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hoping for some help here. Can’t tell if salesman are trying to hose for me for cash.

This patio was built 3 years ago, right before I bought my house. Prior inspector (not mine) said there may need to be a 'vapor barrier' between the patio and house. My inspector said everything was perfectly fine. So I bought the house. Now, later on - I couldn't get the thought of if this patio had been incorrectly installed off my mind.

I’m being told that if I don’t remove the patio, it will cause structural damage to my house eventually because it was:

  1. sealed to house without siding being taken off

  2. sealed to wall and not foundation

  3. there isn’t a retaining wall on the side by house to hold the load

Anyone have any insight on this? It’ll cost me 30k or so to do the removal and rebuild. Hoping it doesn’t need to be done. I will also add that the patio is sloped so that water drains and doesn't build on the patio.

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UPDATE - here is what is under when I take a brick out of the patio, by the side of house.

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    Is it causing any problem? water stains on the inside of the house/basement? Any movement?
    – crip659
    Commented Sep 8, 2023 at 18:02
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    It's not causing problems at the moment. no water stains. Just worried and want to ensure I am proactive if this is absolutely going to be an issue. Also want to make sure I am not being scammed though...
    – cats101010101
    Commented Sep 8, 2023 at 18:04
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    How was the patio "sealed" to the house wall? What "sealant" was used? Sure, you probably don't know, but providing some pics might help someone get you an answer. Remember, the inspector's job (especially if you paid him, not the seller) is to give you an unbiased opinion on the state of the property, while a salesman's job is to sell you something. Get 2 or 3 more patio companies and a couple of general contractors in and get a consensus opinion on whether or not it's really a problem.
    – FreeMan
    Commented Sep 8, 2023 at 18:50
  • Great question - I guess it wasn’t really ‘sealed’. The ‘sealant’ is just polymeric sand. You can see it in the last pic I included - the pavers running along the composite wood siding.
    – cats101010101
    Commented Sep 8, 2023 at 19:21

4 Answers 4

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I don't see how this would cause all those catastrophic problems. You aren't accumulating excess water against the house if it is properly sloped and vinyl siding is going to serve as a partial barrier. IF you started seeing problems, the beauty of a paver patio is you can remove individual pavers and rework the area along the house. Not anywhere near $30k. And the salesman knows this.

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  • Just to be clear - siding is composite wood, unsure if that makes a difference.
    – cats101010101
    Commented Sep 8, 2023 at 19:21
  • There's no need for "excess" water here to cause damage. The siding will always be wet in this scenario. That leads to decay, which will eventually migrate into the framing.
    – isherwood
    Commented Sep 20 at 16:00
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"there isn’t a retaining wall on the side by house to hold the load"

That's the tattletale statement that tells me the salesman is full of bullspit.

With just a paver removed, no one really knows what's there. It's speculation.

The salesman is trying to brew fear in your head in hopes you agree to buy what he is selling.

Tell him "Thank you for your opinion." and move on.

If no signs of problems exist, it's because there isn't any problems. After 3 years something should have started to manifest it's self.

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  • Looks to me like the patio was built right up against the now-below-grade siding...
    – Huesmann
    Commented Sep 9, 2023 at 14:19
  • @Huesmann you are correct. it's build right up against the siding.
    – cats101010101
    Commented Sep 25, 2023 at 20:23
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    Well that's a problem.
    – Huesmann
    Commented Sep 26, 2023 at 12:25
  • how big of a problem? @Huesmann
    – cats101010101
    Commented Sep 26, 2023 at 12:54
  • I agree with this answer. Yeah, it's always good to prevent problems, but only IF there is a problem. I don't see a problem here.
    – Cheery
    Commented Sep 20 at 22:39
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So this is definitely something you want to address sooner than later, you owe that inspector a huge thankyou.

As gravity pushes down, the patio pushes out, with the plywood sheathing and wooden framing being the weakest of the retention walls all that weight pushing against the exterior wall of your home will push it in and compromise the strength of the wall over time.

Once the perimeter wall starts pushing in that will allow the pavers along the home to sink in towards the home and instead of the water draining away from the wall it will run towards the home accelerating the process due to more moisture.

With the base being directly along the siding that means they never took siding off to install proper flashing, and siding is not meant to be below grade. The moisture will wick up via capillary action into the sheathing, which will rot and eventually rot the framing and sill plate of the home causing major expenses.

The good news is that 30k is really high (IMO judging from pictures w/o knowing area) assuming you caught this before wood rotted or shifted.

If i was going to bid on repairing in my area, i would recommend removing pavers 2' from the wall along entire perimeter, removing siding that would be below grade, install proper flashing and rain screen to allow air movement along foundation.

I would then install concrete footing with re-bar bent up every 3' or so and lay 4" block to where there is a 1" gap between wall and foundation (wall only needs to be built where base would be along wood, not home concrete or block foundation. the block cores should be filled ever 2' or so as well as where the rebar is up tying in to footing. lay separation fabric to stop migration of sand and set you pavers back in sand then polysand.

I'm guessing from the pictures it looks like around 25-30 linear ft. along foundation where this needs done, in my area, what i would bid this at is around 12k, which still is a nice expense for a job that was done incorrectly, but better than the 30k and the cost of repair the structural damage to your home down the road.

Good luck!

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  • I generally agree with this answer. The moisture will become a problem. It's not so much about pressure until things start to decay due to that moisture. The patio never should've been built like this. That said, the problem isn't really a collapse risk. It's more about siding, sheathing, and eventually framing damage.
    – isherwood
    Commented Sep 20 at 16:02
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We had similar problem. Eventually there was water damage because there was no sealant between patio and right up to the house. Just need to remove the area next to house, put in sealant and replace the tiles. Good luck!

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  • "Sealant", whatever that is, will not keep the wall dry. Water always finds a way in situations like this.
    – isherwood
    Commented Sep 20 at 16:01

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