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| My Foundation Is Leaking After A Big Melt | |
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| Topic Started: Dec 28 2016, 07:22 AM (1,623 Views) | |
| campy | Dec 29 2016, 05:44 PM Post #31 |
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Handyman Extraordinaire
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Those ball cocks in the floor drain don't work very well because the pressure on it is tremendous with the weight of water overhead. It will even lift the floor drain off it's anchors or break the cement. It's much better to have a backwater valve farther up the line entering the house in the first place. Then the pressure is all on the outside of the house. Another trick my neighbour and I used to use when a heavy rain pour took place on our street before they enlarged the storm drains was to block off the grates on both sides of the street with canvas so the water would stay on the street. Lots of water on the road with nowhere to go but who cares. Better than in the basement. I suggested to the city that they reduce the storm drain grates in half to alleviate the problem. I also had an idea to have a float in the sewer system to block off the water in the event of a big storm from going into the sewer system. I fought the battle of water in the basement for years. I never finished the basement off or even contemplated it until the storm sewers were enlarged. |
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| FuzzyO | Dec 30 2016, 01:33 AM Post #32 |
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Good thinking Dana! |
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| campy | Dec 30 2016, 05:25 AM Post #33 |
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Handyman Extraordinaire
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French drains are what they use on golf courses. The problem is that they eventually fill with fine silt and have to be dug up and replaced. For gutters or eavetroughs as they are called there are extensions you can hook up to the garden hose to flush them from the ground. There are even extensions for leaf blowers so you can do it when the leaves are still dry. It's a constant battle with homeowners. Edited by campy, Dec 30 2016, 05:28 AM.
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| Calm | Dec 30 2016, 05:32 AM Post #34 |
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Small Star Member
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Hey! Campy and others .... You sure are pointing out some great facts. Backwater Valves: http://www.backwater-valves.com French drain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_drain I sure learned a lot. I saved all the links to my "House" document for future reference too. I am ordering the products we perhaps mentioned earlier. I am gonna hire a taxi on some rainy day I guess .... to come and park outside my house with me sitting in the back seat so that I can watch for a half hour without getting rain soaked. Somehow, I gotta be able to study the action around my house in the middle of a rainstorm to know if I have really solved the issue long term. I'll be using a pen and paper, and thus unable to hold an umbrella too. Calm Edited by Calm, Dec 30 2016, 05:42 AM.
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| campy | Dec 30 2016, 05:58 AM Post #35 |
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Handyman Extraordinaire
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One more thing Calm before we leave this topic. What happens after backfilling when they build a home is that the soil drops down and the other thing that happens in cold climates is that the heat escaping from the basement also keeps the soil looser than from farther away on the lawn, therefore the water goes to the point of least resistance in a heavy downpour. So try to built up the soil and lawn close to the basement so that the water naturally drains away. Where I live now in an apartment, they pulled up the existing lawn because it was sloping towards the foundation. Then they refilled and compacted and put in new lawn almost a foot higher than the original close to the foundation. We will have to wait for a huge downpour to see if that works. But reading up on this stuff means knowledge is power when you are dealing with contractors or even yourself. Once you beat the problem you will be able to relax and keep it under control. |
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| Calm | Dec 30 2016, 10:02 AM Post #36 |
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Small Star Member
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Mid-Summer I had the house insulated with cellulose material. Inside/Outside and attic. The insulation in attic is 16" deep across the floor. I get access to the attic with some old fashioned type of string and Ladder Type pull down from the ceiling. The basement had all exterior walls insulated with pink fiberglass wrapped in stiff plastic. (Nailed directly to concrete walls.) Any spacing between top of concrete brick foundation and the 1st floor was patched with insulation. It is done for free as a Government/Gas Company program. Some guy comes out and does a few calculations, find out how much air is leaving my house under specified conditions. Then some contractor turns up and does the tour and tells me what needs to be moved or completed before his arrival ..... and a week later it was done. Then some guy comes and does another test and says goodbye before shaking my hand. Hey! What do you know about bird houses? Maybe we should open a thread on that topic? Calm Edited by Calm, Dec 30 2016, 10:08 AM.
