Water in basement

6/22/2012 at 9:22:36 AM

Good Morning Anthony:

It would appear that you have a serious problem. It is obvious that the perimeter drain tiles are not doing their job. I would have a drain pipe inspector come in and see if the problem can be fixed by trying to remove the blockage. No amount of fixing inside the house is actually fixing the problem. Most likely, the old tile will have to be dug up and new installed and run either to the storm drain system (if one exists) or to a pit.

Since you have recently bought the home, I would check the disclosure statement on your real estate contract. If the home was checked with "no problems " in that area, you may have some recourse.

To reroute the water from the inside of the home is the easy band aid, but is not dealing with the fact that water is entering the basement.

In the long run, just imagine that if the sumps quit, or you had a power outage, what the result would be. If the moisture level gets to creating mould growth, then you have a factor which will not only affect your health, but the structure itself.

Chuck

6/22/2012 at 9:24:53 AM

This will solve the problem of water that gets in to the basement but the key is to stop the water from getting in to the basement in the first place.

I have a few questions for you as I do foundation repairs and have been for five years I would need to know.

1) are the walls finished?

2) is the water coming up from were the wall and the floor meet?

If this is what is happening then you need to seal the joint between the wall and the floor, there are a few ways to do this.

6/22/2012 at 9:29:32 AM

Hey water in basement guy, There could be a water table issue, so confirm that.

Weeping tiles not working? Have them inspected and scoped, Camera. down check to see if the system is clogged, and or working properly some times could create problems.

3 sump pumps ? Are your buckets deep enough?

And one last thing check the drain tie in, to your municipality's drain system.

Good luck, be wise and informed prior to dishing out payments to anyone.

Joey

6/22/2012 at 10:09:53 AM

The best solution to keeping water from coming in the basement and damaging things is to create a complete waterproof envelope around the entire basement.

Hire a company that specializes in this type of work. They should put a dimpled plastic on the walls (above ground level) and on the floor with all seams sealed. then lay down a wood sub floor on top of the dimpled plastic. After that is done then you can build your frost walls and lay down your flooring.

Before I do all this work I would also as suggested by others have the weeping tile inspected to insure proper function. The plastic will let any water that seeps into the house from the walls or floor to flow to the sump pump and get pumped out.

Another suggestion to aid in the water problem for when there is no power is to have a back up generator hooked up to the pumps. This will insure the pumps (if maintained and inspected) will always be able to pump out excess water.

Hope this helps

Scott Anderson

Sales Rep.

6/22/2012 at 11:40:32 AM

How old is your home?

Are you on the flood plain?

To me it sounds like a perimeter drain issue. You need to get the ground water away from your house by either replacing the perimeter drain or installing a curtain drain.

You could dig up a corner of the perimeter drain to see what it is made of it could be old clay drain tiles which usually fail or "big O" which tends to clog. Get it inspected with a camera and go from there. Most old drain systems fail aswell because your rain water leaders which are your gutter down pipes and perimeter drains are tied into the same piping and it eventually ends up being to much rain for the system to handle so the water backs up or leaks out causing it to go back into the ground and eventually into or under the house.

I am curious if the sumps where an after though.

If you do end up digging the drain tile up you could damp proof the foundation as well.

Most likely the water has undermined the foundation and weeped up and out the skim coat.

You could also install a curtain drain on the uphill side of the house to catch the water and re direct it away from the house into a large gravel box.

These are a few options along with what others have mentioned

6/22/2012 at 1:42:56 PM

For a permanent repair you are likely going to have to have all the weeping tile redone on the outside of the house. Changing things inside is not going to fix the problem in the long run, and with all the current sump pumps running in your home it may not even do anything for a short term.

Honestly you are the first person I ever heard of who had more than one sump pump in their home so I would definitely invest in getting the job done right so that it does not continue to cause you problems and cost you more and more money.

Good Luck with your repair.

Thank you,

Sherri & Dustin Depatie

Seamless Finishing Inc.

Office : 780-760-3852

Sherri : 780-297-0986

Dustin : 780-885-2231

6/23/2012 at 12:38:53 AM

Thanks for responding.

We had the contractors come in and tell us a plan. On Monday they will put the drain in, just too relieve the pressure of the water. They have called in a plumber with a scope to check the weeping tile.

Our house is only 5 years old, it has a finished basement and the water is coming up in the middle of the floor right underneath the frame for the staircase. Everyone seemed a little ticked with how the house was built. We do have the lowest basement in the area with 9 ft ceiling and a very high water table. I was told that redoing the weeping tile is about 150 per ft. With our house it would be a bit over 30,000.

Does anyone know of a good real estate lawyer in red deer or surrounding area? My realtor seems to be avoiding us right now.

Thanks again.

Rachel