Water Problem

[bcraley]

I had a problem with water last night in the basement. House is only 7 years old. Just happened to be down there playing with my daughter when I noticed the carpet was wet.

Turns out ground water was following my main water supply line through my basement wall. I thought I had a supply line break so I call a plumber at 8:00 last night... that wasn't cheap. I emptied two 5 gallon buckets worth of water in the 1.5 hours it took for him to get there... by mid-night it had slowed to a trickle and this morning it's not leaking at all.

Turns out it's ground water... he said I need to have the line re-sealed on the outside of my basement wall, so that water doesn't continue to get into my foundation. He wants to excavate and patch the area around the supplyline with concrete and rubber. He was pointing out the foundation problems that such a problem can cause.

This doesn't sound quite right to me... my house is equiped with sump pump and was built less than 7 years ago... so it has all the proper foundation drainage... right? In the 7years I've lived there I haven't had a drop of water in the basement... we had a bunch of snow melt recently and heavy rain last night... but I have to beleive we had similar situations in the past 7 years.

Does anyone have any experience with this type of thing? It seems to me that it could be a grading issue and that digging 7 feed down (supply line comes into the house 8 block courses down) is a last resort... aren't there other things to try first. And if my house is equipped with foundation drains and sump pump why do I care if water is getting against my foundation... can't I just seal up the inside so my basement doesn't get wet and forget about it?

Thanks!!!

[pushkins]

The main water supply line into the house should be sealed around the pipe, usually this is done both internally and externally.
If in the last 7 years you have not had a similar problem then I'd have to first side with looking into any bad grading or downspout issues. It could be that a drainage pipe from a downspout is clogged and allowing water to back up in the pipe until it overflows or finds another way out.

Water can be very bad for foundations so you don't want to put the fix in the "only when it rains hard" problem file.
Your house being only 7 years old probably means you do in fact have a good foundation drainage system (depending on where you live...lol). You don't want to just seal the inside of the house side of the pipe, this will allow water to still penetrate into the block cavity, sorta like putting your finger in a dike approach. You may well be able to dig down on the outside to the pipe, clean the area and seal it yourself with an approved sealer, 8 block courses = about 66" and I'm sure at least 2 block courses are above grade on the outside so that would make the dig about 48".

If there is room around the pipe where it comes through the basement wall, you might be able to use expandable foam and stick the little straw like nozzle all the way through, this may also work as a repair.

[HayZee518]

hydraulic cement may be a help too as it expands when it cures. regular cement just sits there and may contract a touch starting a new leak.

[Robbie245]

Basement Waterproofing

You're going to need some drainage installed to relieve the hydrostatic pressure. This can be done inside or out. Look up "WEBAC" on the internet. They have a product called urethane grout injection. They can probably recommend a local contractor to do that work. They drill holes clear through your basement walls around the water line. They inject this urethane grout out into the soil around the pipe. The urethane grout will swell 20X its original volume and seal everything from the pressure created. This stuff works great!
Here's another good source of prevention and possible solutions on basement waterproofing ideas. They talk about some things you can do to lessen your basement water and also have some ideas on how to fix them. I'd really recommend the urethane grout though. I've seen guys get real good results. Its real "sticky"to and should adhere good to the space between your water line and the basement wall. Good luck!

[LazyPup]

Using concrete, cement or hydraulic cement is absolutely prohibited by the plumbing codes. Under no circumstances may a pipe be in direct contact with any cement product when passing through a wall.

The code requires that when a pipe is run through a masonry wall the pipe MUST BE sleeved.

To create a sleeve you must first install a piece of schedule 40 galvanized iron or schedule 40 PVC pipe that is two nominal trade sizes larger than the desired pipe, and which passes through the wall and extends out at least 2" on either side. The sleeve may be cast into the concrete during the initial pour, placed through a block wall while the wall is being constructed or it may be installed afterwards and sealed to the masonry with cement, tar pitch or expansion foam,

The desired pipe is then installed through the sleeve and the space between the inner wall of the sleeve and the exterior wall of the desired pipe is to be sealed with expansion foam.