Drainage/Water Infiltration Issue in Basement 3

[zero1238]

I recently inspected a large house that had some evidence of trapped water/moisture in the masonry block cores in the basement (staining/efflorescence). There was a channel at the base of the wall and weep holes drilled through the block but the channel between the basement slab and the masonry block foundation wall was filled with a caulk-like substance. When I spoke with the buyer, he said he was told by the seller that they filled the gap due to radon remediation. When I inspected the exterior, it definitely has poor grading in select spots but I don't like the fact that they did away with the original method of drainage through the block. There aren't any defects with the foundation but any suggestions on how to handle this drainage issue? Image attached below:

 

[1503-44]

Trying to treat the symptoms is futile.
Stop or divert the water ingress at its source.

--Einstein gave the same test to students every year. When asked why he would do something like that, "Because the answers had changed."

 

[EdStainless]

My guess is that the holes were a fix when the original external drain system didn't work.
Fix the grading and the downspouts and see if that works.
If not, then is excavation time.

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P.E. Metallurgy, consulting work welcomed

 

[StrucPatholgst]

There's no rocket science to this. Some basement contractor perforated the foundation block to create a drainage path for groundwater that was migrating into the block. Two things have failed: the original damp proofing bitumen layer (which doesn't last forever anyway), and the exterior foundation drain tile. What you see in the photo is a bandaid on top of a bandaid.