basement leakage advice

Sankofa · Post by **Sankofa** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 2:27 pm

We closed on our first home a couple months back and, after the steady rain of today, we have a basement with more water than we'd like. I'm seeking advice as to how to best deal with some puddles and what to tackle when said water evaporates.

Oliver's Army · Post by **Oliver's Army** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 2:35 pm

1. How much water are we talking about?

2. Where is it coming from?

3. Is it rainwater or sewage?

4. How frequent? All the time? Light rains? Heavy rains?

5. What have you done so far?

6. Do you have gutter spouts that are routed underground next to the basement?

Sankofa · Post by **Sankofa** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 2:42 pm

1. How much water are we talking about?

some puddles, no more than an inch at their deepest

2. Where is it coming from?

best as i can tell, the corners

3. Is it rainwater or sewage?

rainwater

4. How frequent? All the time? Light rains? Heavy rains?

just noticed the standing water today, mild dampness in areas on lighter rain days

5. What have you done so far?

wondered why verizon has to mess with me the same time as my basement

6. Do you have gutter spouts that are routed underground next to the basement?

Nah, our gutterspouts are directed away from the house and have those concrete bases to further direct them that way.

sevesd93 · Post by **sevesd93** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 2:46 pm

You have to fix the problem from the outside.

Patching on the inside is only a temporary fix and chances are it will make the water come in through another place.

Like Ollie said, Check your gutters and make sure they are going out away from the house. Make sure the yard around the house is sloping out towards the yard and not down towards the foundation.

WBOB · Post by **WBOB** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 2:48 pm

7. Do you have any suspect tree/bush roots causing this?

8. Age of home, type of wall/floor(s)?

Oliver's Army · Post by **Oliver's Army** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 2:53 pm

This is what we have done...

Sorry, all answers will start with "BUY"

Buy a heavy duty cage fan, like 22 incher. They will dry water pretty fast.

Buy an wet/dry vac and suck up most of the standing water.

Buy a dehumidifier and crank it up to "high"

Once you get it dry, it may not hurt to buy a small pump sprayer and spray any wet areas with a mild bleach solution (1/2 cup bleach to a gallon of water) to kill any bacteria and mold that might appear.

Open the windows, cuz that bleach sh*t is nasty smelling and dangerous to breathe

Buy a 5 gallon bucket of DRYLOCK and start painting. This stuff works pretty well....use liberally and a paint a couple of coats.

It's essentially cement mixed with paint to help seal out moisture. If you have water streaming in thru cracks you may have bigger issues that a healthy couple of coats of DRYLOCK might not fix.

A good follow up is a coat of KILLZ primer to wipe out any staining on the new paintjob.

Our basement looked a million times better after a fresh coat of white. There are still a few *heavy* rain moisture issues but a LOT less than before.

a wet basement is more than a hassle it can really make a mess with the mold too.

Stay on top of it.

Sankofa · Post by **Sankofa** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 2:54 pm

Do you have any suspect tree/bush roots causing this?

there are some bushes in spots, but none I'd imagine would aid leakage to such a degree

Age of home, type of wall/floor(s)?

damn, I'll have to get back to you on the age, walls in one section of leakage are cinderblock (best I can tell) where an addition was made many many years back, others are sealed up and I'm assuming cement. The floors are cement, that I can answer with no doubt.

Post by **cwallace** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 6:51 pm

Is there a sump pump installed?

I take it this is an older home...from what I gather.

It can be handled, but it does take work.

I have a very old house on the south side that has a 'cellar' for the lack of a better description. It is now however, very dry with a few changes.

It was wet for the majority of the 12 years I have owned it.

Chris

sevesd93 · Post by **sevesd93** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 6:58 pm

cwallace wrote:Is there a sump pump installed?

I take it this is an older home...from what I gather.

It can be handled, but it does take work.

I have a very old house on the south side that has a 'sadomasochistic sex slave dungeon' for the lack of a better description. It is now however, very dry with a few changes.

It was wet for the majority of the 12 years I have owned it.

Chris

Post by **cwallace** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 7:00 pm

I prefer the term 'Sex Bunker' thank you...

sevesd93 · Post by **sevesd93** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 7:01 pm

cwallace wrote:I prefer the term 'Sex Bunker' thank you...

My Bad

Sankofa · Post by **Sankofa** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 8:18 pm

Is there a sump pump installed?

no

I take it this is an older home...from what I gather.

yes

It can be handled, but it does take work.

i'm all ears

GoDownProductions · Post by **GoDownProductions** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 9:23 pm

I can give you some tips when I come get that cd. My brother-in-law does cement work for a living and recently told me how to stop my basement from leaking. Too much explaining for me to type it all out.

adam atherton · Post by **adam atherton** » Mon Aug 20, 2007 11:38 pm

presently, the only person i know that is having these problems, or close to, is sevesd.

my last basement was REALLY wet, but it was because the sump pump was a POS (landlord was a cheap ass).

we didnt have wall leakage, it was all drainage backup into the basement. one good storm, we had 2' of water floating gear and autographed posters.

at least it wasnt sewage backup. throwing away a poster signed by BB King is a little better than throwing away the same, covered in someone else's poo.

i dont have a basement now, BTW.

Sankofa · Post by **Sankofa** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 7:02 am

GoDownProductions wrote:I can give you some tips when I come get that cd. My brother-in-law does cement work for a living and recently told me how to stop my basement from leaking. Too much explaining for me to type it all out.

good stuff

let me know what time works