Leaky Basement Help

[Leaky]

Hi all, I discovered this place while looking for a solution for my leaky basement.

Last May, I bought my first house. Its a 1100 square foot bungalow, about 47 years old. It has a cinderblock walled basement, partially finished with bare drywall and bare concrete floor. In one corner of the basement, there was evidence of seepage, but nothing serious. No other obvious signs of water damage.

In the late summer, we had 150mm of rain in a week. Now I have a basement water problem. I was lucky in a way, the way my basement is sloped, the water never got more than an inch deep before running out the walk out.

The house has had an addition built on with a new section of basement. Most of the water coming in was along that seam. Water also now comes in on the joint between the wall and floor.

I made a bunch of phone calls to basement experts but only one would come out to see because I am in a very rural area. He recommended weeping tiles along the seam and a sump pump. A cost of about $4000.00

I didn't have the $4000 now, but he said he would install the sump pump for $11000 to get me started and come back when I have the rest of the money.

He installed the sump pump yesterday, and today we got a ton of rain, which has been melting the 2 feet of snow outside the house. The sump pump did a good job, there has been water in the basement, but the leaking under the walls has gotten worse. Along the seem in the basement, the hydrostatic pressure has been forcing its way up through the cracks, to the point small fountains of water are seen coming up through the cracks. Most of the water has been taken out by the sump pump, and the rest ran out the doorway. I removed the sweeper at the bottom of the door so I could keep it shut. The thing that now concerns me the most is the water coming in at the seam between the floor and wall. This is along the edge farthest from the sump pump. I m worried most by the water getting near my furnace and water heater.

I have been granted a small reprieve, as the rain has stopped and it is snowing again. In the coming weeks I am going to have to have this dealt with, because we will soon be getting serious rain and melting snow as spring approaches.

I have been exploring the net, trying to find a solution that won't break me. I am thinking a combination of weeping tile/french drain along the basement seam, with some sort of barrier like drytak along the front wall and having it channeled to the sump pit.

is the drytak something I could do myself? I'm not even sure if the materials are available here. I'm sure the epoxy would be, but maybe not the barrier itself.

Is this a sound plan?

What could I use as a barrier if the actual drytak is not available?

Is this something I could/should do myself?

Could I successfully install the weeping tile myself?

Even this contractor was a bit... disorganized. He had no gravel for the pit... I had to go find and buy it. His jackhammer was much too small for the job. I had to rent a 60 pound electric one so he could hammer through the 8 inches of floor I had. My faith in him is less than awesome and no one else wants to even come out here. I don't want to hand him another $3000.00 for something I could probably do a better job of.

Any advice?

[pushkins]

The basement at time of construction should have had a foundation drain installed on the exterior side of the wall as well the addition seam and wall should have been sealed on the exterior side.
Ideally even now the best solution would be to dig down beside the basement wall and install a foundation drain and at least seal the corner.
Installing a foundation drain on the inside of the basement is a solution and a cheaper option but that is going to help with ground water issues it's not going to solve your water coming in through the bottom of the wall in heavy rain/ snow melt periods. Obviously an exterior perimeter drain takes the water away before it's at/in/under your basement, an interior drain takes it away once it's there.
I have to admit I'm not a fan of interior drains, they can exasperate your problem if not done right, most importantly they must have a positive grade to the sump pump. Do not jackhammer the concrete out, rent a concrete saw and cut two nice clean lines around the interior perimeter (away from the wall, to be outside any footings underneath), then break into smaller sections and remove. You should be using a 4" perforated drain with a sock over it's entire length, 2" drainage gravel all the way around the drain line and 4" concrete over the top of that to reform your basement floor. Remember, in heavy sudden rain or fast snow melt you may still get water perking in between cinder blocks and the concrete slab as the volume of water exceeds the speed that water can go getting under the footing, under the slab and into your interior drain.

How deep from the exterior is the basement foundation ?
Have you checked to make sure you have positive grade away from the house, checked to make sure downspouts are taking roof water far away from the house foundation. From experience in 90% of cases a positive grade and downspout redirect can solve many basement water issues like you describe.
The grade ideally should be 6" in 10' or at least direct water away from the house, the downspouts ideally should take water away to a safe place (like a road/storm water drain etc... or at least 4' out from the home.

[Leaky]

Thanks for the reply.

It was late last night when I compose that so I left a few details out.

First thing is we are on a septic system. I don't know if that is relevant. The house is very close to the road. In the forward half, where the wall leaks, the ground is level with the foundation up to about a foot or less. The ground slops sharply away to the rear of the house, with the rear wall completely exposed to the footing.

Someone in the past has gone though considerable expense to put good downspouts, as well as attach them to a system of buried pipes which travel along the sides of the house to the rear and continue away.

The well is also located at the front of the house. I have never been able to find the well head, even with a metal detector. It is buried.

At the extreme rear of the property, is a 4 inch pvc pipe that empties to a pond. This pipe expels water 24/7 regardless of the weather.

My neighbour tells me the house has a spring that runs underneath it, and in the past there was considerable work done to improve drainage. He remembers the entire from of the house being dug up while it was being done.

The owner that did all of this work is unavailable and the latest owners says he doesn't know a thing, probably to protect himself because there was no disclosure of a water issue.

In normal times, with normal rainfall, there is no water in the basement. A small amount of dampness where the well comes through the wall at the front. No actual water. Even in fairly heavy rain, there is no water. The only time we have had water is the 2 extreme rainfall events.

Not sure how much this helps.

[Leaky]

I did some detective work and actually spoke to the original owner that built the house and its add-on.

About 20 years ago, they discovered that the front foundation wall was failing because the cinderblocks were disintegrating because of water. This whole are has a high water table. They dug it out, put in a drainage system and gravel and put a 6 inch concrete wall in front of the old cinderblocks. he says the tractor had a hell of a time while it was being done because it is like quicksand out in front.

When the basement house and basement were added on, they put in 4 rows of drainage tile and a pipe that leads to a small pond at the rear of the property. I was out there today, found the pipe and it is still draining water. I always wondered what that was.

There is an underground stream under the house. It was discovered when they drilled the new well. Its about 30 feet down but it is large volume and under pressure. When they broke into it, it filled up the basement of the house with water.

I don't know how much this helps but its more bad news than good for sure.

[pushkins]

One cause might be the exterior drainage is a little undersized, it's handling the day to day water issues but not the very heavy stuff which indicates that the pipe reaches max. capacity. Although a 4" pipe can handle an enormous volume of water.
It may also be damaged or has a blockage at some point, more likely especially in a 20 year old line. If the line has tree roots or is partly crushed that would slow the speed of larger volumes of water and cause it to back up.
It would probably be money well spent to have someone run a camera up the line before you go too much further. If they find a problem in the line it would be much cheaper and easier to replace a section.

[Michael210]

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Arizona Polymer Flooring makes a vary good moisture barrier.