now that I've had a few hours of sleep...

I'll describe the pictures for those of you who have been praying for our basement issues. They dug out the foundation of our house on 2 sides. Those were the two sides that have been leaking. There were leaks on one more side of the house, but after they did the inside fix to those cracks, those cracks have not leaked in I'd say a year?? something like that. I'd have to go back and look at our records, but they haven't leaked in a while where as others have continued to leak even after the inside fix.

Anyway, they dug out the foundation. Then the next day they came back and put on some black tar looking type stuff. I'm assuming that it's a type of sealer. They put that over all the stuff that was currently on the outside of the cement. Then they put blocks of red foam looking stuff. (can you see how knowledgeable I am on this topic!) It looks like insulation, but I really have no idea. Then they also filled up holes half way with rock. This is to aid in the drainage around the house, so hopefully no water will sit right up next to the house. That's as far as we are right now.

Concerns we still have: Some of the cracks leak from the ceiling of the basement, so right at or around ground level. As of now they haven't put any finishing strip or anything around the top of the tar/sealer stuff. And if the sealer that was already on the cement in the first place is leaking somewhere, then how would putting more sealer on top of it fix the problem?

Anyway, if you're still reading at this point, and have any clue about this stuff and can enlighten me, feel free to do so!! We really do want to know what's going on, and have asked that they provide us with some information (multiple times we've asked) but haven't gotten any out of them.

Also, when I saw the caterpillar start digging, I knew that it would cause quite a stir in our neighborhood. It's been kind of funny. I really do feel badly that our neighbors have to deal with it, and we've asked them to bear with us on this. Already the dirt has been piled on one neighbor's law and I know that that's frustrating for them. But one interesting thing is that another neighbor stopped by last night, and their house was built right after us. They're having the same problem as us, although it sounds like to a much smaller degree. Anyway, it was interesting to talk to him. They have the same builder (and actually the same floorplan as us) and probably the same contractor who poured their basement. Just interesting.