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There are myriads of water proofing compounds. Some use
plastic, some synthetic rubber, and some use bentonite,
a natural clay that can absorb 20 times its own weight
in water. Water proofing your foundation will not only
keep your basement dry—it will preserve the foundation,
resulting in fewer repairs and less overall long term
maintenance. Water proofing your foundation keeps the
wet out, but the water still needs to have a place to
go. Drain tile installation around the foundation solves
a lot of problems right from the start, as it channels
water away from your house before it has the chance to
do any damage. Some builders try to ignore drain
tile—it's one more detail on a really long list. And
some builders install drain tiles improperly, so they
never really work right to begin with.
Many builders install the drain tile on the top of
the foundation. This method isn't nearly as smart as
installing the drain tile alongside the foundation
instead. Think about it: if the pipe runs along on top
of the foundation, the water level has to be several
inches higher before the pipe can start collecting the
water. Getting that drain tile right into the ground
means that the water will be diverted from the time it
starts hitting the ground: you won't have to wait for it
to increase six inches (or more) in depth before it
drains away.
Sometimes builders also don't put in drain tile on a
shallow foundation or a slab. I'm not sure of the
reasoning behind that, but I am sure it's faulty!
Foundations are always susceptible to cracking because
the soil around them moves and changes with the addition
and loss of water in the soil. Many regions have soil
called "expansive clay", meaning the soil swells when
there is more water in it, and shrinks when the weather
is dry. As the soil moves, particularly when the
foundation is shallow and rests in the upper 6-8 inches
where dryness seriously affects the ground, the cement
of the foundation can break from the pressure in the
earth. Our parents called it "settling", as the house
creaks, cracks and groans from the movement of the soil.
Settling isn't an especially good thing—it can cause
large cracks not only in the basement, but the in walls
of the rest of the house as well.
Some expert builders recommend installing drain tile
around shallow foundations not only for the purpose of
diverting storm water but also for providing a way to
get water back into the soil when it gets too dry. Since
dried out soil can also cause cracking in the
foundation, you can minimize cracking in dry weather by
watering the ground around it.
If you live in a place where the soil becomes very
dry, your builder can install drain tile with an extra
pipe that rises just above the ground in a "T" fitting.
Keep the pipe capped except when you are using it to add
water to your foundation. When the weather is very dry,
you can take a hose and irrigate the drain pipe, which
will send a controlled amount of water around the
foundation and stabilize the soil, preventing your
foundation cracking. Let the hose run on low overnight
once a week as long as the weather is dry.
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