first question is, "can you see any roots or vines IN the basement or anywhere INSIDE the building." No, no sign of heaving, bulging and no penetrations of roots or vines whatsoever.
The roof had MAJOR leakage covering the entire building, from my experience the sheeting of leakage on the interior walls (basement) and above ground first and second floors appears to be consistent with bad scuppers/roof drain inlet or leaking internal plumbing in the drain system. Also during the extremely heavy rainfall events during which the "leak" presents itself the outlet of the roof drain system is underwater as the surface water runoff in the adjacent street exceeds the curb height (the outlet is below curb by ~1"-2") and flows over the city sidewalk.
The structural cracks have no vine or root growth visible in them and despite cutting the vines to the ground (they have subsequently grown back to cover the side above ground) the vines have still not taken advantage of the cracks. Being heliotropic and opportunistic the vines appear to be growing up (toward the sun) and outward (away from the foundation) as I would expect since plants in a pot grow root out the hole, not through the clay wall of the pot following the path of least resistance.
So the meat of the question is; obviously anything is possible what is the best way to conclusively determine the true origin of the water intrusion?
Dye test? (at roof or ground level)
PSI testing of the pour?
Excavate the entire basement wall?
This has been an ongoing problem for years but is now blooming (excuse the pun) into the war of the concrete eating vines. (It came from outer space?)
Do cat's claw vines really grow through properly poured (or any) concrete?
I thankfully haven't dealt with Formosan termites (which apparently DO eat concrete); do/why would, vines choose to penetrate concrete vs. soil?
Anyone (maybe in Arizona) have any experience in tracing leaks like this?
Can anyone recommend an engineer in AZ?
It's really getting old trying to convince the owner that underground vines CAN NOT cause a roof leak, but ......
there's a limit to intelligence and no boundary whatsoever to stupidity. I'm out of intelligence and there's still plenty of stupid at this jobsite.
Cheers and TIA
:)
The roof had MAJOR leakage covering the entire building, from my experience the sheeting of leakage on the interior walls (basement) and above ground first and second floors appears to be consistent with bad scuppers/roof drain inlet or leaking internal plumbing in the drain system. Also during the extremely heavy rainfall events during which the "leak" presents itself the outlet of the roof drain system is underwater as the surface water runoff in the adjacent street exceeds the curb height (the outlet is below curb by ~1"-2") and flows over the city sidewalk.
The structural cracks have no vine or root growth visible in them and despite cutting the vines to the ground (they have subsequently grown back to cover the side above ground) the vines have still not taken advantage of the cracks. Being heliotropic and opportunistic the vines appear to be growing up (toward the sun) and outward (away from the foundation) as I would expect since plants in a pot grow root out the hole, not through the clay wall of the pot following the path of least resistance.
So the meat of the question is; obviously anything is possible what is the best way to conclusively determine the true origin of the water intrusion?
Dye test? (at roof or ground level)
PSI testing of the pour?
Excavate the entire basement wall?
This has been an ongoing problem for years but is now blooming (excuse the pun) into the war of the concrete eating vines. (It came from outer space?)
Do cat's claw vines really grow through properly poured (or any) concrete?
I thankfully haven't dealt with Formosan termites (which apparently DO eat concrete); do/why would, vines choose to penetrate concrete vs. soil?
Anyone (maybe in Arizona) have any experience in tracing leaks like this?
Can anyone recommend an engineer in AZ?
It's really getting old trying to convince the owner that underground vines CAN NOT cause a roof leak, but ......
there's a limit to intelligence and no boundary whatsoever to stupidity. I'm out of intelligence and there's still plenty of stupid at this jobsite.
Cheers and TIA
:)