Water in Crawlspace & Garage (foundation, air conditioning, mold, glass)

[HitsOfMisses]

We're in the process of buying a newly built home & planned to close on this Fri. 05/21.

1.) During inspection, I found a few wet spots on the concrete walls of the garage (West wall).






When I checked the wall from behind (in the crawlspace - East wall), I found the concrete blocks also had some water spots & wet soil.



2.) On further inspection, I found several wet spots on the south wall (~ 40%) of the crawlspace.





3.) Besides, I also saw moisture/ condensation around A/C ducts, pipes, etc. & several water poodle on the ground that is covered with plastic sheet.








In general, the ground seems quite moist below the plastic sheet even when there was no rain last week.

The builder says the wet spots could have been formed while watering the sod close to the wall. And the condensation was due to high temperature & humidity last week.

Have you seen/experienced similar situation on the walls of crawlspace? Is water around HVAC pipes, ducts, hose normal? If the ground is covered by plastic, won't it restrict the evaporation?

I'm quite worried since the closing date is this Fri. Thanks for your time & comments.

[Jessie'sMeemaw]

Please get the advice of a professional home inspector. I would not close before having the home inspected. I know this is stressful and you might have to change your closing date, but IMHO, it is in your best interest.

[HitsOfMisses]

Hi Jessie,

We completed the Home Inspection last week. However, since all the inspections are visual in nature, his comments on the report are "it could be due to sprinkler system." & he also added to "investigate by a reputable drainage specialist".

Nevertheless, his verbal comments to me was there's nothing to worry about!

[fester600]

I wonder if sacredgrooves is still posting to this forum.

He did an awesome job on my home inspection 3 years ago (http://www.a1houseinspectors.com) and you may want to send him a DM to see who or what he may recommend...

Good Luck. It will all work out in the end.
Matt

[HitsOfMisses]

I just received an e-mail from the builder that the owner of their Grading & Landscaping company will be coming over to evaluate it. And they're not drainage specialist.

Hmmm!?!

[twingles]

Originally Posted by fester600

I wonder if sacredgrooves is still posting to this forum.

He did an awesome job on my home inspection 3 years ago (http://www.a1houseinspectors.com) and you may want to send him a DM to see who or what he may recommend...

Good Luck. It will all work out in the end.
Matt

I DMed him last week and he responded the same day. I would check with him. He's good.

[HitsOfMisses]

I did a few hours back. Thanks!

[VickiR]

You are right to be concerned.

Please let us know what you find out.

Vicki

[gastric]

So hire a drainage specialist. I'd think that amount of water penetration on the foundation would indicate some sort of drainage issue. Water on the plastic under the HVAC isn't entirely unusual if your crawlspace is vented. All that hot, damp air floats on it, hits the comparatively cool metal thanks to the air conditioning, you get condensation. No different than if you took a glass of ice cold water outside, the glass would get all wet and drip. I'm sure there's a remedy for that, though I don't know what it is.

[TempesT68]

If a simple sprinkler is causing that much water/mold imagine what a heavy rain will do I'd spend the money and hire a professional mold/leakage inspector. Many general home inspectors can be flakey and over-look things.