Hi all,
I would be grateful for any advice on this problem. I have a new house that is still under warranty. Right after I moved in, I noticed a leak in the lower level, which occurs regularly after any rain or snow fall. It's in a room below the garage.

The builder has told me that this leak is originating from the seam between the asphalt driveway (which is a "bridge" type driveway), and the garage concrete slab. His "fix" is to put a drain along that seam.

However, this never made sense to me, or others I've discussed with, because that seam is 25 feet from the house itself. Water from that site would have to track horizontally through the garage to get into the house. On advice of a friend, I let some water pool on the floor of the garage floor, well away from the "seam" to the driveway. Sure enough, soon after there was a leak downstairs. In fact, the water stains inside line up perfectly with the rear walls of the garage.

So obviously the site of entry is in the garage slab itself... not the seam in the driveway. Does it make any sense that a drain (which is going to freeze up in the winter) would fix this?

I would be very grateful for any advice on what a real "fix" for this problem would involve. The builder thinks putting in that drain and "sealing" the concrete slab is enough. I think it needs a more permanent fix, but I'm no expert, just a homeowner.

Thank you very much in advance!

The builder is looking for the cheapest fix to get past the warranty period. How does the water enter the basement, is there a crack, does it seep up through a seam?

Thank you for your response and I think you are right -- sealant is a cheap and dirty way to pretend it's fixed.

From what I can tell, the water which pools on the driveway is tracking up the expansion joints into the garage concrete slab. If I put water in the middle of the garage floor, it causes a leak in the room below, on the rear wall.

I suspsect it's tracking all the way to the rear wall of the garage, and then goes down, since that's where most of the visible water damage is in the lower room -- right at the roofline, where the ceiling meets the rear wall. But as the damage has continued, there is now water damage visible in the middle of the ceiling as well, not just against the walls.

I've found out that the garage slab has a "torch down" type waterproof system. Obviously it is not working very well. How does one repair a torch down system, if it was somehow incorrectly installed or damaged?

Thanks again!