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I have an old stone basement. Much of the floor on one side is dirt. I am trying to mitigate as much as possible to prevent flooding in my basement. I'm wondering what other people's experiences have been. I can understand some water coming in I've seen it come in through the cracks that are in the stone. Before I moved into the house there was about three to four inches of snow and raining on top of it which led to 6in of water.
Here's a few facts on the conditions I'm dealing with.
I have a sump pump that does work
I need to install additional gutters on the house with downspouts that go away from the house. The back of the house of butts a hill and that's how some of this water is getting in.
Has anybody installed new aluminum gutters recently? I think this will make the biggest impact at least initially.
Has anybody used a form of a Flex Seal inside a basement with stone walls? I don't know if this is a bright thing to do or not because the way how I see it is if water still gets in and starts to freeze that might break apart the stone.
Has anybody use protective chemicals outside along the stone foundation? I've seen some of this and I understand it is not to be breathed in but I was planning on using some of this in the spring so at least water wouldn't cling to the sides of the house.
Humidity for me is also a bit of a concern and I've been recommended to have a Santa Fe dehumidifier. These cost a few thousand dollars. I'm okay spending that type of money but I just don't know how that's going to run my electrical cost does anybody hear run more industrial dehumidifiers?
I have an old stone basement. Much of the floor on one side is dirt. I am trying to mitigate as much as possible to prevent flooding in my basement. I'm wondering what other people's experiences have been. I can understand some water coming in I've seen it come in through the cracks that are in the stone. Before I moved into the house there was about three to four inches of snow and raining on top of it which led to 6in of water.
Here's a few facts on the conditions I'm dealing with.
I have a sump pump that does work
I need to install additional gutters on the house with downspouts that go away from the house. The back of the house of butts a hill and that's how some of this water is getting in.
Has anybody installed new aluminum gutters recently? I think this will make the biggest impact at least initially.
Has anybody used a form of a Flex Seal inside a basement with stone walls? I don't know if this is a bright thing to do or not because the way how I see it is if water still gets in and starts to freeze that might break apart the stone.
Has anybody use protective chemicals outside along the stone foundation? I've seen some of this and I understand it is not to be breathed in but I was planning on using some of this in the spring so at least water wouldn't cling to the sides of the house.
Humidity for me is also a bit of a concern and I've been recommended to have a Santa Fe dehumidifier. These cost a few thousand dollars. I'm okay spending that type of money but I just don't know how that's going to run my electrical cost does anybody hear run more industrial dehumidifiers?
A Santa Fe dehumidifier really won't run the cost of your electric bill up much. I used one in my previous home's really damp crawlspace and it worked like a charm. I also use one now in my full basement. I only paid about $1,300 for each unit and got them shipped free. I did have mine set up by someone else as my crawlspace was extremely tight and I wasn't limber enough to get in there and drag the unit in as well.
Grade around the structure will- and with the assumption that the house has a stone foundation, there is no type of waterproofing on the exterior of the foundation. That makes the grade that much more important!
No amount of sealing/waterproofing on the interior side of the foundation will stop water/moisture intrusion- period! The only “effective” way is to dig out the foundation and do the exterior side.
Yes, you will never be able to seal or get a stone foundation to be water tight.
The best option to create a stone drainage system around the perimeter of the foundation walls that are leaking and create a pitched pathway that will pipe the water away from your house.
Well it turns out I was talking to another neighbor and there seems to be agreement about water. In a nutshell it sounds like there needs to be additional sewer drains installed.
It flows to a neighbors house and floods her basement, potentially can go to mine and then another neighbor is seeing his driveway erode (shared with me). He told me he's willing to spend $1,000 to patch it up.
there's also a power line that goes across (above ground). I was thinking if the town put in one or more sewer drains and if there was something with grants for electrical protection a french drain would go well going to the road.
I'll probably put a sealer on the outside on what's exposed. Gutters I think can help but like you said not 100%.
there's absolutely no way I could dig out the foundation being a hill and being probably 5-6 feet around that would add up. Unless I came into another five figures and had the time I wouldn't do that.
I have had the nightmare of basement water. Gutters did not help. I already had french drains in place, going to a gravel-filled pit, but still flooded during really heavy rainstorms. Since it was a finished basement, with carpet, this was unacceptable What finally did work was to channel the french drains into a sump, then use a sump pump to keep it pumped out.
I had the basement waterproofing folks come out, and all they wanted to do is dig a trench just inside the basement walls to catch the incoming water, then use sump pumps to pump it out. This would doubtless have worked, but the expense of the work, then getting someone out to remove/reinstall the bottom portion of the finished walls, and even HVAC folks to come uninstall my air handler and reinstall it, made all that cost prohibitive.
This isn't a finished basement although I can sympathize with that. My uncle lost a billiards table and a nice rec area. I have a sump pump but the only way to discharge it would be to get it to the sides as the hill would send it back. It snowed and we had rain the other day so I saw some of it. I already have a dehumidifier that drains to the sump pump. There wasn't enough water the other day to pool at all, much of it faded (I put a fan there). The main part of the building has water that pretty much goes to another portion and rain from both shoots down. It needs gutters even without flooding, I don't want an ice dam either.
I think what caused the initial flooding was that it was an inch of water on top of four inches of snow and it came down fast, the sump pump failed and to be honest none of the snow was shoveled. I have no issues shoveling around the house and moving it away. The issue with the sump pump is that I can't send it back and sending it to the sides might make it just make it circular. I rather not have it go down the neighbors driveway. Maybe it could be tied into a downspout
Thankfully we have never had basement flooding issues, but I prefer to prevent them from ever happening to begin with. Since we've move to our current home (about 6 years ago), I have run all of our downspouts underground anywhere from 8-15 feet away from the foundation. The water then either distributes itself underground into a bed of stones I've wrapped in landscape fabric towards the end of the runs or percolates up through a pop up lid if there is a heavy load of water.
In addition, as already mentioned by others, I have graded a few areas as we have landscaped the yard over the years and I make sure to keep the gutters cleaned (they have covers, but I periodically check them). I didn't do it all in 1 year, but over time they are now all buried and the work is done and so far so good!
I think what caused the initial flooding was that it was an inch of water on top of four inches of snow and it came down fast, the sump pump failed and to be honest none of the snow was shoveled. I have no issues shoveling around the house and moving it away. The issue with the sump pump is that I can't send it back and sending it to the sides might make it just make it circular. I rather not have it go down the neighbors driveway. Maybe it could be tied into a downspout
No; it's the grade around the house. Precipitation (in any form) isn't going to migrate into the ground when both are frozen. If the grade isn't correct, it will either stay stagnate or move toward the house (reverse grade).
The best place to dump a sump discharge is at the street- But, that's totally dependent on if your AHJ allows it. Otherwise, discharge as far from the house as possible.
Pipe downspouts to the street also (if possible), or as far as possible. Use solid pipe (not perf- it will clog with root growth) and pop-ups in the yard/ at curb.
No; it's the grade around the house. Precipitation (in any form) isn't going to migrate into the ground when both are frozen. If the grade isn't correct, it will either stay stagnate or move toward the house (reverse grade).
The best place to dump a sump discharge is at the street- But, that's totally dependent on if your AHJ allows it. Otherwise, discharge as far from the house as possible.
Pipe downspouts to the street also (if possible), or as far as possible. Use solid pipe (not perf- it will clog with root growth) and pop-ups in the yard/ at curb.
It's not allowed in my town. One neighbor got popped for it. It would be nice if we were allowed to, especially since I have a sewer grate in front of my house
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