inishing draping the back basement wall was a bittersweet moment for on one hand one more project was completed, on the other it made us aware of a much more intimidating task.  While admiring our handiwork, I noticed one of the electrical boxes on the adjacent wall was starting to pop out of the paneling.   This was not an indication of good things to come.

We knew when we moved in that there was water damage in this area from an old leak, reinforced by our home inspector telling us it was inactive.  We cleaned the leaves out of the gutter and pushed out the downspout four feet from the house to be sure and redirect any water that might seep down.  Obviously these precautionary measures were not effective enough.

Hubs proceeded to break out the crowbar and pulled back the baseboards.  It was not pretty.

The wood is basically disintegrated and an eight foot stretch of baseboard and paneling about a foot up from the floor is damp.  Not good.  The positive is that whoever finished off the basement did apply a waterproof seal to the cinderblocks and apply a vapor seal to keep out moisture.  This means that effects from the leak are probably concentrated and not throughout the wall.  We are anxious to get this fixed as quickly as possible before mold becomes an issue.  Once mold permeates your air filtration system you have major problems on your hand that require duct cleaning and lots of moolah.  So it looks like our project for the upcoming weekends is decided: ripping down several sheets of the paneling and determining the source of the leak, remedying the problem, and hanging drywall.  That is if the weather cooperates. They are calling for either snow and sleet or an ice storm.  Stay tuned for the progress!