I often think about how blessed I am to have worked on older homes long before I started building new ones. It provides me with a benchmark to judge modern building methods and products. Take the ...

DEAR TIM: My last house had a basement that leaked water. I’m building a new home and want my basement as dry as the Atacama Desert. I’m confident that my drain tile was not put in correctly at my ...

Having spent 30+ years in residential construction, contracting, remodeling, maintenance and home repair, Deane now contributes DIY, informational and financial content as a freelance writer and ...

Q: My house foundation was poured on a sloping lot. I stopped by just after the forms were stripped from the foundation, and I think the foundation was poured too deep. The ground on one side of the ...

The landscape and drainage surrounding your home plays a huge role in managing moisture accumulation beneath the foundation. Leaking landscape pipes, overwatered vegetation as well as poor drainage ...

Let’s talk about foundation footers. They get their name from our own anatomy. Think about it. Your feet are the parts of your body that are normally in contact with the earth during waking hours.

Too much water can definitely cause foundation problems, but at the same time, you don’t want your soil to get too dry.(Francesco Scatena / Getty Images/iStockphoto) It’s natural for the foundation of ...

We’ve all seen puddles in the yard after one of the quintessential Dallas rainstorms. However, this standing water might indicate a problem: your yard’s drainage might be insufficient. Fortunately, ...

This is a close-up photo of a mortar joint between two layers of brick. Note the tiny cracks where wind-driven water can seep into the wall. (Courtesy of Tim Carter) Analysis by Tim Carter Unless you ...

My last house had a basement that leaked water. I’m building a new home and want my basement as dry as the Atacama Desert. I’m confident that my drain tile was not put in correctly at my last house.