Old-house renovation discussions and critical constructivism

Water prefers to go downhill

This is one of the most frustrating things I see in older homes. The home has cast iron or clay gutter drains below grade that connect to the sanitary system, and they are failing. Rather than spend the often daunting amount of money to repair the pipes, the homeowner or their hired contractor decides to abandon the old line and “daylight drain” the downspout(s).  There are applications where this works, but it can also be bad choice if the drainage for the location is not correct.

This is a proper application of a daylight-drained downspout. Note that the ground slopes away from the downspout and the building, and the foundation is a slab-on-grade with no basement.

However, if you live in the Mississippi River Valley, you will rarely see these circumstances in older homes. First of all, the houses almost always have basements. Second, the soil is often heavy clay that saturates quickly and does not absorb much water. Third, the ground often slopes back towards the building. Therefore, by draining the water close to or at the house, doesn’t drain it at all! The water simply collects until it can cascade into the basement of the house! As it does, it rinses away precious mortar and soil, and begins to compromise the foundation. What is more damning about this, the downspouts are often at the corners of the structure which is the most vulnerable pier location in the foundation- transferring the shifting to two walls instead of just one.  It can also affect those that live near you. Observe:

My uphill neighbor's downspout...which floods my basement.

I am working with my neighbor, who speaks very little English, to solve the 1200 square feet of water that heads straight to my foundation in every rain. I am adding piping to carry the water to the front slope of our yard and to assist in irrigating the yards, without irrigating my basement.

Another issue with daylight draining is the creation of large icy patches in cold weather. An “elephant trunk”-type of downspout solution is popular among house-flippers. It costs very little, and keeps the water from simply running down the house. It does not counteract slope issues however, and it spreads the water out wherever it lands, creating a huge problem for those using adjacent walkways in icy conditions.

And yes dear friends, the alley walkway is immediately below it.

Draining your gutters to daylight can also cause problems for motorists in icy conditions. Consider a downspout, one that carries the load of a 2500 sq ft roof, drained into a paved alley. And now consider that it is at the high end of a 1/5 mile alley and will help to re-ice it as the alley covering melts while the roof drainage replenishes the supply of water to ice-over. Yes, I have seen that also.

But who cares, right? Drainage rolls downhill...

There are solutions to all of these problems. They do not have to be expensive, and often they can be VERY beneficial to the environment. I will go over the solutions in my next post.

Just bear this in mind, water is your home’s worst structural enemy in a masonry home. The cheapest solution is often actually the most expensive when taken over the long term.

And if you are wondering why your yard slopes toward your home, the most likely culprit is landscaping. Yard grading was likely correct when the house was built. But add 100 years of sod, seeding, planting, mulch, edging, and thatching, and you have a gradual buildup of the yard surrounding the house….

In Saint Louis, our sewer system was designed with some foresight, but not enough to carry our current loads. Contrary to what many people may think, foresight does not mean that every future variable has been thought of. There are parts of the Saint Louis sewer system that predate the civil war! For those that have trouble with dates and history, the Civil War occured before: American Idol first aired, before the invention of the cellphone, before the invention of the telephone, before the invention of the light-bulb, before the invention of television or movie film, and before the invention of the internal combustion engine (AKA before cars).As such, the builders of the first sewers in Saint Louis used brick, mud, mortar, and wood to construct them.

Sounds kind if rickety? Well, some of those sewers are still in use! Many of them have been modified (photo of coating) to to modernize them and extend their lifespan. Many methods have been used to do this, but one of the most common has been parging them – much the same as we parge rubble-stone basements to keep out water.

The River Des Peres (or River Des Pieux as many Saint Louisans call it), was once actually a river (large stream anyway). It only became the sewage beheamoth we now know when it started being used to carry raw sewage from western City developments (such as the Central West End). It was later re-engineered into its current form by City engineers trying to contain the foul nature of its contents. There is a fantastic article titled “The Harnessed Channel: How the River Des Peres Became a Sewer” byMichael Allen posted at preservationresearch.com. This article does a fantastic job of describing how city systems evolve, outlining achievements that have been made, and giving some idea of the daunting tasks that now face MSD and the STL city engineers to modernize the system.

The problems we now have are not the fault of the system engineers from the last 150 years. While they could account for population increase, they could never have accounted for the lack of greenspace (to absorb water) we now have. Everything is paved and there is very little opportunity for rain water to be absorbed back into the soil.

They couldn’t account for one or more showers/baths per day-per person. They couldn’t predict the amount of commercial water usage and waste that is now created (AB uses thousands of gallons every day and has wastewater as a result. Add to that a lack of wild foliage to use the water, and now you have a problem of excess water that must be contained, routed, and treated. We send it into the sewers where it (hopefully goes to a treatment plant) eventually goes to the Mississippi river, but this is a process mined with potential problems.

As the monster storms we have had this season have repeatedly proven, water can get into almost any space with the right conditions. Basements are below-grade and therefore extremely succeptible to flooding. Water can come through the walls as a result of hydrostatic pressureand foundation cracks. Water can enter the basement as sewage through a clogged sewer line. Water can even “wick” through the concrete or stone walls as it is attracted to the dry conditions inside the home via the masonry basement (and masonry is a fantastic moisture wick!).
There are many plans and options to help handle sewage backups and hopefully divert future problems. The Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) outlines some of these options on their website. MSD has done quite a bit to upgrade and modernize the system, such as promoting the use of rain-barrels (photo and info) used by customers – and MSD has offered them at below-market pricing in some cases.

