Water intrusion in basement.. (flooring, foundation, heater, drain)

[bluemoon75]

Hello all,

Last March, the sump pump to my house died and my basement had water intrusion. Prior to that, I had the exit pipe from the sump pump redirected to a french drain that was about 3 ft from the house. (there was no room to put it elsewhere) Wasn't sure if it was the redirection that was the cause of the issue, so I just had the pump replaced. There was no intrusion again until the hurricane over the summer (around August). This time, had the redirection pulled out of the french drain and have it dug and directed elsewhere, it is working. However, when it rains for 2 days straight, water still comes in. Not as much as the previous intrusions, which indicates the sump is working, but still in the same area. When I purchased the house, there was no indication of water intrusion and when I asked the next door neighbors, they also said they never heard of water issues with my house with previous owners. I do notice that the outside area by where the sump pump exits can get rather soggy when it rains too long (which is where the water comes in.) Could this be a grading issue or could something have changed from all the redirection process? The original set up was a pipe that just shoots out the water.. right into the next door neighbor's driveway.

I'm trying to figure out who to contact regarding this issue.. a landscaper? A foundation expert? Thoughts?

[MrRational]

1) Unusual conditions (eg hurricane) will produce other unusual events.
2) Be sure the soil around the house is high enough to provide positive drain AWAY from the foundation.
3) direct the outlet pipe from the sump pump MUCH FARTHER away than 3 feet.

[Coldjensens]

UNfotunately, I have learned a lot about this problem. Both personally and professionally (on a much larger scale).

Here are a few things that we have learned:

1. Most basement waterproofing companies are scams.

2. You will not keep water out with paint, tar plastic or any other coating inside or outside our walls. You cannot turn your basement into a gian boat. The only solution that will work long term is to get the water away from your foudnation.

Sump Pump options:

We installed a secon sump pump pit and pump after a horrendous flood when the sump pump failed. We also put in water siphon back up pumps in each pit. The main sump pump pumps into 2" pcv (or 1.5") pipe that goes all they way to the ditch about 115 feet from the house. It was a lot of work but worth it. The second pump empties out at the side of the house at the base of a hill, but water still ends up coming back in. Not that much, but enough to be worth eventually piping it all the way to the ditch (about 200' away becuase the second pump is at hte back of the house).

To put the pipie in the front all the way to the ditch, digging tthe trench was the big effort putting the pipe in was nothing. We had to rent a trencher and when it did not work that well, we had to finsih much of the trench with a pick and an axe (for roots). We put most of the length in hard PVC pipe rather than that corrugates black stuff and glad we did. The back pump outlet was in that corrugate blac stuff and has been nothing but trouble. Changing it to PVC this summer. PVC costs a little more, but for us lasts at least 5 times longer.

We put in an extensive subdrain system using "form a drain" because we finsiehd the basement as living space (2 bedrooms, a bathroom, hall and general purpose room for TV, videogames, air hockey, sleepovers, etc.). It worked great for two years and then suddenly we had an occaisional little stream flowing thruogh one bedroom. All kinds of experts have no idea why. The form a drain and sump system is working and removes a lot of water. Still it comes in. The water comes in at the joint between the slab and the walls.

Some people guessed that an underground stream moved and now passes through our basement. Some suggested re-grading (tried it it helped but did nto solve the problem), gutters (ruled out), exterior dewatering pump (about $20K to install plus $4-5 k a year in operation and maintenaince costs),a whole bunch of paint, tar, platic coating or caulking options (determined to be stpud/scams, or at best very temporary solutions),

After considering and researching a dozen proposed solutions, most of which were scams, we will try installing a flattend pipe with holes on top that rests on the footing. This means that we have to rmeove the inertior walls, jackhammer up about 18" of the basement slab, instal the pipe and then replace the slab and the walls. If this does not work, we will waste about $20,000. ($10,000 to instal the drain and $10,000 to rebuild the walls and rpleace the flooring, carpet, drywall, heater piping, paint etc. - this is just a guess we may get lucky and cost only $5000.)


I am beginning to understand why more people do not finish their basements.

[akck]

I would suspect that you might have a cracked ejection pipe just outside your house. It could be leaking enough to saturate the area, with some seeping back in.

My basement leaked during a hundred year storm that caused the water table to rise and flood the basement via hydrostatic pressure. We didn't do anything about it because it was one chance occurrence. About 5 years later, we flooded again. This time it was due to a heavy rain that melted all the snow. We also suspected the city had something to do with it as they were trying to improve fish habitat by directing more runoff to the creek behind the house. A noble idea, but they started at the head of the creek and a bottleneck existed on the road just down stream from the house.

I put in a sump pump after that and ran the ejection pipe about 20' away from the house to a drainage pit I dug. The only thing I didn't do was to run drain tile through the entire basement. My hope was that the 10' that I did run and the catch basin would be enough to keep the water table under the basement slab. It's been 10 years and we haven't flooded since, but the system hasn't been fully tested yet (that is, the neighbors who did nothing haven't flooded yet).

[Coldjensens]

Oh one other thing. Buy A Zohler pump. Do not get the cheap ones. Spend a few hundred extra now and save thousands down the road.