Leaky Basement

[Moneypit528]

Looking for some input on my situation. Last Sept during heavy rains I noticed the one corner wall of my finished basement was black. I went behind my tv and realized I was standing in about 2 inches of water. We removed the drywall which was very moist and moldy and also removed the wooden pieces of frame affected by the moisture. I have left the drywall off for over a year waiting to see where the water was comming in. About a month ago we had heavy rains again and I discovered the moisture was comming from the top of the cinderblock wall... in a portion of drywall we had not removed yet. The cinderblock wall in that area is very moist and has a funny smell. The home was built in the 1960's and the area outside the portion of the wall that leaks has alot of standing water during periods of wet weather.


I brough in a waterproofing company that gave me their solution which was an interior drain system and sump pump along two of the basement walls. They were also going to remove the one entire wall of dry wall and install vapor barrier and replace the drywall. Their original price was 8900 dollars for everything. While exploring other options they have reemailed me and lowered their price to 6600 dollars.

I have talked with a friend of mine that inspects homes and is an engineer. He suggested I do not need such a system and simply digging the exterior basement wall out. sealing any cracks and refilling with 2b stone and regrading the soil away from the house and installing an french drain leading away from the house, should be enough to resolve the water issue. I have not been able to get anyone in to get an estimate for this work.

I am looking for any input or advice you guys could offer as to what the best course of action would be ? I would like the problem fixed and would hate to spend almost 7 grand for a sytem I did not need.

[mrcaptainbob]

Leaky basement...

Same situation on the first house I owned many decades ago. The problem was twofold. The first issue was the downspout outlet was just that little 90* elbow. It was dumping the rain water right near the wall. This was the same situation at three of the four corners of the basement. Just like yours, water would pour from little holes in the mortar, sometimes five blocks high! I went a bit over board on the fix. I hand dug down that wall where the downspout was until I reached the weep tile. Washed the dirt from the wall and patched any cracks in the blocks. Then slathered it well with roofing cement/tar. Laid heavy gauge plastic sheet against that and back filled, tamping it every foot or so to help alleviate settling. I made sure to put enough dirt along the whole house perimeter to help surface water flow away from the building. Three foot extensions on the downspouts in addition. No more leaks.

[pushkins]

The standing water on the exterior side to me is the biggest and most immediate area to address, the ground should slope away from the home at least 1/4" / foot as far as possible (6' is usually enough), is there a downspout near this location ? if so redirect it further out from the wall or better still pipe the down spout water far away to the road.
IMO installing an internal basement drain should be the last line of defense to address water in the basement, sometimes it's unavoidable because of logistics like access etc... but it is better to stop the water entering if at all possible.

[dkpbxman]

Why pay for London Broil when Chuck Roast will do?

Of course the waterproofing company is going to try to sell you the MOST expensive solution.

Whether you need it or not.

I have no doubt they can and will fix the problem but you can probably get the same results (a dry basement) for a lot less money by doing it a different way.

[hobbymaker]

Yeah that's true they want to make profit and try to convince you you need all that. The thing is that with mold in the house, many people are willing to invest much because such a problem can affect everybody's health.