types of basement waterproofing

I have done hours of research on basement waterproofing and I have decided to either go with the baseboard system(interior drain) or go with a rubber based paint. Even with extended downspouts (mine are extended 6 feet) all the snow and rain in the last 2 monts have saturated the soil so badly that I see seepage occuring on one side of the basement.

The base board system will drain to a sump at the corner of the basement. I will have to drill weep holes at the base of the wall to relive the hydrostatic pressure and hopefully will stop water from comming in. However by allowing water to enter the inside of the house it will probably bring some soil in with it and I do not know if it will take a lot away to affect the foundation of the house. I have given it some thought and it does worry me that over time that excessive setteling will take place.

The rubberized paint actually seals the basement on the inside from. They totally seal the wall and floor with the rubberised paint and use some type of rubberized sealer for where the floor meets the wall.

Does anyone out here have any experiences good or bad with these products? It woud be nice to be able to convert the basement I have to usable living space and not have to worry each time it rains if I am going to find a wet spot in the basement.
Any and all hepl or input is greatly appreciated.

 

ming,

You may want to read through some of the postings within this topic for some ideas as to what you might want to consider.

http://www.dspinspections.com/basementwater.htm

http://drylock.com/H2Dry.html

Hope this helps!

 

Thanks Doug! Your websites did help. Now I am going to install a interior perimeter drain and also properly grade the outside of the house.

Now I have a question on grading, what is the best type of soil to use to grade the exterior land better? Would top soil do?

I am also going to place small decorative rocks around the perimeter of the house and should I use a weed barrier on top of the soil or plastic? I have done a search on this forum and on other sites but can't find enough information about grading. I hope this is the right forum for this.

 

ming,

You're very welcome! I am not a dirt man but you may want to post your question in Outdoors Forum in Gardening or Lawn for best advice.

Read this for additional pointers;

Rain gutters:
Maintain the gutters each spring to repair damage from snow loads and each fall to clean out leaves and debris. Add extensions to downspouts to take roof run-off water 10 ft. (min. 4 ft.) away from the foundation. Install splash blocks.

Grading:
The soil should slope away from the house on all sides of the foundation one inch per foot for 10 ft. (min. 4 ft.). You may need a truckload of soil. Old concrete walkways, driveways or patios that slope toward the foundation should be replaced.

Grass:
Remove flower beds, vegetable gardens, bushes and trees from around the foundations and seed the area with grass.

Driveway:
Patch cracks in the driveway using cold-mix asphalt patching compound.

Cracks:
Deep-fill all cracks and gaps with self-leveling polyurethane caulk, which remains flexible and resists water pressure. If the crack is wet or larger than 1/4", use hydraulic cement. Or your local waterproofing professional can fix structural cracks by injecting epoxy.

Window wells:
If they drain poorly, install window well covers. Or dig out and drain to footing drains.

Curtain drains:
Excavate a trench alongside the house and fill it with gravel to stop surface water from getting to the foundation. French drain with a perforated PVC pipe in gravel takes rainwater away from the house.

Dry wells for rainwater:
Install a 3 ft. deep hole filled with gravel and wrapped with landscape fabric against silt at least 10 ft. from the house, or a tank that allows run-off to soak into the ground. An underground 4-in PVC pipe brings the run-off from downspouts. Each well can usually handle runoff from a 500 sq.ft. section of roof.

Sump pump:
Sump pumps relieve excessive water pressure. Install an airtight cover to prevent the release of vapor and radon. Complete reliance on a pump is unwise. Many sump pumps cannot handle large volumes of water in severe storms, may burn out, be swamped, or the power may go off.

Hope this helps!

 

I have just spent the whole weekend grading the land to help with keeping water away from the house. Using a bobcat to move about 10 yards of soil is a back saver. While I was trying to fill in the cracks on the wall with hydraulic cement I found a few loose bricks which definetly contributed to allowing water to the basement. The previous owner had also placed a fence support pole right next to the house causing a low spot right at the corner of the house and also contributing to the water problem.

After installing new gutters and painting drylok on the interior walls and using the hydrauliuc cement on where the wall meets the footing, will hopefully get rid of the water problem.

I tought I'd just keep posting an update.

 

ming,

Thanks for the update...sounds like what you are doing is helping find the problems and your repair methods so far will be a benefit in the end!

Thanks!

 

Doug,

What happens to the water that flows into the corragated PVC pipe? Doesn't need to be moved away from the house? Are you sending it to your dry wells? I am getting ready to do the same project that ming just did and I had it planned the way you suggested but am worried about were to send the water in my curtain drains. Lastly, how deep should they be?

 

Scott Frappier,

Here's an article I wrote...

The best way of keeping liquid water away from a foundation is to divert downspouts away from the house, and slope the ground away from the house. In that way any rain, snow melt, etc. will not drain down into the soil near the foundation. For any water that does drain down into the soil near the foundation, and also for any excessive ground water already in the soil from a high water table, a perimeter drain tile and stone or gravel backfill has been the standard approach. This is a waterproofing system. The same application is done to the "interior" of the lower level and this works extremely well especially in older homers when exterior applications cannot be done.
When liquid water gets into such a gravel backfill, it quickly runs down into the drain tile and is diverted away through a pipe either by gravity or a sump pump. When a drain tile is used, but soil is used for backfill, the water can't drain away as quickly, so it tries to drain through the foundation wall. If enough liquid water is present, hydrostatic pressure will force it through any opening it can find in the foundation wall, no matter how small.
The purpose of the stone or gravel backfill is to relieve the hydrostatic pressure. With the correct backfill material, the liquid water will travel the path of least resistance: through the backfill into the drain tile, rather than through the foundation wall. I will point out that drain tile comes in two styles - rigid and flexible. The rigid has a slot on one side and this is installed with slot down. The flexible has slots on 4 or 6 sides, if you will but this should be installed with a silt sock over it. Costs more but prevents silt from getting into the pipe. Most homes, for interior applications use the flexible but either is acceptable.
When the soil is merely damp, as it often is, liquid water isn't the problem. When damp soil is next to a foundation, it will cause the foundation to get damp. The dampness will work its way through the foundation wall and eventually enter the basement or crawl space. Concrete and masonry are actually very porous, so dampness can move through such materials fairly easily. (This is done through a process called capillary action.) Once the dampness reaches the interior surface, it can evaporate into the basement or crawl space, increasing the moisture in the air.
To stop the dampness is relatively easy because, by not being in liquid form, there is no hydrostatic pressure. A simple foundation coating will do the job. This coating is called dampproofing. It isn't a substitute for waterproofing.

PROCESS: Remove about 16" space out from wall. Ensure that you are about 8 inches out from footing. Dig a trench along the footing that slopes gradually towards a sump basin. Trench approaches the sump basin from two sides. Drill ¾" holes into each of the block cavities (2 per block) in the course of blocks that sits directly on top of the footing. Water now comes out of these holes when it rains. Place 4" corrugated drain pipe in the trench and run this all along the trench to the sump basket. You may use a silt cover or a silt sock which covers this pipe of which then you would place 3/4" pea gravel over this to a level that leaves about 4" of space for your new concrete. Place the concrete all the way to wall - NO SPACE IS REQUIRED. Install a good sump pump and PVC piping - 1 1/2" out to the exterior and away from the homw for proper drainage. This could be buried and run into a drywell at least 20 plus feet away from the home on down grade.
http://www.dspinspections.com/basementwater.htm

http://www.binkleyandober.com/residential.php3

http://www.usinspect.com/Crawlspace/PerforatedPipe.asp

Hope this helps!