Our house is a brick ranch built in '57. Several of the basement windows have begun to leak when it rains heavily. The windows are at ground level, have aluminum frames and are original to the house. Each has a window well lined with several inches of small rocks. Only some of them leak, but they all look the same, so I can't figure out what's working or not working.
I've tried those ugly plastic bubbles, but they only help slightly. I've had to bail standing water out of them in mid-deluge, so I doubt they're draining properly. Should I dig them deeper? Add more rocks? Do I need new windows? Maybe ship's portholes...Help!

 

quote:<HR>Originally posted by ShannonB:
Our house is a brick ranch built in '57. Several of the basement windows have begun to leak when it rains heavily. The windows are at ground level, have aluminum frames and are original to the house. Each has a window well lined with several inches of small rocks. Only some of them leak, but they all look the same, so I can't figure out what's working or not working.
I've tried those ugly plastic bubbles, but they only help slightly. I've had to bail standing water out of them in mid-deluge, so I doubt they're draining properly. Should I dig them deeper? Add more rocks? Do I need new windows? Maybe ship's portholes...Help!<HR>

Dear Shannon,It sounds as though your basement windows are operating pretty much the way they are supposed to. That leaves drainage as the source of your problem. You need to build new window well drains. These can be constructed on the outside of the home with drainage to either an interior or exterior drain line.For the exterior window well: Dig out around each window,creating a hole approximately 4feet deep below the base of the window. The hole should be about 3feet wide and extend about 3feet out from the house wall.From the base of the hole create a trench which is on a gradual downward slope of approximately 1inch down for each 10feet of travel. Run the trench to daylight,or to a dry well.Line the trench with a base of 2b or pea gravel.Into the length of the window and along the trench lay flexible 4inch perforated pipe(accept no substitute for this type of pipe). Make sure that the perforations are up, and the solid portion of the pipe is down. Be sure to maintain the downward grade (slope)of the pipe as it proceeds toward daylight(ground level).Fill the entire hole and trench with gravel-the more the better-thus burying the pipe &filling the hole beneath the window..Leave about a foot for top soil along the top of trench.Fill the hole beneath the window with gravel to the base of the window.It is o.k. to connect several windows along the pipe line,since it will have plenty of flow capacity.
If for some reason you cannot run the pipe line to dayligt or to a dry well,we will need to construct an interior drain.This proceedure is too involved to describe here.Also,this answer presumes that your basement is not leaking water in any other area.
In any case,you may wish to learn more about this subject ,because water can be a frustrating adversary.There is additional input available at www.mydrybasement.com
Best Wishes,Jack Masters

 

quote:<HR>Originally posted by Jack Masters:
Dear Shannon,It sounds as though your basement windows are operating pretty much the way they are supposed to. That leaves drainage as the source of your problem. You need to build new window well drains. These can be constructed on the outside of the home with drainage to either an interior or exterior drain line.For the exterior window well: Dig out around each window,creating a hole approximately 4feet deep below the base of the window. The hole should be about 3feet wide and extend about 3feet out from the house wall.From the base of the hole create a trench which is on a gradual downward slope of approximately 1inch down for each 10feet of travel. Run the trench to daylight,or to a dry well.Line the trench with a base of 2b or pea gravel.Into the length of the window and along the trench lay flexible 4inch perforated pipe(accept no substitute for this type of pipe). Make sure that the perforations are up, and the solid portion of the pipe is down. Be sure to maintain the downward grade (slope)of the pipe as it proceeds toward daylight(ground level).Fill the entire hole and trench with gravel-the more the better-thus burying the pipe &filling the hole beneath the window..Leave about a foot for top soil along the top of trench.Fill the hole beneath the window with gravel to the base of the window.It is o.k. to connect several windows along the pipe line,since it will have plenty of flow capacity.
If for some reason you cannot run the pipe line to dayligt or to a dry well,we will need to construct an interior drain.This proceedure is too involved to describe here.Also,this answer presumes that your basement is not leaking water in any other area.
In any case,you may wish to learn more about this subject ,because water can be a frustrating adversary.There is additional input available at www.mydrybasement.com
Best Wishes,Jack Masters<HR>

 

quote:<HR>[B] Dear Shannon, First, if you haven't already done so, check your gutters and downspouts. You'd be amazed at how many times this is the actual cause of the problem. Then I'd look carefully at the slope of the yard near the windows that leak. Often some easy backfilling to make the drainage go away from the house/window well is all that it takes.[B]<HR>