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| Delphi51 | Dec 30 2016, 12:18 PM Post #37 |
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Member title
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Interesting thread! I've had a 40 year battle with a leaky basement. Our house is on a slope with water running underground between layers of clay in wet times of the year. The first thing I did was install a sump pump in a corner of the basement, on the high side (never a leak on the low side as water runs away from the house there). I found out the weeping tile drains into the sewer line through a steel flapper valve to prevent sewer going into the weeping tile - and the flapper was rusted closed. One year I took a semester off work and on breaks from writing software, I dug about 50 feet of trench along the basement walls, going down to the footings. I discovered that the builder had not installed centimetre size stones around the weeping tile and the tile (actually a plastic pipe with lots of holes in it) had most of its holes plugged with clay. I fixed that plus painting the outside cement walls with tar but what a lot of work! Years later a neighbour did it with a backhoe and providing liquor for everyone who helped. No leaks for a few years now, except during construction of our sun room on the high side. I now have a drainage pipe on both ends of it and no leaks last year. I know a guy who got a company to fix terrible cracks in his cement walls. It was done from inside by injecting a sealant similar to epoxy glue with hardener. Very effective he said. I bought several cartridges of crack sealant like that and sealed the cracks in our basement floor. Easy job. |
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| wildie | Dec 30 2016, 12:28 PM Post #38 |
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Veteran Member
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Back water valve cost $500, floor drain valve cost $5. ??????????? |
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| campy | Dec 30 2016, 03:46 PM Post #39 |
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Handyman Extraordinaire
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Peace of mind $1,000,000. |
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| campy | Dec 30 2016, 03:53 PM Post #40 |
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Handyman Extraordinaire
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My neighbour bought the house next door. No drain tiles at all and of course it leaked. So he asked me about drain tile and our company sold it and gave him a good price. But I told him that the drain tiles should be flushed every now and then and although I never heard of it before I suggested to him that he install T connections at the corner and have solid pipe come up to ground level which could be capped and then flushed with a hose as necessary. He did it with excellent results. I don't know why all contractors don't do that. It's a simple process. it's even simple to shine a flashlight down to see if the weeping tiles are working and I also think the aiir above allows the water to flow more freely. |
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| Delphi51 | Dec 30 2016, 04:09 PM Post #41 |
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Member title
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Another good idea, Campy! |
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| wildie | Dec 30 2016, 05:40 PM Post #42 |
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Veteran Member
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I had a house that had a T installed and it was extended through the concrete block wall and capped off with a screw cover. Never had to take advantage of it though. This place had an addition attached at a later time and it was where the new foundation met the old that a leak occurred. I had to dig down outside, point up the crack and apply water proofing to stop the water entering! |
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| Trotsky | Dec 31 2016, 02:27 AM Post #43 |
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Big City Boy
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If you have water coming THROUGH the foundation, you really need to deal with it BEFORE it enter the foundation. Seals on the inside of the house are generally useless.
Nice enviable deal, Calm. I have often wanted a single family home but when I read some homeowner nightmares I am glad to be in an apartment 150 feet in the air. Edited by Trotsky, Dec 31 2016, 02:29 AM.
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| campy | Dec 31 2016, 03:12 AM Post #44 |
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Handyman Extraordinaire
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The latest method on homes is to install a membrane on the outside walls. These membranes are sort of hollow except for one side and allow the water to drain to the footings and the drain tiles. |
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| wildie | Dec 31 2016, 06:06 AM Post #45 |
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Veteran Member
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When I was house hunting I seen some where they had excavated the concrete floor around the inside perimeter of the basement walls. Drainage tiles were then placed in the excavation. Then, dimpled plastic sheeting was fastened to the wall, extending down into the excavation. The excavation was closed up with concrete. The idea was that any water penetration in the wall would flow down into the tile bed. The tiles drained into a sump pump! The concept scared me and I quickly moved on to look at other places. I assumed that this method was chosen in order to avoid digging up a paved driveway. Where this house was located, was a swampy area that we used to skate upon when I was a kid. |
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