For the most part, my basement is dry. I have had water on the following occasions:

1) During Hurricane Floyd, when we got 14" of rain.

2) When my water heater went two years ago

3) Every time I leave the stocking on the washer drain hose too long and it gets stuck in the drain, causing the utility sink to overflow. (oops!)

There is ONE area of the basement (where the floor meets the wall under the utility sink, why are you not surprised?) that gets some slight dampness/seepage during heavy precipitation (such as right now, when it's pouring down rain on top of Monday's 20" of snow). There is no downspout by that seepage area, so it's not a gutter/downspout issue (other than other issues I have with my gutters, described elsewhere).

What can I do about this? Do I have to hire an expensive waterproofing service, or is there a waterproofing paint or treatment I can use in that area?

 

hackwriter,

You could do a search on waterproofing within the forum and get alot of reading material. Home Depot sells Driloc which does an excellent job but if this is between slab and wall other issues may be at hand. Just applying a product to one area may hold it back enough to diect to another. From what you say, there doesn't seem to be much else going on outside unless soil conditions are questionable or high water table. You might be getting water infiltrating the block in other areas but it is finding it's way to this one location. I assume that there is a floor drain close to this area?

You may want to have a professional come in and take a look. Listen to what they say and go from there.

Good Luck!

 

There are no floor drains in the area, but there is a drain right outside the back door, which is maybe around 5-6' from the seepage area. The seeping area is slightly below ground level, because the property slopes and the basement is just shy of ground level in the back.

This ONLY occurs during very heavy precipitation.

 

hackwriter,

Do you think that you might have to do some outside landscaping? Maybe dig down along the basement walls since it isn't too deep and apply some 6 mill plastic along the basement walls, backfill and extend the plastic out from the home about 6 feet to ensure that no ground water is seeping down to foundation. Once you lay this plastic down and out, leave about 8-10 inches for final backfill and hopefully this would resolve some issues.

What do you think?

 

an easy, do-it-yourself, indoor sealing job.
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