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Jane McDonald from Ottawa Canada writes: Hello Mike -In the (poorly built) house I purchased there is a problem with my garage and front hall which are side by side and I'm not sure what kind of contractor to get or how to approach the problem.

In the winter snow melts off the car on to the concrete floor of the garage and somehow seeps under the wall shared with the front hall. This moisture gets up into the saltillo tiles of the hall, and destroys them with crystallization. It also affects the wall in a nearby utility room.

Can I just put in a subfloor and non-porous tiles? Or is there a bigger structural problem to tackle with the garage floor? I just don't know where to start.

Mike Holmes: Hi Jane. Definitely sounds like a drainage problem from your garage. You don't want water to be penetrating your house from the garage-putting a new floor in, (covering the problem up) and still letting it seep in is asking for trouble. A drain. Do you need to take out the floor in your garage and re-grade it so it slopes out, or add a drain?

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