We are very excited about building a new home. We contracted the building ourselves and everything has gone quite smoothly until now. We're almost ready to move in and we are almost ready to drywall the basement, but are finding there is water coming in. The poured concrete has been wrapped on the outside. We have tar paper on the inside covered with pink insulation and a vapour barrier. The water is coming in several places between the tar paper and the insulation. There is no water on the floor, but we can feel water on the insulation.
Answer:
The first year a house gives off an awful lot of moisture because all that went into building it has to go somewhere and the vapour barrier is the path of least resistance for it. My hope is that insulation down there does not go all the way to the floor and neither does the vapour barrier. What you're dealing with is condensation and your best bet is to try to ventilate the basement as much as possible.
