Not my house. I have a friend that has a water infiltration problem at one wall of her basement. It is difficult to get equipment to that corner of the house. I know the best way is to dig a trench and dill it with gravel to drain the water away from the foundation but this is not easy to do. Is there another way to drain water away from the house?
Water infiltration on residential foundation.
- Thread starter Ceiling Cat
- Start date
You need to cut the water pressure there in some manner.
-Vary local grading.
-Active sump well nearby outside pulling water levels down outside, etc.,
A lot have operational costs, whereby gravel and footer drains are set and forget.
-Vary local grading.
-Active sump well nearby outside pulling water levels down outside, etc.,
A lot have operational costs, whereby gravel and footer drains are set and forget.
Maybe I'm not quite following... Water is coming in, so that gap/hole must be filled and repaired. You have to relieve the hydrostatic pressure from the outside or install something that can withstand it. Outside is typically better to handle pressure, but there are options for the inside.
Maybe hand dig and install a 'clay cap' layer to direct the water away from the foundation?
I'm not a contractor, but I've learned a lot from others on this topic, and I've had to deal with water infiltration before.
I'm not sure what measures your friend has already taken to fix the issue, but I would do the following, roughly in this order.
- Ensure that the grading is sloped away from that wall. Go buy bags of top soil if needed and add it to the side of your house to improve the grade. Lay patio stones that are tilted away from the house if you have to. You must avoid pools of water accumulating along the wall.
- Are the eavestroughs in good shape, clear, and functioning properly? Are the downspouts directing water far away from the house? It helps to walk outside with an umbrella during a heavy rain to observe where the water is coming from and where water is pooling. Take the necessary steps to direct rainwater from the eavestroughs away from the house. With the rains we've been having, I wouldn't hesitate to redirect a downspout 15 feet or more away. You can get creative with the downspout path if the property allows. Ideally, having downspouts spill water down your driveway is preferable over dumping water into your backyard, but sometimes this isn't possible.
- If the above two measures are implemented seriously, you should have eliminated most of the water source issue. But sometimes you still get water getting in, so then you may have to break down and dig. I'm not an expert at waterproofing foundations, so I don't want to comment on the actual methods. If you can't get equipment in there, then you may not have a choice but to dig by hand. Of course, this won't be cheap.
(I don't have experience with sump pumps, so can't comment on this.)
Good luck.
I'm not sure what measures your friend has already taken to fix the issue, but I would do the following, roughly in this order.
- Ensure that the grading is sloped away from that wall. Go buy bags of top soil if needed and add it to the side of your house to improve the grade. Lay patio stones that are tilted away from the house if you have to. You must avoid pools of water accumulating along the wall.
- Are the eavestroughs in good shape, clear, and functioning properly? Are the downspouts directing water far away from the house? It helps to walk outside with an umbrella during a heavy rain to observe where the water is coming from and where water is pooling. Take the necessary steps to direct rainwater from the eavestroughs away from the house. With the rains we've been having, I wouldn't hesitate to redirect a downspout 15 feet or more away. You can get creative with the downspout path if the property allows. Ideally, having downspouts spill water down your driveway is preferable over dumping water into your backyard, but sometimes this isn't possible.
- If the above two measures are implemented seriously, you should have eliminated most of the water source issue. But sometimes you still get water getting in, so then you may have to break down and dig. I'm not an expert at waterproofing foundations, so I don't want to comment on the actual methods. If you can't get equipment in there, then you may not have a choice but to dig by hand. Of course, this won't be cheap.
(I don't have experience with sump pumps, so can't comment on this.)
Good luck.
Grading and roof rainwater are the easiest things to check and remedy.
After that, without a site inspection to check soil type, general drainage in the area, foundation type and footing drains etc... it's a fools errand to guess.
After that, without a site inspection to check soil type, general drainage in the area, foundation type and footing drains etc... it's a fools errand to guess.
I had this issue in a few areas of my house about 20 years ago.
Contractor had lots of room to dig around the entire house.
My house was built in the 50's with block foundation.
The old clay weeping tiles were full of clay. Water had nowhere to go.
So entire foundation was given new weepers, 3/4" stone on top of tiles and wrapped with a water proof foundation(before tiles and stone was put in).
Expensive and messy. But had to be done.
How old is this guys house?
Try the easy solutions first, but if it's an older house he'll probably have to do what I did.
Contractor had lots of room to dig around the entire house.
My house was built in the 50's with block foundation.
The old clay weeping tiles were full of clay. Water had nowhere to go.
So entire foundation was given new weepers, 3/4" stone on top of tiles and wrapped with a water proof foundation(before tiles and stone was put in).
Expensive and messy. But had to be done.
How old is this guys house?
Try the easy solutions first, but if it's an older house he'll probably have to do what I did.
So many potential reason for it as others have indicated.
Down spouts not draining away far enough from foundation, poor grading, poor drainage to the weeper, high water table, possible water line with a break, neighbors grading dumping onto water onto your foundation, parge or membrane has been compromised.
I don't mind digging with a shovel and would investigate. Great workout. Essentially it's an educated guess till you excavate.
Down spouts not draining away far enough from foundation, poor grading, poor drainage to the weeper, high water table, possible water line with a break, neighbors grading dumping onto water onto your foundation, parge or membrane has been compromised.
I don't mind digging with a shovel and would investigate. Great workout. Essentially it's an educated guess till you excavate.
