water problem

[Ray Turney]

My neighbor called me the other day and said his wife wants to install a tile floor in the den of his house, which was a new addition about ten yrs. ago. When they put the new addition up they put brick on the concrete slab and now when it rains the water runs down the wall in between the brick and the slab and runs into the house. What should we use to seal this? After we fix the outside we'll go on the inside and see what the damage is. Thanks Ray Turney in central Kentucky

[Jim Dunn]

Ray your right you have to address the outside first. Then you could use a primer, sold at the local borg, it helps the mortar bond to the concrete.

[Michael Cody]

My neighbor called me the other day and said his wife wants to install a tile floor in the den of his house, which was a new addition about ten yrs. ago. When they put the new addition up they put brick on the concrete slab and now when it rains the water runs down the wall in between the brick and the slab and runs into the house. What should we use to seal this? After we fix the outside we'll go on the inside and see what the damage is. Thanks Ray Turney in central Kentucky

You are right you have to fix the outside first.. but I would approach it not with sealing but moving the water away from the house in the first place. If there is water puddling on the slab and running back under the mortor you have a bigger problem. You need to get good "working" gutters, slope the yard away from the house, maybe add a drain tile around the perimeter to move the water away. I agree with sealing but keeping the water from building up there in the first place will be much more effective than any other solution.