We bought a new home in October 2005. Sometime in December 2005 we observed water seepage in our unfinished basement. We observed that the basement bottom stud was wet and almost half cup of water accumulated inside two corners of the basement. We called the builder and they told us that due to too much drop in outside temperature there were condensation inside the walls. They removed the plastic cover and some basement insulation and allowed breathing of the walls. After few days they put the insulation and plastic paper back and tapped. Since then we didn't observe similar water seepage ( we hardly go down to the basement though).

Recently we took up the finishing of the basement and couple of weeks back we completed the drywall over the existing framing and insulation of the walls. Last week we observed water was coming out between the wall and the floor ( exactly at the same location 3 years back we observed. It was just only for one day and after that the boottom stud is slowly getting dried. That particular day snow was melting after a long spell of snow in Minnesota. This time, around 1 cup of water oozing out from the wall. I am now getting scared and thinking of taking out the drywall from the finished wall. What you guys suggest? Is my builder liable for this problem? How can I fix this problem?

Thanks in advance,
SB , MN

I'd contact the builder first and see if they are willing to work with you first. It could be many things causing the problem. The ground may not be properly sloped away from the foundation. The drains for the gutters could be installed incorrectly or may have shifted.

I'm giving the builder the benefit of a doubt but it sounds as if this has been a problem from the beginning. In some states this would be considered "construction defect" and you may have a claim against the builder if they refuse to help you with the problem.

If you have fiberglass insulation touching the concrete block and then covered in plastic you are going to have problems with mold - if not already - eventually.

See this for more information:

RR-0202: Basement Insulation Systems — (http://www.buildingscience.com/documents/reports/rr-0202-basement-insulation-systems)

If the insulation is fiberglassed it was subjected to 5% moisture its now lost 95% of its insul properties not to mention mold. Even with a vapor barrier against the foundation wall and the glass insul this is not good. On slab structures the bottom plates can suck up moisture and ruin the insul. Your basement I'm sure doesn't have the vapor barrier under your stud wall plates. If insul got wet its done! The best way to insul a basement is spray insul on foundation walls or a polyurethane foam board used not fiberglass. If for some reason the foundation wall is prevalent to heavy condensation either reseal from out side or remove studded walls cut concrete floor a couple of inches away from foundation walls put rice mix stone in it and sump it. In new construction we use a 2' foam board for a form/ pour conc/ remove the 2' foam board gap and now rice stone a visqscreen to cover trough to sump. From where I am sitting the plastic and paper is a double vapor barrier and that in itself is wrong on the get go. Again if you had water or moisture in already and the fiberglass got wet or heavy moisture in it tear it out. The mold will be the big cost to deal with and remove. Spores are not good. I personally would redo it all. I know that is not what to hear but that's basically the truth of you situation. Who ever did the stud walls and insul is the wrong doer here. You can't stop water only redirect it form a location to another location. In all fairness a basement is an inside out swimming pool. To 100& guarantee no water in basement is a relative term. I have been digging out around houses with a backhoe for to many years battling this 'water in basement" and many times a trough around the inside wall perimeter is the only answer and a sump pump.

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Thanks for your replies. I waited for another occurrence and yesterday I teared apart a portion of the drywall and noticed that ice lumps ( thin layers ) was formed between insulation and the inner polysheet. This is the order of layers in my wall: Concrete wall, a poly sheet (inner), fiber glass insulation , another poly sheet then drywall. I am not sure if there is any ice between inner polysheet and the concrete wall. But cetainly on the top of the inner polysheet , that is between insulation and polysheet. Ice layers are prevalent in the area where foundation wall exposed to air ( above ground). Whenever outside temparature goes up these thin layers of ice melts and water comes out. Is it due to condensation? While there were no ice before drywall, where from these miostures came? That too so much ? Please advice.

Not to pick on the builder but for starters he used the wrong insulation on the walls in a basement to begin with. Two he doubled vapor barrier the wall which in any wall in the whole house is wrong.
You problem is you have a double vapor barrier and that coupled with fiberglass insul is trapping the moisture in a lot of quantity. Which fiberglass insul. Is complete wrong insulation for a basement wall. The setup up you have will always be a bad situation and very possibly mold later. Just one pinhole in a vapor barrier can produce 1 cup of water on the floor. My suggestion is to tear it ALL out to bear walls and start over. The builder was partly right if the temp drops to quick it can from condensation. However the wall could not adjust because of the double vapor barrier. To put it bluntly you have now lost 95% of the insul properties in most of the wall system that has 5% or more moisture in it. So it will only get worse. The insul was done completely Wrong. As a builder myself I amazed why insulating a basement wall is still such a mystery. Science is science. The very old days the Fiberglas's/rock wool was used we didn't have foam board and early on it was so expensive.


Here are some good step by step for the basement wall insul

YouTube - Install Rigid Foam Insulation in Basement Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNE1QQreOkA)

YouTube - Best way to insulate a basement 800x600 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jSuWbdJy5A&feature=related)

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Thanks a lot for your time and suggestions. I will post my future course of action.