Need help to keep water out.

[Silverbear07]

My small shop floods when it rains. The water is seeping in between the concrete slab and the cinder block wall. When it dries out, how would you guys seal it? I have diverted all the water I can on the outside as much as possible. It leaks in during bad downpours.

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[b-body-bob]

The only way I've had luck stopping water intrusion is by moving the water somewhere else but it sounds like you've already tried that. Sealing it out never seems to work for long. Remember, the Appalachian mountains used to be as tall as Everest before water wore them down.

I've got a big water problem in a recently purchased property, so I'm subscribing to this thread in hope someone else has a miracle fix

 

[n8n]

How far below grade is the slab?

 

[kd3pc]

likely have to dig the entire perimeter and use one or all of several methods...french drains, membranes installed and wrapped, tar/epoxy/paint to resist the water flow, parging if the slab juts out past the block, etc, etc.

Budget? As it may be much cheaper to "raise" the grade, ie remove dirt and regrade a new swale that slopes away from the foundation/slab

 

[Silverbear07]

The problem is the house sits low on the property. I already have a French drain but it does not move the water fast enough to cope with the water, which of course drains toward the house. An issue I am trying to address as well.

 

[Silverbear07]

It is an older home and the people who built it went cheap when it came to the foundation and did not,think about drainage.

 

[jkwilson]

Got a picture of the shop and ground around it?

 

[theoldwizard1]

There is NO WAY to seal the bottom plate of the garage wall to the slab that will prevent water from seeping in. Eve if you lift the entire garage 6-12" and build a solid concrete curb wall it will leak. Probably less, but one one will guarantee that it will be waterproof. BEEN THERE, DONE THAT !

It is an older home and the people who built it went cheap when it came to the foundation and did not,think about drainage.

The problem is the house sits low on the property. I already have a French drain but it does not move the water fast enough to cope with the water, which of course drains toward the house. An issue I am trying to address as well.

You need to solve this first !

Likely the weeping tile surrounding the house is partially clogged. Dig all the way around the house down to below the basement floor. Re-waterproof the outside basement wall. Line your ditch with heavy duty professional grade landscape cloth. Add about 6" of 3/4" gravel and lay down 4" solid (not flexible) PVC drainage pipe connected to your sump pump.

You may need 2 sump pump pits and sump pumps if your problem is severe.

Do the same around your garage and connect it to the weeping tile around the house.

Back fill the entire ditch with 3/4" gravel with landscape cloth separating the gravel from the soil.

 

[Hunterdave]

Check out Sani tred

 

[n8n]

There is NO WAY to seal the bottom plate of the garage wall to the slab that will prevent water from seeping in. Eve if you lift the entire garage 6-12" and build a solid concrete curb wall it will leak. Probably less, but one one will guarantee that it will be waterproof. BEEN THERE, DONE THAT !

You need to solve this first !

Likely the weeping tile surrounding the house is partially clogged. Dig all the way around the house down to below the basement floor. Re-waterproof the outside basement wall. Line your ditch with heavy duty professional grade landscape cloth. Add about 6" of 3/4" gravel and lay down 4" solid (not flexible) PVC drainage pipe connected to your sump pump.

You may need 2 sump pump pits and sump pumps if your problem is severe.

Do the same around your garage and connect it to the weeping tile around the house.

Back fill the entire ditch with 3/4" gravel with landscape cloth separating the gravel from the soil.

I agree with this post. For the OP: "Weeping Tile" is Canadian (and possibly some places in the US) dialect for "French Drain." See, I actually did learn something from watching Mike Holmes

Definitely the walls need to be coated on the outside below grade and the French drain needs to be investigated if it is not working properly. Those two items are your first line of defense against water intrusion...

 

[Kevin54]

Need to see a pic of what you are working with. If the problem is on a gable end, gutters and downs won't help there. But if it is on a gable end, get a backhoe in there, **** down a couple of feet, tile the area, cover the tile with landscape fabric, add some baseball size stone in, cover with landscape fabric, then either fill with topsoil, or fill with smaller crushed stone for a so called decorative area around the perimeter. One thing to thing about is that if you have water coming up between the slab and the block foundation, you are also getting water UNDER your slab. If you would ever want to epoxy your floor, you may have some big problems.

 

[b-body-bob]

I found this Q&A on the Journal of Light Construction that talks about alternatives in case you really just can't keep the water out

http://www.jlconline.com/basement/q-a--cure-for-wet-basement.aspx

More detailed version of a professional system
http://www.jlconline.com/basement/foolproof-cure-for-wet-basements.aspx#

 

[pattenp]

My attached garage is below ground about 3 feet on the front with the lot sloping towards the wall. I have 6" black drainpipe in a silt sock below the slab level, block wall has been parged and sealed with black membrane, backfilled with tons of gravel, then covered with soil block fabric, then backed filled with soil. Sounds to me this is what you need to do as well.

 

[Hunterdave]

Silverbear, google Sani tred as I said above. This is a proven product made to seal against
Hydrostatic pressure present in basements. I have used it to waterproof concrete walls
below ground and it really works. Also have done boat decks and once you put it on it doesn't come off.

 

[theoldwizard1]

My attached garage is below ground about 3 feet on the front with the lot sloping towards the wall. I have 6" black drainpipe in a silt sock below the slab level, block wall has been parged and sealed with black membrane, backfilled with tons of gravel, then covered with soil block fabric, then backed filled with soil. Sounds to me this is what you need to do as well.

Sounds like a great solution ! Where do you send the water ?

The back of my garage floor is 6" below grade. I did the French Drain solution to a dry well in the lowest corner of the yard.