dengle
06-01-2004, 12:26 PM
I recently purchased a home with a full basement and have some water management issues. First, let me describe my basement/land.
The land:
The water table in this area is very high and is magnified by the fact that the soil has very high clay content.
My neighbor recently informed me that there may be an underground stream near my house.
The grade of the land is towards my house on almost all four sides. It is probably about 1 to 2 inches per 4 or 5 feet.
The general layout of my plot is quite flat except for the grading of the land
The Basement:
cinder-block walls
The basement has a French drain and two sump pumps.
It also has supporting piers installed.
Walls are coated with a very old application of Drylock-type paint.
The current coating of Drylock-type material must be reaching it's end-of-life as efflorescence is forming through the paint in MANY locations (with no visible cracks in the coating)
The paint is also cracking and breaking off in some areas and I’m having seepage issues where ever the paint has flaked.
The high water-table is evident as water continues to seep even when it hasn't rained in a week or two. (The sump pump also runs fairly regularly)
The basement floor is extremely uneven. When it was poured, it was graded to where the center of the floor is lower than the walls, making any water issues that much worse
Aside from an abysmally damp basement, I normally wouldn't care to the point of making this number one project except that the French drain was not cut around the piers and, of course, seepage has begun on the surface of the pier, allowing it to leak onto my floor.
I would prep and paint it with another coating of Drylock, but the fact that it is CONSTANTLY seeping makes me wonder if it will ever dry/seal? In addition all 4 walls are in need of some form of repair as mentioned above
So, my questions are:
Should I strip the paint off entirely and skim coat the inside with some type of waterproofing concrete? If so, what's a good brand?
With the water table being so high, is there some form of exterior water management that would work? As stated, the grade of the land is unfortunately towards the house in many areas, which magnifies the water problem when it rains (I know, re-grading will be needed). However I don't see this as the main cause of the problems since water still enters the basement (and through the pier as well) even when it hasn't rained in weeks.
Should I install an additional weep where the leakage is occurring in the pier?
If I dig around the foundation and install an exterior form of drainage, will it even work due to the facts outlined above? If so, how would I get the water away from the house with the land being so flat?
I could cut a trench around the pier to allow the water to drip down the wall and enter the French drain. It would be a quick-fix for the water on the floor problem, but that would not prevent the walls from always being wet or fix the efflorescence issue.
I would eventually like to finish the basement with framed out walls and the works, but with the water problem as it is, I don't see this as feasible.
Since whoever installed the French drain left an open trench around the walls, would a vapor barrier of some type be a good alternative? It would allow the water to drip down the barrier directly into the French drain or would that merely hide potential future wall damage?
The land:
The water table in this area is very high and is magnified by the fact that the soil has very high clay content.
My neighbor recently informed me that there may be an underground stream near my house.
The grade of the land is towards my house on almost all four sides. It is probably about 1 to 2 inches per 4 or 5 feet.
The general layout of my plot is quite flat except for the grading of the land
The Basement:
cinder-block walls
The basement has a French drain and two sump pumps.
It also has supporting piers installed.
Walls are coated with a very old application of Drylock-type paint.
The current coating of Drylock-type material must be reaching it's end-of-life as efflorescence is forming through the paint in MANY locations (with no visible cracks in the coating)
The paint is also cracking and breaking off in some areas and I’m having seepage issues where ever the paint has flaked.
The high water-table is evident as water continues to seep even when it hasn't rained in a week or two. (The sump pump also runs fairly regularly)
The basement floor is extremely uneven. When it was poured, it was graded to where the center of the floor is lower than the walls, making any water issues that much worse
Aside from an abysmally damp basement, I normally wouldn't care to the point of making this number one project except that the French drain was not cut around the piers and, of course, seepage has begun on the surface of the pier, allowing it to leak onto my floor.
I would prep and paint it with another coating of Drylock, but the fact that it is CONSTANTLY seeping makes me wonder if it will ever dry/seal? In addition all 4 walls are in need of some form of repair as mentioned above
So, my questions are:
Should I strip the paint off entirely and skim coat the inside with some type of waterproofing concrete? If so, what's a good brand?
With the water table being so high, is there some form of exterior water management that would work? As stated, the grade of the land is unfortunately towards the house in many areas, which magnifies the water problem when it rains (I know, re-grading will be needed). However I don't see this as the main cause of the problems since water still enters the basement (and through the pier as well) even when it hasn't rained in weeks.
Should I install an additional weep where the leakage is occurring in the pier?
If I dig around the foundation and install an exterior form of drainage, will it even work due to the facts outlined above? If so, how would I get the water away from the house with the land being so flat?
I could cut a trench around the pier to allow the water to drip down the wall and enter the French drain. It would be a quick-fix for the water on the floor problem, but that would not prevent the walls from always being wet or fix the efflorescence issue.
I would eventually like to finish the basement with framed out walls and the works, but with the water problem as it is, I don't see this as feasible.
Since whoever installed the French drain left an open trench around the walls, would a vapor barrier of some type be a good alternative? It would allow the water to drip down the barrier directly into the French drain or would that merely hide potential future wall damage?