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Erehwon wrote:
> 35 year old house has a basement with relatively minor seepage problems that
> I would like to stop. Generally just get a small amount of water running from
> walls to floor drain after a heavy rain but have had, on perhaps 3-4
> occasions over the past 10 years, up to several inches when the sump pump
> just couldn't keep up. Inside walls have had a water proofing material
> applied (almost like a mixture of cement and paint) but last prolonged
> period of heavy rain caused some of that to start popping off. Options I have
> seen are trenching out around the basement and applying a sealer to outside,
> injecting a clay type material into the ground around the basement to seal
> it off, drilling holes in the bottom row of concrete blocks inside the
> basement and using short sections of hose to connect to a header and then
> the sump, etc. I would like to see if there's a consensus on the most cost
> effective (emphasis on effective) method that has actually worked for people
> to the advertising B.S. that I generally find on-line. I would also like to
> know which methods generally wind up being a waste of time and money. Will
> probably be selling in 5-10 years. Grading appears to be good, sloping away
> from house, and gutters have also been directed away from house.
We put in a BDry system (french drain) at our old house as we were
having the same kind of major water issues that it sounds you're
having. Cost around $3k (1998), all water issues stopped.
In our current house, we regraded and installed drywell connections
from the downspouts (about $3k, 2004) -- based on the slope of the yard
and configuration of the house, this approach made more sense than
BDry. (And it also meant that we no longer had the mosquito-puddle or
ice skating mini pond right outside.)
In the interim house, we just used the waterproof-paint stuff (2001),
as the seepage was trivial -- almost at the 'condensation' level of a
small hand-sized patch after the umpteenth 'hundred year rainstorm.' ,
BDry laughed at us when we called them out -- said point-blank that it
would be a waste of our money and complete overkill, and suggested we
just paint the wall.
I think the answer depends on the problem -- for what you're
experiencing, it sounds like giving BDry a call might be a good idea.
Not sure of how to calculate payback, given that a wet basement is
unusable (imo).
Caledonia
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Re: Basement "Seepage" Solution
