FEIGN

Can anyone please help?

Let me start off by stating that I hope I explain my problem correctly, if not, I apologize in advance.

I currently reside in a split level home, the lower level floor is about 4' underground. Last year we had a pretty bad snowstorm, about 15", which is a lot where I come from. On top of that we also got 6" of rain the next day. That's when I noticed I was getting some water seeping up through my carpet on the lower level, all levels of the house are finished. I cant be certain but I beleive the water is coming in where the concrete block wall meets the concrete floor along a wall in my laundry room in one particular area of the "basement". Not all of the "basement gets wet. It now happens every time I get a lot of rain, 4" or more. But it is not a lot of water, and it dries in a day or two. And since it is finished I don't want to start pulling up carpet and ripping off sheet rock, unless absolutely necessary. The exterior yard of this portion of the house is a concrete patio, approximately 35'X35',it is also where my central air unit is located outside, so excavation would be very expensive. so I would really prefer not to excavate to find the problem or the repair. I checked and made sure that the patio is sloped away from the house. I am worried about mold and rot in the walls and under the carpet. So, I am wondering what would be my best course of action? I don't want to turn this into a huge project if I don't have to. I also don't want it to be an expensive one.

Any advice would be graetly appreciated.

Thank you.

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tropple

Hi,

A quick test:

Put a square of heavy, clear plastic on the concrete and then tape it on all edges with duct tape. If you see moisture under the plastic the next day, then water is migrating up through the concrete slab. Sounds odd, but it does. Concrete is porous and lets the moisture right through. Slowly, but it'll still come right through. If it's dry the next day, then:

Check the patio slab to make certain that it slopes away from the foundation. If it has settled such that the edge next to the foundation is lower than the outer edge, the water may flow down along the foundation and come through the cement blocks.

Very carefully, and with a very good light, check the joint between the patio and the foundation to verify that caulk along the joint is still intact. If there are any crack or it has pulled away from the patio slab or the foundation, then you will need to dig out that small (hopefully) portion of the caulk and apply new caullking. Frequently this area is caulk using a heavy tar/asphalt impregnated strip of material, though it could be some type of silicone or rubber material. If you need to recaulk, use GE Silicone II. If the gap is wider than a 1/4 inch or so, push some "backer rod" (a closed cell, hard foam rod that you can find at home depot near the air conditioner insulation kits, door thresholds, and foam weatherstripping) into the gap and then apply the caulk over that. Trying to fill a big gap using caulk is a bad idea.

PM or reply if you need more info.

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BadNick

I've found that many such problems can be aleviated by treating the outside perimeter of the house. Check all you downspouts and make sure they run the water well away from the wall, at least a few feet; sometimes you have to add an extender to the spout to dump the water far enough away from the house. Make sure that the base of every outside wall has dirt that slopes away from the house, I'd say the slop should drop about 6" or more from the wall to where it is level with the outside ground. If you go outside and look around during a heavy downpour, you might find that water is pooling near the house or maybe even that water forms a shallow stream while flowing downhill - if this water flows too close to the house, you will have to find a way to route it elsewhere, maybe using a shallow trench or even a buried french drain (buried pipe with lots of 1/2" holes in it buried a foot or so underground and laying on a bed of gravel covered by sandy dirt or surrounded by something that allows the water to drain into the pipe (not clay soil), the end of the pipe should be downhill away from the house. If none of that works, cover your whole house with a plastic bubble and get millions in government funding for a biosphere experiment.

kazoo

While my methods aren't necessarily cheap, no homeowner has called me back owing to water infiltration. I start with an excavation to ~18" below the footer, wide enough for me to work. I recover the refrigerant and disconnect condensing units. Pressure washing of the exposed wall area which is below grade prepares it for Thoro® Foundation Coating, applied in two coats with a wide brush. Then the bottom of the trench is stoned-3/4" modified is fine. A transit is used to verify elevation and that the stone bed is pitched for proper drainage. 6 mil poly sheeting is taped to the wall, and draped over the coated foundation and stone. Panels of 2" expanded foam insulation board are placed against the poly sheeting. Two runs of corrugated plastic piping are placed in the excavation. One is solid, and using wyes, branches extend upwards to accept water from downspouts. The second is slotted to collect water at the footer level. Both pipe runs are covered with more stone, up to ~18" from finish grade. A layer of geotextile cloth is then placed atop the stone, and the excavation is backfilled and finish graded, seeded, and strawed. This can be done in a one way run, or in a horseshoe, depending on site elevations. If permissible without creating slip hazards, the piping discharges at grade, away from sidewalks and driveways. Otherwise, I dig a pit about the size of a Geo Metro, end the piping there, and fill with ballast stone, creating a dry well for site containment of water. If basement windows are involved, a length of 2" PVC pipe with a perforated cap is placed at each window well to lead any ground water down to the drainage bed. Depending on site factors, it costs between $5 and $10K, but like I said at the beginning, it works.

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noblejr

Make sure you clean your gutters often too!

theburner

You may have clogged weepers (sp?) that aren't moving the water away from your foundation fast enough. That happened at my old house, and we had to dig up the Cedars that clogged the weepers, then dig around the house and lay new, clean ones. God I hope that isn't the case for your sake.

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gonadman

French drain and sump pit/pump

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Stang

Agree with checking your gutters, had the same problem this summer(crack in gutter), caused sitting water, and ruined my carpet in my computer room.