Waterproofing for Basement
Darleen To many variables. What needs to be done? inside? outside? French drain. sump pump? what is the specific problem.
ignatz Sorry for being vague. We only get a small amount of water that comes in on the floor in our unfinished basement during heavy rainstorms. We were told that we should get a sump pump placed. All of the work would be inside. Thanks for responding.
Companies discussed from last year:
http://www.hackettstownlife.com/forum/530353
These guys did work for me last year with sealing basement wall cracks. No complaints:
http://www.quality1stbasementsystems.com/
Vic Darleen
The first and most important thing to do before you start contacting people that are quite likely only to want to install their "system" at perhaps thousands of $, is to do a thorough examination yourself. The best time to do this is of course when you're having the heavy rains. Turn all the lights on and bring a good flashlight. What you want to do is to try to spot where the water is coming in. Is it coming in through the wall, near the top of the wall or at the joint between the wall and floor?
If you can identify where it's coming in, then take a tape measure and measure from the nearest outside wall. Once it's stopped raining, go outside and measure from the outside of the wall you measured from when down in the basement, adding 8" if you have plain block and about 1foot if you have brick over the block. push a stick or other marker in the ground there and look at that area. Is there a bit of water puddled there or is the ground damper there than the surrounding area? Back away about 10 feet and check to see if the ground there is lower than the surrounding area or if the ground dips down towards the foundation.
If a tree or shrubbery was removed from that area, the fill may have settled, creating a depression and a path to leakage. One of the biggest things overlooked in such cases is site grading. The ground level should be higher at the foundation and gradually slope away. At my ex's house, for example, somebody had done some work near the foundation and failed to properly backfill, tamp and grade the ground after doing so and they were getting a good amount of water in their basement. They called in a service who quoted them several thousand dollars to put drains in around three inside walls of their basement leading to their sump pump, as well as coating the walls and some other things.
After seeing where the water was coming in, I pointed out to her places on the outside that weren't allowing the water to flow away naturally, as well as where grass should be planted, after the grading was done. She now has virtually no problems, except when a tropical storm hits and all it took was observation, some fill dirt (she just bought some bags of garden soil I think), and some of your own work.
If that doesn't work, THEN I'd go for the various waterproofing professionals' ideas and prices. Best of luck!
Phil D. I can't thank all of you enough. We have much research to do, and this will get us headed in the right direction.
Commenting is no longer available.