Basement in Houston (River Oaks, West: for sale, work, houses)

[lduong]

I am building a house in Houston, TX Galleria area which have a small sinking first floor like basement about 3 feet under and we're constantly have water leeks. We have put in the pump system drainage but problems were not cured. Anyone knows the most money effective way to fix this problem. Thx............

[chris_ut]

Fill it in with concrete? There is a reason you don't see any basements in Houston.

[starkeshia]

Have an engineer come out and take a look at it. You might be surprised where the water is coming in, and why.

[lovesroses]

I didnt think it was possible to have a basement here since we are just 50' or so above sea level. It sure would come in handy for storing junk.

[Poltracker]

Well it IS Houston and Chris has a point. The only other thing I can think of is a perimeter drainange system. Good Luck!

[Va-Cat]

Originally Posted by Poltracker

Well it IS Houston and Chris has a point. The only other thing I can think of is a perimeter drainange system. Good Luck!

A tile drainage system around the perimeter of the house might work, the other possibility may be a sump pump. The problem there would be if its living space thats below grade, it would be an expensive, noisy and annoying solution. Definately get an engineer in to look the situation and give you some ideas. Sorry to say that I don't think that any solution would be cheap.

[babycakie]

Originally Posted by chris_ut

Fill it in with concrete? There is a reason you don't see any basements in Houston.

almost every house in River Oaks has a basement

[chris_ut]

Originally Posted by babycakie

almost every house in River Oaks has a basement

Well while I haven't been inside every home in River Oaks like yourself, I found that hard to believe, and sure enough not a single one of the 5 pages of houses for sale in River Oaks on HAR has a basement.

[icon7]

hmmmmm. I have several friends that live in River Oaks. I have been in $800K to $12M homes, and have yet to see a basement. In a few older homes in West U, I have seen basements. One of our friends say that their basement is always damp and filled with rats!!! they are going to rebuild next year and will not have a basement!

Originally Posted by babycakie

almost every house in River Oaks has a basement

[tstone]

Originally Posted by chris_ut

Well while I haven't been inside every home in River Oaks like yourself, I found that hard to believe, and sure enough not a single one of the 5 pages of houses for sale in River Oaks on HAR has a basement.

The basements are semi-interconnected as part of an underground network that only the River Oaks Illuminati knows about.

And now that I've told you this, I'm gonna have to kill you.