Waterproofing my basement, need help

Hello, my boyfriend and I just bought our first house a couple of months ago. We knew it needed some work, mainly cosmetic it's very outdated, but there's ground water from an old spring that used to run through here years ago. The house was built in 1957 and has a full unfinished basement with concrete floors. We are very handy and know plenty of people that can help. Our problem/plan is water coming through cracks in the concrete floor which obviously gets worse when it rains. There was a sump pump installed before we moved in so it helps but doesn't solve the problem. What we plan on doing to start out is installing drains under the concrete floor with drain pipes going to another sump pump with a batter back up. I have done a lot of research and reading on this. We also need to put some support i beams along the basement walls because they are leaning some. Eventually we are going to excavate around the outside of the house to relieve the pressure off the walls. While doing that we are also going to put french drains around the house as well. We don't have an issue with water coming in through the cracks in the walls but I might as well do it to prevent any future issues. We will also be grading our yard. My questions about the drains under the floors are, should I just do them around the perimeter of the basement or have some going through the middle of the floors too? How far away or how close to the walls should the drains be? And finally since we will be installing the I beams for support, how will these affect the placement of our drains? Should we do the I beams Forster and then install the drains a little further out or make it work to where they both use the same area and just put the pipes on the other side of the I beams? I don't want to take up a ton of the living area in the basement as I would like to eventually turn it into a bar/game room. Any advice is appreciated, thanks!

 

That is supposed to say "should we install the I beams first" not foster. Stupid iPhone

 

Your basic problem is that you do not appear to have good perimeter drainage. Is your sump just a free-standing sump or is it connected to perimeter drain tile (interior or exterior).

A functioning perimeter drainage system with proper backfill will reduce the lateral pressure (and stop future deflection) on the walls. It may also reduce the pressure under the floor, but since you mentioned a spring, it may be necessary to put sand and drain tiles under the floor to control that problem.

The drain tile should have the bottom of the pvc pipe at or below the bottom of the footing with 2-4" of rack/sand mixture and line the excavated area with filter fabric and do not gp with the chea[ flexible corrugated pipe with a sock because it is easy to install wrong and plug up or plug the sock wherever the is an opening/slot.

Dick

 

We plan on working on the outside eventually but we can't do it all at once since it will get pretty expensive. We decided to start inside to help keep some water off the floors to prevent mold and since it's cheaper. We know all of it needs to be done but it's one step at a time for us.
The sump pump is sitting next to the wall and there is a "hole" or maybe some kind of pipe in the wall right behind it. It does let water into the sump pump, although I'm not sure where exactly that leads to. It's about 3 inches. I would love to believe that there is already a drainage system outside the house but something tells me I'm not that lucky. I will try to get a picture of it after work.
Any ideas on the support beams for the walls and the under floor drainage system?

Thanks

 

I know you want to get this going as fast as possible, but to further Dick's comments, you must start outside and either confirm there is a drainage system in place or put one in. Nothing you do on the inside will stop the seepage. You are only redirecting it and the external pressure on the walls may cause problems down the line if you don't attack it first. Bandaid on heart surgery.