Basement Flooding

[searshomekit1958]

I am reaching out to determine the best way to solve my basement flooding problem. I own a Sears Home Kit built in 1958. My basement floods from below my bulkhead steps. A sump pump is located on the opposite side of the basement. The basement is not cemented in below the stairs of the bulkhead. Water streams in when there is heavy rain. I have been considering sealing off the entire area below the stairs with hydraulic cement. I plan to grade the backyard, put up gutters, and clean the drain that leads to the sump pump with a sewer snake.

I have no experience in masonry and am looking for advise on how to go about cementing in below the stairs or if there is a better solution.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve

[HayZee518]

to fill in below the stairs wouldn't be a good idea because of the hydro static pressure beneath your basement floor. when you built your house and dug out the cellar hole, once you put in your foundation did you install perforated drain tile around the outside of your house? if no, then simply grading your landscapre away from the house isn't gonna solve anything. yer gonna have to install the drain tile.

[searshomekit1958]

The foundation was laid in 1958. The construction records indicate "thoraseal" was put on the foundation, then drain tile was laid along the foundation and covered with rock then more thoraseal was laid over. There is a drain that comes straight in to the sump pump and looks filled with sediment. I am assuming after 53 years the drain tile has been clogged with sediment. Can this be cleaned out? or should it be replaced new drain tile?

[HayZee518]

it would be a good idea to see what "drain" is dumping into your sump. grey water from a sink should go to city drain or a french drain not into a sump hole. run off water from basement seepage should be the only source for a sump pump.