typical problem my basement started to leak. it ia a walk out but the side leaks water through a crack the previous owner "fixed". my basement is finished so this sucks. so i dug outside around the wall to the footing. so my question is now what do i do...i dont want to do this again so i want it done right. im thinking i should probably have a pro fix this. 2 methods i have heard are an epoxy or a grout that is put in the crack under pressure. anybody go through this lately? i know that the black pail of goo at menards prob wont be the answer. unless i use that after they seal crack. any feedback?
Anybody have leaky basement that they fixed?
- Thread starter redrev
- Start date
One thing about if you hire it out now should be a lot cheaper since you have done all the manual labor. Make sure you have a good drain system going on and plenty of pea gravel. I would think backfilling with a lot of sand mix would be good to. Kinda have the same problem myself. Basement doesn't leak but is damp. Dehumidifier is taking care of it but get about 7 gallons a day out of it. Called that everdry place to give me and estimate and way out of my leage so I am going to do it myself. I guess I will start on the inside with sometype of sealer and go from there. (estimate for my house was close to $30,000) and even though I ain't a contractor I have done lot's of stuff over my life and for what I have going on I can't see that price just to cure dampness. They want to dig around the outside of my house, seal it and add a drain, and then add two sump pumps inside.
my biggest problem besides the 2 cracks is the lawn is lowest around my house so all the rain and melting snow funnels to that spot. im in process of changing that too. it will costy about $800 to get the two 4ft. cracks filled with epoxy and the same for the pressurized grout. im not sure if it is worth another grand to spray outside after the epoxy or not. (i need a new sled lol) maybe just try epoxy and draintile and grade the yard to run the water away from the house. ??
I would fix the cracks like you said, but then the next money spent would be to change the layout of your yard... Have it slope away... Also rain gutters help more than you think to channel rain water away from problem areas too.. If you have a walkout anywhere near the leak area make note that any outside concrete, pavers, or whatever should gently slope away from you home also...The contractor who did my house said yard is #1, gutters #2... You can always fix a crack but water will continue to cause problems if it's hangin around.
m8man
m8man
favoritos
Well-known member
We have done a ton of work to fix the water in the basement issue. Gutters on the house into a full drain-to-daylight about 50 feet from the house. French drain around the perimiter, 2 foot insulation apron with a 2 foot wing. Relandscaped the entire yard and put surface drains in all the hardscape areas.
We still had some capillary moisture coming through the block walls. The house has an interior drainage system that has been checked with a snake cam. The block wall channels have holes at the bottom of each cavity to drain into the drain tile. I spent hours putting multiple coats of interior surface sealer on the block walls last winter.
Each little project helped some, but none were a complete fix. This basement has been the bane of my existance for many a Summer.
If you have already dug down, seal the crack and use a membrane sealer. You may have to dig back a little more to get proper overlap, but do it. We have the builders black gunky stuff on our walls and that obviously didn't do the trick on a 25 year old house.
We still had some capillary moisture coming through the block walls. The house has an interior drainage system that has been checked with a snake cam. The block wall channels have holes at the bottom of each cavity to drain into the drain tile. I spent hours putting multiple coats of interior surface sealer on the block walls last winter.
Each little project helped some, but none were a complete fix. This basement has been the bane of my existance for many a Summer.
If you have already dug down, seal the crack and use a membrane sealer. You may have to dig back a little more to get proper overlap, but do it. We have the builders black gunky stuff on our walls and that obviously didn't do the trick on a 25 year old house.
I would second what most people have said. We had the same issues a few years back when we were re-doing our basement. Had a couple of cracks in basement wall, I had them injected with concrete epoxy in them and so far so good.
We also got some extra dirt and used it to help slope the pitch away from the house. We extended the runouts on the gutters where we could.
We also got some extra dirt and used it to help slope the pitch away from the house. We extended the runouts on the gutters where we could.
B
babbaboo
Guest
X2 as m8man says. Even if you fill in the cracks, as long as water is seeping in around the foundation you will get water in the basement.
propjockey
New member
Water activated hydrophobic polyurethane foam.
Use nothing else/less. This product is commonly used to stop gushing water through foundations, dam reservoirs and underground tunneling. Very heavy duty stuff that expands 30-40 times once it comes in contact with water.
I have personally watched this product stop water shooting through a 1" diameter hole dead in its tracks INSTANTLY upon injection.
