Leaky Basement
I have a house that the basement block is wet from the floor to about 1ft up. There is two spot that are actually leaking, but no cracks of the walls. Especially after all the rain we just got. There is a sump pump but I can't tell if the pipes are clogged or not. It's not on all 4 walls, 2 1/2 in particular? Does anyone have any suggestions what the cause and a cure for it?
Well, the one you should hope is the reason is just poor grading of the dirt around the foundation of the house, or a gutter problem dumping water close to the foundation instead of getting it as far away as possible.
A high water table is going to be the problem you don't want to find out.
We had that problem inmy family house.
There were special sealer that could be applied to the inside, but from what my dad said (a brick mason), the real way is yo dig along the wall and check the plaster an tar.
I second the idea re: focusing on the drainage outside rather then worry now about the inside leaks.
If the issues seem to line up when there is a lot of rain then it is very likely you can correct the problem just by getting the water to drain away from the house.
If the house seems to be in the path of a underground stream or something (2.5 walls) then you can sometimes deal with that just by cutting a trench, getting some rock and drainage pipe in there and filling things back in. The idea is to move the water away from the house so it does not have the time to seep in.
John
[addsig]
What kind of basement walls? Concrete? cinder blocks? Brick?
If any of it is exposed, just plain exposed masonry, there are sealants you can buy that will stop seapage through the masonry (a common problem). One is DryLok by UGL. I remember it will hold something like 20 ft/lb pressure water back. Just goes on like a paint. of course, always check the drainage, make sure the grading has a good pitch to it away from the house, extend downspouts, make sure downspouts are clear of debree, make sure the eaves themselves are not leaking.
The house is a cape cod with no proches or anything. So when it does rain, the rain pretty much hits the house dead on. Also, the way the house was built the top of the basement walls are pretty much level with the grade of the yard. So there isn't much room for tapering the landscape away from the house. It's pretty much flat. Unless I can go over and above the siding with the dirt or build it up with sometype of block or wood landscaping timbers then taper the dirt from there. The basement is block. Thanks for all the help and anymore idead or suggestions please let me know.
here's an inexpensive way I have solved this situation. Making sure that the ground abutting the house is at least slightly sloped away from the house, fasten a sheet of rubber roofing against the siding of the house out about 6 ft. Then flash over the rubber with metal flashing (paying careful attention to bringing this flashing up under a lap in the siding. Cover it with dirt or mulch and it should work unless there are other critical reasons why it is leaking. IE: Downspout drainage pipes clogged or broken or excess run off towards your property.
Hope it helps
Dave
I think I'm going to try that roof flashing that was recommended. I went on a home improvement web site and that was one of their tricks to,so I think I'll try that before I excavate the whole yard to re-waterproof the outside. If it still leaks after that then I know it's the water table not rain water. Thanks all.