Water in basement at floor/wall joint

[Starchy]

Not sure that this is a plumbing problem, but don't know where else to post. It does however involve water.
I am asking for my daughter who is at a complete loss for solutions, and called dad for help. The house is 18 years old, poured concrete foundation and poured cement floor. Lots of rain this year and lo and behold, she has water entering the house where the floor meets the concrete wall on the rear wall. She has removed the wallboard about 6 ft wide now, and vapor barrier and insulation up to a small window, and found no cracks in the wall where water might have come in. She did find water on the floor, between the 2x4 bottom plate and the foundation wall. At times the water makes its way out into the living area. The bottom plate is beginning to be moldy and will need to be replaced. There is evidence of efflorescence as well. After contacting the municipal inspectors, they advised that the municipal building code for a house that age dictates that there is a weeping tile pipe drain around the perimeter, and is usually connected to a sump pump. She has a sump pump (on the front wall) but is has not run in years.

A contractor she contacted today, wants to cut the floor at that wall, by first cutting the wall studs at 48" high, then cutting a trench in the basement floor by removing 18" of the floor. He will then dig this out, install 12" of gravel, lay a perforated PVC pipe that slopes and drains the length of the of the room to a 2 cubic foot hole filled with gravel. Then he will cement over all of the floor that he has cut away and the room can be refinished.

My question is, should not the outside wall be dug up and new weeping tile pipe drain be installed? New crushed stone be added below the weeping tile pipe drain, and have that drain slope away from the house into the backyard which is not very big (20 ft. deep) and plagued with an underground spring? Possibly have it drain into a "well" of crushed stone? I also feel that an alternative to digging is that she needs to remove the deck on that rear wall and add soil to ensure that there is an adequate slope away from the foundation to help move rain water away from the foundation.

She has 2 young kids and 2 of the above options can be quite costly, so dad taking up the deck and adding soil for better drainage is the preferred route. Am I on the right track here, or must the rear wall be dug up, or is the contractor's approach the best way.

[mrcaptainbob]

Basement water....

Where are the downspouts? Any on the side that's leaking? If so, put on extensions that are at least five feet long. Does the sump ever have water come into it?

[pushkins]

Have you checked the sump pump to make sure it's even working ?
I agree with the "Captain" make sure any downspouts are well routed away from the building as well as grading away.
Is this the first time water had come in or is there signs it's done it before ?

The water entering where you described isn't unusual in this situation, the poured wall is poured on top of the footing then they come back later and pour the slab in between the walls, this leave a small space between wall and floor. When the water pressure builds up, this becomes an easy access point.

The cutting out of the floor around the inner perimeter and installing another drain is one way of addressing the problem. My way of thinking is I'd rather try to deal with the water "before" it enters the four walls.
If this is the first time in 18 years it has come in and you have had more rain than normal, it may well be a grading or downspout problem.

[kdahlin]

I have the same thing at my house.

For us it continues to leak even though we've had no rain. No pipe breaks have been detected. The mold damage was bad. Will have to replace wall board and some studs from rot.

I think a spring in my yard changed its flow. I have a company (midatlantic waterproofing) doing the inside perimeter trenches as well. $10,900 is not cheap. Two sumps will be utilized. Batter backups etc. They started digging today.

[Starchy]

Thanks to all who have replied. There is a down spout at one of the corners of this wall, and it only protrudes about 18" from the foundation. This will be corrected tomorrow. There is a deck that runs the length of the wet wall, and that will be removed and earth will be added to create a slope of 6" over 5 feet away for the length of the wall. The sump pump is 2 years old as I replaced it. It worked well at the time as I poured water into the sump from a 5 gal pail twice to make sure. My daughter said that it ran a little this past spring when the snow melted, and did we have a lot of snow. I will ask her to pour water into the sump tonight to see if it is still functioning.
Kdahlin, I feel for you. I have just gotten over a major mold problem in my finished basement. Water entry into my basement resulted from poor grading, and snow melt that rose over the window wells, and into the walls. Dried it up quickly, with shop vac and dehumidifier. One year later, bad smell in basement. Eventually, ripped out all of the wallboard, flooring, & insulation. Tossed all furniture, beds, stored clothing etc. Applied chemicals to kill mold and prevent future growth. Paid to have Walltite sprayed foam insulation installed, regraded the lot, new wallboard installed, and all new flooring. New paint, new beds etc. Also installed an Heat Recovery Ventilator, should have done that when the house was built 8 yrs. ago. Had an air quality inspection to be sure that we had done what needed to be done. Just about done and with lots of sweat equity, so far I am just over $15,000. Lots of dough for a retired guy, but we couldn't live in the house this way. A side benefit to mold eradication is health improvement. I have always considered myself to be healthy, but little things were starting to grind me down. Took about 18 months after mold removal, but I am back to my old self again. I highly recommend that anyone who thinks they have any kind of mold in their house, to have the air tested and get the mold cleaned up, after addressing why they have it. Improved health was the biggest benefit, but I digress.
Thanks again to all of the replies, and will continue to check back for more info, but I think it has been well responded to.

[buckofdurham]

The trench in the concrete floor. Should have a 1/2" layer of a waterproofing plastic on the wall, too. This lets water come in and go straight down to the trench. It is hollow and lets water in yet the part on the inside of the house is water proof. This just in case the wall were to leak.

I would definitley address the problems out side first.
Pull up the deck make a nice slope all the way around the house. I have seen people put plastic under the deck with it sloped away from the house.
Repair or install new french drains and sump pump.
Definetly check all the gutters and down spouts.
An other option if the deck area is prone to staying wet. Put a roof on over the deck.

[mrcaptainbob]

wet basement...

The very first house I purchased ($13,400!!) in 1969/70 had a cinder block basement wall. At three of the corners there was evidence of moisture. Outside those three corners were downspouts with just the short extensions. I decided to tackle it myself and hand dug each corner to weep tile for about a seven foot distance on either side. I then slathered on a thick coat of roofing tar and placed the thickest visquean I could find at the time against it, figuring the tar would be a better water proofing agent than the thin black coating originally there. The idea behind the plastic sheet was to help keep any dirt or rocks from scraping or scarring the tar down to the cinder block while adding a second degree of water protection. Back filled it in, replaced the sod, added the extensions on the downspouts and also followed some advice my Dad gave about slathering the walls with Add Rock. Well, the efforts paid off as it was a dry basement from then on! No more efflourescance either. Might've gotten away with just adding the extensions, but now I'm prefering to think the digging is what did it!

[Starchy]

Thanks to all who replied and helped on this issue. My daughter said that she will remove the deck, and slope the land 8" over 6 feet. She has added extensions to the down spouts and checked all of the gutters. Given the amount of rain this summer, the little bit of water than actually came in, and the significant expense of digging all around the house, she has opted for the easiest option first. The interior wall that was removed will stay that way for a year to see if the "repair" is sufficient. If not, then she will probably go for the internal trench, terminating with a sump pump. She lives in a link home and on the "shared wall" there is only 4 feet between the 2 houses, so digging there would pose another set of significant and costly problems.
Again thanks to all who took the time to offer great advice. It is all much appreciated and has given me great insight into this kind of problem.

[mrcaptainbob]

Wet walls.

Good approach. Hope this will solve the problem.