New House - Foundation/Waterproofing

[Brad_C]

Hello,

I am having a new house built at the moment here in North Carolina. I have some concern regarding the basement walls/foundation and waterproofing.

The basement is really a half basement, the front of it is underground and the back of it opens to the backyard, as you can see in the screenshot below.

My concern is that a poor waterproofing job is being done. The basement walls are wood, and from what I can tell, the only waterproofing done is a piece of thick plastic on the outside of the walls. The wood used below the plastic has a stamp printed on it stating that it is some kind of foundation wood.

To add to my concern, there are some holes that were ripped into the plastic. I noticed they tried to seal over some of them, but missed others.

Does anyone have an opinion/experience on this method?

I plan on talking about this soon with the builder, but I'd like to get some other opinions first.

http://www.bradcarey.com/misc/foundation.jpg

Thanks.

[roger g]

DId you not know about using pressure treated wood for foundation walls before you signed on the dotted line? I used it once on a very small project and it was a disaster but I really didn't know what I was doing. The only other time I've heard of it was just recently and it was a house for sale with wood foundation walls and the rea; estate agent said there were problems. Maybe they have better luck where you are and the soil condtions are different. I'm assuming of course that these wallas are going to be under ground.
I really wouldn't want it myself but I suspect it really is too late for you to get it changed and it might be alright anyways. Check around with other contractors about the plastic.

roger