Basement moisture - tractor backhoe?

[fishpick]

When we moved into our new house the basement had some obvious signs of moisture on the lower portions of the front wall - and the "Christmas Tree" patterns in the corners. Well - I have added about 10' of pipe from the downspouts in the corners with the backhoe to get the water away from the house - and we also added a lot of topsoil and grading around the house to keep water away... that seems to have worked with the corners (as expected).

However - one wall continues to display moisture on it - and this weekend through a small hole in the wall (masonry joint) - there was actually a stream of water shooting out onto the floor (about 5" out from the wall) - which means there must have been a LOT of hydrostatic pressure behind those blocks.

I'm thinking that a simple "solution" is to drill some weep holes as far down on the block as I can.

I think the pumper we had was because of all the melting snow + rain and then the re-freeze of the surface... have never had / nor seen anything quite like that before. It lasted for a few hours then stopped.

Short of me digging out along the foundation with my tractor (not even sure the BX24 has enough reach for a job like that) and adding a drain in at the base of the foundation (read time consuming, lots of work, and expensive) - what else would you recommend?

The house is "newer" as in 1999 - and had a great gravity sump all around the inside of the basement - and also the blueprints show an exterior drain tile around the perimeter (which may explain why the leak went away so fast).

I certainly don't think this is a HUGE issue - but since we are planing on being here for years and years - and water and time have a way of making things worse - I am looking for opinions and thoughts...

 

[cjcocn]

Hi

Sounds like your weeping tile (exterior drain tile) may be plugged up with fines. If you have (or had) a high water table and your soil has a lot of fines in it, then your weeping tile in the leak area may have a greatly decreased flow capacity (hence the increase in hydrostatic pressure and subsequent presence of water in your basement).

If the previous owners had done the grading, etc. that you did, your weeping tile would probably still be good, but because they didn't .....

We had the same problem and, rather than spend my time and money trying partial fixes, I clearcut my yard, graded, added topsoil, ditched our septic field in favor of an ejector system, and somewhere at the beginning of all that I had someone come in and re-do all of our weeping tile.

It cost more money and took up my summer last year, but I wanted it done properly so that I wouldn't have to worry about it again. It has been bone-dry in our basement since we completed the upgrades.

My advice is to seek input from others (like you are doing on TBN!), including experts that are in the business, and go with the sure fix that has a reasonable price attached to it.

HTH

PS .... unless you can adequately seal a one-way valve into your "weep holes," you will actually be providing more access points for the water to get in.

 

[cjcocn]

One more thing .....

Depending on the circumstances, it may be possible to only fix that part of your weeping tile that is plugged up. Unfortunately, whoever does the work probably won't know for sure until they get down there and see what it looks like.

Good luck with this project!

 

[MrJimi]

Prep and paint your walls with UGL paint
and enjoy your basement
Jim

 

[2manyrocks]

A few pictures inside and out of that wall might help us offer suggestions. Sometimes it's just time consuming to run down the source of the problem (wet weather spring, water being forced up by pressure, clogged drain, leaky gutter, cracked exterior foundation, whatever.)

Taunton Press has some very good articles on waterproofing.

I wouldn't drill any holes in the wall.

 

[Paddy]

fishpick,

This is all to common. Too bad to because if the basement had a good drainage system, you wouldn't be facing this today. A good drainage system is: ridgid perf pipe sloped with filter sock, backfilled with washed stone or gravel 2' min. Gravel/stone Covered with septic cloth. At this point many will say, back fill with soil. I say back fill with gravel most of the way up. Back filling with gravel the full way allows a drainage plain and will not allow any hydro-presure. Water just drops down.

Now your situation; How do you intend to use this space? If you want it to ever be living space, your in trouble. If it's just a basement where you keep the table saw, well...

Is this a walk out basement? Can you dertemine where the drain pipe goes to daylight? Some say you can flush them out but I'd guess it only short term.

Otherwise, I think if you want this to go away with out a doubt, you will need to escavate and install a proper drainage system. I know it's a major pain. A friend had basement walls bowing in and leaking. He had a drainage system put in and back filled with 100% gravel. Now it's carpeted and has never leaked again.

Patrick T

 

[FULLPULL]

It could be your tile blocked out in the yard if it has a natural drain . Are your sewer or water lines in the corner that is leaking they mabe the cause.

 

[fishpick]

The blue prints for the house do show a perimeter drain outside the basement walls and also another one inside - the one inside is tied into the crock which has a gravity drain to way out back... the ones outside are tied into the same line and drain out the same pipe.
I'm wondering if the "event" with the pumper was simply because of the massive amounts of ground water and then the sudden re-freeze.
There would be no "easy" way to run a hose up to the front side to see about cleaning out the pipe - if it is in fact clogged.
The pipe to the yard is draining fine.
The septic goes out another wall - so that's good too.
FWIW - I did talk to the local home inspector who did the house inspection last year before we bought (he's a good and knowledgeable guy) - he recalled the wall in question here - and based on the fact that there is a lot of actual mineral deposit where it seems to be damp - he thought then (and thinks now) they put the foundation into a spring... as for the pumper - he thinks it was a ground water event... not overly concerned.
I guess if it becomes a problem again - I'll have to think about digging up the front and replacing the drain pip that's out there (what a pain that will be) - and of course - I'll need a bigger tractor than the BX24 with a lot longer BH reach!

 

[charlz]

and based on the fact that there is a lot of actual mineral deposit where it seems to be damp - he thought then (and thinks now) they put the foundation into a spring.

Do you 'always' have water coming out of the drain pipe out in the yard? Was there a lot of water coming out of it when you also had water going into the basement?

 

[dqdave1]

First; 10 feet of downspout line is NOT far enough; run it to an area that will get it away from the house; water seeks the easiest route. Since water seeks easiest route; normally through settling of a new house; a separation will occur between backfill and foundation, creating an easy area for water to collect; water then will follow mortar joints down to footer drain; if anything stops the flow; it seeks easiest path. In your case you have a mortar joint that has cracked open enough to allow water to enter block and it then fills block voids till either water pressure causes it to leak out or a pinhole in joint allows it to leak. Repairing the inside of the wall only masks the real problem. ( water getting into block).
When I am contracted to do this repair; this is my procedure and I have not had any call backs for re-occuring leaks.

ALL downspouts must be run away from house. ( Even ones on oppisite sides of house , to avoid possible water travel from those locations)

Using a 16" bucket, remove backfill as low as you can go, (finding footer is perfect, but 7 foot normally will work as long as you find gravel backfill on top of footer drain.

Once you find footer drain or backfilled gravel, clean up trench and wall best you can.

Pressure wash exposed block to remove all dirt on block. This will clean block and test footer drain for proper draining.

Let dry ( 24 hours)

Wire brush mortar joints to remove any loose material.

Apply silicone sealer to all cracked joints, look close for hairline cracks.

Let dry and apply foundation sealer or non hardening rustproofing for autos in a spray can for fast and nice results. Two coats.

Backfill with #57 washed gravel ALL THE WAY TO SURFACE. This way any water getting close to foundation can easily fall to footer drain.

Relandscape area, no more problems.

Backfilling to surface is key to sucess of project. Must use washed gravel so it will never comact to restrict flow.