The good news is that you can inject it from the INSIDE. The bad news is, you didn't have to dig up the yard!
Best of luck and don't use any of that crap from the "homeowner" isle at your local big box store.
-J-
Use nothing else/less. This product is commonly used to stop gushing water through foundations, dam reservoirs and underground tunneling. Very heavy duty stuff that expands 30-40 times once it comes in contact with water.
I have personally watched this product stop water shooting through a 1" diameter hole dead in its tracks INSTANTLY upon injection.
The good news is that you can inject it from the INSIDE. The bad news is, you didn't have to dig up the yard!
Best of luck and don't use any of that crap from the "homeowner" isle at your local big box store.
-J-
mezz
Well-known member
As said above, landscape must slope away from the structure. Another good point is rain gutters with downspouts directing the water away from the foundation. First & foremost is the issue of drain tile or lack thereof. I would put in drain tile if there is none. Filling the cracks needs to be done which you can do with epoxy, or, good old fashion cement & a pointing trowel. Next I would coat or cover the fondation below grade with a "waterproofing" membrane, not "dampproofing" with tar. All of these are something that you should be able to do relatively inexpensively, especially if you are doing it yourself.-Mezz
booondocker
New member
I have fixed these very inexpensively, by digging down on the outside coating the wall THOROUGHLY with a thick layer of tar based water proofing and then laying a very heavy layer of plastic wrap vis-queen, which over laps two or three feet on either side of the crack.
I believe this works better than the injection stuff because the injection stuff hardens and could potentially allow for leakage if there is movement of any sort in the wall that cracked.
If you can get a better membrane, which no doubt they make, perhaps that would work better.
Then if you are dug down to the weep drain at the footing, make sure it is not plugged. Then using a piece of plywood fill the inner 6 or 8 inches of the wall surface area of the hole with pea gravel as you backfill the outer area, pulling the plywood up every 8 or 10 inches as you go. Lastly cover the pea with a good membrane that prevents the pea gravel from being plugged by sand/clay, or use straw which will last many years. This will work like a lightning drain down to the weep tile along the base of the foundation.
Then grade the dirt two to three inches per yard so that it slopes away from the wall, all the way around. Next be sure that the down spouts are carrying the water far enough away that it doesn't pool up next to the house when you get a soaker. Or worse because of soil conditions, simply soak in and travel right back toward the basement.
Finally if you happen to be in one of those sandy vanes of soil with clay on either side running right toward the house you might as well consider your home sittin on a river which will let the water travel thru the sand toward your home...in this case, you will need to do the French drain thing where you create a barrier to this flow-age by putting a foot wide pea gravel trough around the home complete with a tile at the bottom to carry to a lower area of the yard or street. If you don't have any place that is sloping away, you can put a sump pump pit at the junction right in the yard then pipe electric to the pit and use the sump to kick the water up to a drain that can slope away from the home.
I believe this works better than the injection stuff because the injection stuff hardens and could potentially allow for leakage if there is movement of any sort in the wall that cracked.
If you can get a better membrane, which no doubt they make, perhaps that would work better.
Then if you are dug down to the weep drain at the footing, make sure it is not plugged. Then using a piece of plywood fill the inner 6 or 8 inches of the wall surface area of the hole with pea gravel as you backfill the outer area, pulling the plywood up every 8 or 10 inches as you go. Lastly cover the pea with a good membrane that prevents the pea gravel from being plugged by sand/clay, or use straw which will last many years. This will work like a lightning drain down to the weep tile along the base of the foundation.
Then grade the dirt two to three inches per yard so that it slopes away from the wall, all the way around. Next be sure that the down spouts are carrying the water far enough away that it doesn't pool up next to the house when you get a soaker. Or worse because of soil conditions, simply soak in and travel right back toward the basement.
Finally if you happen to be in one of those sandy vanes of soil with clay on either side running right toward the house you might as well consider your home sittin on a river which will let the water travel thru the sand toward your home...in this case, you will need to do the French drain thing where you create a barrier to this flow-age by putting a foot wide pea gravel trough around the home complete with a tile at the bottom to carry to a lower area of the yard or street. If you don't have any place that is sloping away, you can put a sump pump pit at the junction right in the yard then pipe electric to the pit and use the sump to kick the water up to a drain that can slope away from the home.