Water Proofing Basement

[Micscience]

I know this is a bit off topic but there is to many knowledgeable people in GJ to not ask.

I have been researching waterproofing ways to eliminate water into my basement and I know the typical way to eliminate water leakage is to dig a trench around the interior of the basement walls which then the water is collected and drained threw that trench using channel directing the water into the sump pump.

What I wanted to know is can I skip digging a trench and just place a sump pump in and maybe that will be enough? My theory is the water under the foundation will be removed and all I would have to do is contend with the wall leakage.

I get water on both sides of my basement but the back half of the basement stays dry. Just today I filled a 5 gallon vacuum 5-6 times from the rain fall to eliminate the water.

Any pointers are welcome thanks in advance.

 

[Hilltopmasonry]

Personally I am not a fan of waterproofing from the inside. I like to prevent it from penetrating from the source.....outside




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[Negen]

25-30 gallons of water seems like quite a bit of water. Most I have seen is water seeping in through cracks. I live in Pacific Northwest wet it is wet here quite often. Normally here we dig around the foundation and direct the water elsewhere. Similar to this photo I found on Google.

Any cracks should be repaired and the source of entry should be fixed. I have heard of people sealing the concrete but I never have seen that and do not believe it is standard practice.


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[johnnyradiant]

Not sure how well it will work.

Our house was built in 1908 and had a fairly wet basement. During a reno of the basement we tried putting a little ditch around one room to catch and get rid water getting past the exterior drainage and past the hand poured porous cement that had cracked. It sorta worked but not enough to solve the problem.

At an apartment building I look after we had some anecdotal success. The site was a low-lying site that prior to the build had year round water. The actual building never suffered any water issues but the yard did. The water table was basically ground level. You could squish across the back yard in the middle of summer. It was alswyas nice and green and rarely needed cutting - grass couldn't grow it was mostly moss. A few years later the houses right beside us that were actually higher were developed into a series of town house buidlings on top of an underground parking lot. Their project required sump pumps lower than our drainage system. Our yard would actually dry when it wasn't raining. A few years after that we had another project go up across the street. It was even larger with a multi-level underground lot. Our water table now is even lower. So if you had a pump system low enough pumping enough water yes it MIGHT save you digging around your house, but I'm thinking it might be a lot of effort and even a little trial and error until you get that system working flawlessly.

I think that really the bull needs to be grabbed by the horns and dealt with. Dig down, put in drainage, make sure your walls are adequately damp proof and put up a foundation membrane that wont let the ground water push against the walls.

 

[DGersic]

If your problem is the water level in the ground, a sump pump and drain tile around the perimeter is what you need. The pump should move the water as far from the house as you can get.

If your problem is rain water coming in, you may be able to improve by collecting (gutters, downspouts) and moving the water as far from the house as possible.

You may need both.



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[3onthetree]

Not a lot of info to go on, but just a sump pit not connected to any drain tile will not be sufficient, especially since the barrel would probably be sitting in clayey soil I presume.

An interior trench is not the first solution, it is usually only used when it is easier/cheaper than digging the exterior. Start with clogged gutters, extended downspout leaders and sloped-away grade. But that's a lot of water, so look to a french drain on exterior. Always attack the water before it gets inside.

 

[yeldogt]

You have to figure out where the water is coming from -- if it's surface water ..... best to try and eliminate from the outside.


If it's ground water -- from high water table the sump becomes a solution

 

[rossddvm]

It seems like major overkill , but after years of fighting water in the basement we lifted the house off the old foundation and set it down on a new properly drained foundation. we had gotten bids from a company that specializes in water proofing basements and it was only 40% more cost to do this. We also were able to go to 9 foot ceilings instead of 6.5 and have a finished walkout lower level instead of a cellar. Well worth an extra 9k in our case.

 

[Micscience]

DGersic thank you my issue is ground level water. The seeping threw the walls is an easy fix

I just hope that a sump pump without a trench can be efficient enough to keep water from flooding the basement floor.

Thanks for your input guys

 

[wrenchguy]

try it, under floor hydro pressure will travel to the pump if it can. BUT, rule is it travels path least resistance.