Now comes the warning…there are many companies that are in the business of stopping basement water infiltration. While these companies provide a valuable service, it is always good to examine the cause of the problem and the potential effects. Some basements have structural weaknesses resulting from water infiltration. Others suffer mold and mildew accumulation. Most commonly we see damp conditions and ruined possessions. But don’t start throwing your money around yet!

First, you need to determine where the water is coming from and why your basement is its chosen path of egress. Below I have included a list of items to consider before taking any further steps to waterproof your basement.

1. Is the water in my basement sewage or groundwater? If sewage, you need to contact a licensed plumber who specializes in drainlaying. If groundwater, read on.
2. Where do my gutters drain? If not connected to the sewer, are they simply flooding my yard until that water comes back into the house? If they are connected to the sewer, is the line intact and not blocked?
3. Are my gutters clogged and therefore overflowing?
4. Does the ground around my home slope away from the house?
5. What soil type do I have around my home? Is the soil saturated beyond the ability to absorb new water?
6. Still unsure of the problem? Contact a general contractor to look at the situation and determine the problem. Most (including yours truly) will do a walk-thru at no charge to determine a course of action.

The MOST COMMON CAUSE of BASEMENT LEAKING I see is improperly drained downspouts. Are yours drained properly? Don’t answer too fast! Take a look at my next post about daylight draining and clay soil around the old house.

Before a recommendation on a specific tool can be made with confidence, the question I would need to have answered is: what are you trying to do? There really is not one specific tool that can do every job it encounters efficiently. That said, there are tools that are extremely versatile and should be in your tool collection if you intend to work on your own home or on projects for others. As it is a topic which I am overly enthusiastic about, I will start with power tools.

There are multiple tenets upon which to judge a tool’s usefulness and value by.  In my opinion, the following are the critical items one must consider when selecting and purchasing a tool. They are in order of importance with number one (1) being the most important.

1. Usefulness on specific project, positive impact on productivity/safety, likelihood of consistent reuse
2. Reasonable expected lifespan of the tool and durability
3. Warranties
4. Power, flexibility/versatility, compatibility with other tools or available kits
5. Weight and transportability
6. Purchase cost
7. Available accessories and accessory cost
8. Maintenance cost
9. Location of Manufacture and Brand

The individual weight each category carries can vary for each person, but these are the baselines that I draw to decide which tools I purchase.

Experience has taught me to research each tool before buying and not to trust tools that have a brand name that has a bad history or is likely not made by the name on the tool. For example, Craftsman-brand cordless tools are outsourced to a third party to manufacture and have (in my experience) short battery lives. That is not to say that all Craftsman tools have drawbacks – their mechanics tools are some of the best available. But be cautious about blindly trusting brands.

For cordless screwdrivers, the 12V lithium-ion tools by Milwaukee and Bosch are fantastic for those just starting out or those that want a lighter and more agile alternative to corded and heavy cordless tools. Unlike their predecessors, these drills can drive 3″ screws with little effort, the batteries charge quickly and are less likely to overheat, ad they are extremely lightweight. Don’t let the weight fool you though, there is plenty of power for their purpose.

Why does weight concern me? If you tend to tote a lot of tools around from job to job, every ounce of tool weight is an ache you will feel at the end of the day and possibly beyond. My back and shoulders instructed me to stow my machismo a long time ago in the interest of self-preservation. The result is more productive workdays and less aches at the end of those workdays.

So how do these two drills match up?

There are things I have not covered here.

• First- there are other tools and I am not trying to shun anybody. I have used both of these and I have a comfort level with them. Please feel free to suggest others if you so desire.
• Second- torque and RPMs. These drills are about the size of squirt-guns and therefore I don’t rank torque as being a high-priority. It doesn’t matter how much power it has if it breaks your wrist – there is too much torque. I only worry about a drill’s torque if it has a second or side-handle attachment.
• Third- clutch. You don’t need a clutch to drive 3″ screws into wood. The clutch is only useful for very delicate applications where stripping the screw is of a high likelihood, applications where you are desperately concerned about binding (such as when driving machine screws into a pre-threaded piece of metal), and for those that want to reign in the torque.
• Fourth- LED lights: many of these drills have small lights designed to illuminate the work area when the trigger is pulled. However, these are generally not very bright and are still a bit gimmicky in my opinion. If you can’t see your work piece, stop and set up a work-light for safety. Drilling in the dark is lazy planning and downright silly.
• Fifth- chuck type. The Bosch has a retractable-sleeve 1/4″ Hex chuck which only fits bits with the same base. This restricts the amount of items you can use with it – but you are driving screws, not using ship augers. The Milwaukee has a 3/8″ ratcheting keyless chuck. Tried-and-true, but not a great benefit for something used primarily to drive screws.

I first began using these types of drills when I got sick of my 18V hammerdrill constantly pulling my toolbelt down due to the weight. I bought and currently use a 7.2 volt Dewalt cordless screwdriver. I didn’t bother to mention it in the review as it is a NiCad battery which is a dying technology and inferior to the power and lifespan of Lithium Ion, and with the battery installed it weighs 4 lbs. It is durable, and I have no complaints about its service to me. But it has no other kit components in that 7.2 volt range (with exception to a right-angle driver) and the batteries for it are both hard to find and expensive.

Other benefits to consider: The Milwaukee has about 200 attachments for their 12V LI line and many of them are very useful tools. Remember, don’t buy the drill for the other items in the kit. I have made that mistake and regretted it.

Personal Overall Preference: The Bosch. Lower price, lighter weight, same batteries, smaller size, comparable power, backed by Bosch and the Bosch warranty