First. One wall of our basement is discolored with mold. How do I clean this? Second I will excavating the soil on the exterior of this wall to check for cracks. What's the best product for waterproofing the exterior of block wall? Thanks for the help.

Well, it's spring again and the waterfall that is my back yard has come to life once more :-( Here's the situation: 1) We put in a wood basement a few years ago. The contractor took us for a ride on a number of things; the relevant one here being that the grade on our yard is lower than both nextdoor neighbours. We are a catch basin for everyone around us. 2) Our 3 basement windows were supposed to be above grade, 2 aren't. The one facing our back yard is the lowest. 3) I installed metal window wells around all of them, dug down a few feet, and filled them with 3/4" stone (to about 6" below the windows). They all drain well during the summer but this year, and once or twice in the past, the backyard window well iced over. As the snow melts in the back yard, it fills the well, water seeps in under the window sill, down the wall and across the floor. I know that I will have to do some landscaping in the summer but before I wall up the leaking window, are there any other alternatives? I was thinking of sinking a PVC pipe punched full of holes into the window well below the frost line but will that drain if it ices up on top? Open for suggestions. Chris