Block Foundation Waterproofing + Garage Apron in Norwalk, CT

Two failures at the same house, both of them water. The block foundation wall along the side of the property was covered in efflorescence, the white salt bloom left behind when water moves through masonry, carries dissolved minerals out to the surface and evaporates there. Bloom that heavy across whole blocks and the joints between them is not surface damp, it is water passing through the wall again and again. At the garage, the apron at the door line had broken up and the ground fell back toward the opening, with a downspout discharging at the corner a few feet away. Run-off had a clear path to the threshold and under the doors.

The wall was dug back along its run and coated with waterproofing membrane across the full exposed face, blocks and joints together, so water is stopped at the outside face where it belongs. Coating a block wall on the inside does the opposite of what people expect: it traps water in the cores and the bloom moves to the next unsealed surface. At the garage we cut out the failed apron, rebuilt and compacted the base under it, and poured a new reinforced apron running the full width of both doors, pitched away from the opening so water landing at the door line is carried off instead of standing at the threshold.