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I moved into a home about a year ago. Unfortunately, ive got myself into a house with a leaky basement. Its not horrible, but enough to where I am going to do something about it.
I plan on installing an interior basement drain system. I dont believe you are allowed to tie into drain right into the sewer storm drain so I was thinking of creating a nice looking swale.
Has anyone done this before? I have a decent sized front and back yard and Im not sure if I should have it go towards the front of the house or the back.
Im also not sure how the swale is suppose to end. Should I dig a huge pit if its in the back yard? A long trench if its in the front yard?
Any thoughts, ideas, links, pictures would be appreciated.
What your asking is a question with many potential answers. It would be really hard to recommend what is right for your situation with out pictures and/or more description of your yard.
The most efficient use of run off is to create a natural landscape incorporating plants and trees that can absorb the excess water before it runs off your property and into a storm drain.
Typically a swale is created to move water away from your structure and neighbors land toward a common public water run off area like gutters and storm drains in the city and drainage ditches in the county.
I create swales all the time for clients if they are not already present in the existing grading done by the developer. Usually I am upgrading the swales to incorporate plants, grass, trees, dry river beds, etc to mitigate excess water before it runs off the property.
What do you want? Cheap, Effective, Green or combinations of all three?
Also what is your budget? I don't want to know but it will determine your options.
Many links available in this forum already. Do a search for drainage, dry creek beds etc....
We had the same problem with the basement of our 40's/50s cottage that we are remodeling for our retirement home. After heavy rains or during snow melt the walls would practically weep in places and there was efflorescence on the bottom courses of block in a number of areas. No paint in the world would adhere to those walls, though over the years evidently plenty of attempts had been made.
We started out with rain guttering about 6 years ago. They helped but did not cure the problem. Spring 2010, we hand dug our entire foundation to the bottom edge of the footing, brushing then washing the outside to apply a water seal membrane over the footing and foundation walls to the soil line and added 2 inches of blue foam insulation on top. It was a PITA dirty work (we accidentally locked ourselves out of the house in our underwear after using mineral spirits to clean off tar on our hands/arms, not a happy moment) but that job was at least 75% of our basement's salvation.
We also had an ancient sewer line that had survived the '64 quake but it had too many turns, dips and pipe changes to efficiently do the job (it ran slow and was prone to tree root invasion) so we had it replaced right after the basement dig/seal was complete. At that time, while the yard was a big mess anyway, we bit the bullet and had our lot completely regraded with a swale and curtain drain system. The water was moved from the large sloping (toward the house) backyard to the swale and drain, behind the house (a shallowly buried large diameter perf pipe and isolated gravel field at the bottom of the swale) around the side of the house which is entirely a landscaped gravel drain field (dry creek bed) through to a buried section of drain field across the side of the front yard which now slopes toward the street to a lower section of the front yard at the base of a large rock retaining wall in the front near the sidewalk.
It works because the soil around our house is relatively dry now and (grass being greener over a drain field) we do see a greener hue all the way to the wall where the pipe terminates. Interestingly we never see actual water pouring through the pipe end though, even in very wet times.
After the outside work was done, we cleaned the internal basement walls of loose paint and gunk. We let our basement dry out with a slightly higher than normal heat and fan assisted ventilation for about 9 months and then applied an interior water resistant shield (looks like thick sand paint) that was approved for use over existing paint. We followed up with a very good oil based primer and several coats of durable latex paint after the the shield had cured.
The basement has been dry as the desert since. We keep a humidistat down there to monitor and even in the middle of our humid summers it's 50-55% max. No sign of paint failure anywhere though we've been through a snowmelt cycle and heavy rains.
It's worth the time and effort of doing the job right. A once useless space is clean, light, dry and above all functional. Good luck with your project.
PS: I would add pictures but CD doesn't like my jpeg file size and my tech guy (DH) is on a big off road backcountry 4 wheeling trip so it will be at least a week. If you still want them, send me a message.)
AK-Cathy, do you have a name or recepie for that interior paint you used on your block foundation?
I did all you mentioned in regard to exterior waterproofing/gutters, grading, except the interior painting and I still get the weeping with excessive rain. Ok, I didn't lock myself out of the house while in my underwear......yet.
BulldogDad is right about needing pictures. Where I used to live there was a lot of "squeeze in" building going one where homes were placed in what had been conditions no one had previously wanted to build in. Places like wetlands and and "dry" streams. One of the best ways to direct water away from the home without impacting other properties nearby or damaging wetlands was the swale (sometimes called a "bioswale"). Each one was constructed depending on the lay of the land, the extent of water expected and soil drainage. Often they were combined with rain gardens as a kind of detention basin to keep water from swamping someone else and allow for slower water movement. The short answer is a well designed and constructed swale will work for you if you have enough space.
Google this: "designing a swale" to see if you can find something similar to what you need. A lot of the pdf's are more from the engineering standpoint but will five you an idea of the variety of swales and how deep and wide they may need to be.
You may also find that curtain drains or french drains may work better if you have a small area to work with. Sometimes a combination of the one of the drains ending in a swale was the best fit.
BulldogDad is right about needing pictures. Where I used to live there was a lot of "squeeze in" building going one where homes were placed in what had been conditions no one had previously wanted to build in. Places like wetlands and and "dry" streams. One of the best ways to direct water away from the home without impacting other properties nearby or damaging wetlands was the swale (sometimes called a "bioswale"). Each one was constructed depending on the lay of the land, the extent of water expected and soil drainage. Often they were combined with rain gardens as a kind of detention basin to keep water from swamping someone else and allow for slower water movement. The short answer is a well designed and constructed swale will work for you if you have enough space.
Google this: "designing a swale" to see if you can find something similar to what you need. A lot of the pdf's are more from the engineering standpoint but will five you an idea of the variety of swales and how deep and wide they may need to be.
You may also find that curtain drains or french drains may work better if you have a small area to work with. Sometimes a combination of the one of the drains ending in a swale was the best fit.
Good luck!
Exactly^^^^^^^^^
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