As most everyone knows, we are dealing with a huge problem in our basement. The week that we closed, we were told there was water in the basement and it was the first time ever. Justin checked it out and it seemed, at the time, legit. Well, the basement has NEVER been dry after a rain since we moved in. Long story short, we started having more and more water and the dreaded mold. A lot of our furniture had mold damage and had to be thrown away. This includes Justin's gun cabinet (what I got him our first Christmas as a married couple), filing cabinet, computer desk, and others. When Justin had enough (the day before Allison's birthday party), he put his hand on the wall and it went straight through the dry wall. The boards were completely rotted and we found cracks...lots of cracks in the foundation. After tearing down the dry wall, we were stunned at the amount of damage. Come to find out, there had been repairs to the opposite side of the foundation. In order to correct it, a metal beam was installed and it over-corrected, pushing out the other side. None of this was disclosed to us when we bought this house. Everyone on our street even knew that work had been done to the structure. This is what has been the most frustrating.
We are in the process of fixing the foundation. It is all being done from the inside. Clarence Walker has done a tremendous job and it looking like things will get better soon. We just have to wait for rain in order to see if the injections held. So, at this moment we are at a standstill. Justin and I decided that since this happened, we might as well gut the basement (not including the utility room) and fix it up. He's going to knock out some shelving and build a wall to have a large room for storage, which is much needed! I have spent today packing, rearranging, and moving things in the basement. It is now done and Justin can begin demolition on the other side. I guess there is light at the end of this very long tunnel...we are going to have a FIXED basement and a completely remodeled basement! :) We also guarantee, that when it comes to sell this house, the next owners will be informed of all of this. We don't want anyone else going through what we have gone through this summer.
Just as we finish one project on the house, we begin another. This seems to be a vicious cycle! If any household task comes up, Justin just says, "Add it to the list!"

The first cracks we found

The ginormous cracks

You can't tell me you never had water in the basement until the week of closing on the house!

Unbelievable!

This is the east side of the house. The crack continues into the garage.

Heater to dry out the cracks and in the process of injections and seals.


Ceilings removed (now even the metal is gone).

Crack leading into the storage under the stairs and into the garage

Wall in front of stairs. We're even taking out the stairs and redoing them. (Again, we is really Justin.)


The shop-vac is where the tv used to be! That dry wall is now gone, too!