Property inspection - ground water seepage?

Question

I am about to purchase a home, and this was in the termite inspection report:

"Finding: Excessive moisture in the subarea soil apparently due to ground water seepage.

Recommendation: In this inspector's opinion, the ground water seepage is not a commonly controllable moisture condition. It is recommended that the owner employ the services of an appropriate trades-person to determine what control measures are required."

The inspecting company declined to make a bid on fixing it.

Can someone PLEASE tell me what this means? If it matters, this is in northern California (about 30 minutes south of SF).

I would GREATLY appreciate some help. Thanks!

What I'm getting at is: how serious of a condition is such water seepage?

Answer 1

What this means is that the owner is going to have to find someone to find and fix the leaking problem, and the inspecting company isn't going to be the one fixing it. If this isn't done, the house cannot pass inspection, and a lender will not finance the mortage.

Answer 2

First of all I wanted to say that I used to be a home inspector that specializes in water intrusion and moisture problems and I used to write the invoices after doing inspections. That being said this will be a hard question to answer without seeing these things first hand, which - they should have taken tests and pictures (if you paid for the inspection, you paid for the tests and pictures they took.).

But - without seeing the results what i will say is that what he/she meant.

(Finding: excessive moisture in the subareas soil apparently due to ground water seepage) If the "subarea" is concrete is could mean that there are many hairline cracks or brittle areas and that natural water from the ground seeps through, which could lead to mold, mildew, calcium buildups, damaged items left on ground, weak foundations, or flooding. The problem with this is that its very hard to fix for cheap if at all.

There are 3 ways: 1 - Buy a heavy grade sealer and re-seal all surfaced areas of the "subarea" - this would be a band aide fix because all sealers break down and if the ground stays humid for any amount of time it would soften it and flake, making an incomplete seal. 2 - *sigh* re-concrete the entire ground at least 6 inches. This could be long, tedious, expensive, and not a sure fire fix becasue - again if the ground stays humid - it could wick and break the foundation which would lead to more cracks. I have however seen this done, and it is effective for some years if done by a professional. 3 - Raise for house itself, at least 6 inches, maybe a foot. This is the most expensive form of fix, but the best one. The only thing to worry about it shifting, what would need to be done is a lift - reslab and then lower, hoping that the relowering wouldnt crack again.

And now you see the reason that the inspector didn't give you a price. for one reason it is because they are not trained in that field, so giving a price would be next to impossible, another reason is becasue it is very very tricky and done improperly could damage the home, and finally they didn't give you a fix becasue there is no sure fire way. As a ex-home inspector myself I know its a liability issue. If thy quote you a fix and it doesn't work - they are then liable to help with the issue, and also botching a report which holds heavy peneltys.

Answer 3

Kavan-
first let me say --i am from San Diego....have you been watching our national landslide here in LaJolla? Its been on all the national and local news stations this week!

Well....it appears that these homes are cliding down the hillside into other homes because of
"Excessive moisture in the subarea soil apparently due to ground water seepage"

The reason the inspecting company refused to put a bid on remeding this situation is because it is a potential hazard --as we have here in San Diego.

Too much moisture causes the ground to shift....so i would not purchase this property (in my opinion).

What you would need is a geological engineer to come out and survey this damage and see if it can be saved or remedied. Now---you are talking $$$$.

good luck :)

Answer 4

It means what is says , excessive water ( which can result in mold in the dwelling & / or slide slipage of the structure if this is a hillside location ) and should be addressed in some fashion that keeps the water off of / out of the dwelling & / or abates slide problems .
You did not actually give property details necessary to adequately answer this question .
Have your realtor recommend a contractor to get a cost estimate .
Then adjust your offer for the house accordingly .

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Answer 5

This means the home inspection company has not the right to fix it. You or the house owner have to call somebody expert to fix the problem to pass the home inspection result.