Water seeping in from outside

[awd_ftw]

I have a problem with my garage foundation. My wife notified me there was some water coming in from the back wall of the garage. The garage is 4 years old, 22 x 22 detached with a 4" curb around the pad. I went outside and checked the exterior of the property. I have ice build up btwn my garage and paving stones, it's a 10ft x 6in x 4in deep area.

This area has 1/4in gravel with a grade sloping to the side of the garage and down the parking pad.

I dug a trench in the ice and cleared the ice build up around the corner and it was draining slowly.

In the spring or whenever the snow and ice melts, I would like to address this issue but I'm not sure how. In this area should I pack more gravel in and add a layer of sand to help drain the water faster? Or I can put soil and grass so it can absorb the melting ice/snow?

EDIT: After work I cleared the area and found where the leak is coming from:

I noticed in the first pic the ice is erroded towards the foundation, and its coming through a crack on the concrete curb. This is the only place its leaking from. What would be a solution for this? fill and seal this crack? or actually ripping the stucco off the effected area and patch it?

 

[Jsf721]

I am not an engineer but I have fixed
Water intrusion with a product called Sani tred. They have a very
Good CS to help. There is a sister company and if your a Business you can buy cheaper from them. Forgot that name. Sorry

 

[Musicinabottle]

It looks like it's coming in through that crack. As jsf suggested, some sort of paintable sealer. Only other thing I can think of is to put some heat tape in that gutter to melt the ice and keep the water flowing. You'd have to get it to lay flat on the concrete or attach it somehow right up against the wall or maybe in the gravel.

 

[Bondo]

I went outside and checked the exterior of the property. I have ice build up btwn my garage and paving stones, it's a 10ft x 6in x 4in deep area.

Ayuh,..... Yer paver walkway is too high,.....

All of the grades around the buildin' Must be fallin', away from the buildin',.....

Yer walkway is a dam, holdin' water against the buildin',......

No way in 'ell you'll stop the held water from seepin' into the buildin', unless ya drain the outside,.....

 

[jonshonda]

I agree with Bondo. Grade is too high. Maybe some aluminum flashing would help divert water away. But regardless, you WILL have rotting wood in your future if you don't lower the grade.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Ayuh,..... Yer paver walkway is too high,.....

All of the grades around the buildin' Must be fallin', away from the buildin',.....

Yer walkway is a dam, holdin' water against the buildin',......

No way in 'ell you'll stop the held water from seepin' into the buildin', unless ya drain the outside,.....

Yes, this is a problem that has been mentioned before by members.

Alot of times, builds have been done with a sidewalk area placed the same time as the garage floor is done. This does nothing other than create a future issue with water intrusion.

Like Bondo mentions, the outside needs to be lower than the inside.

 

[EatonEggbeater]

Not all this applies to your situation; poly crack sealer.

To directly address the crack, I've used 2 part expanding polyurethane crack sealer to close up a crack in my basement. (Poured concrete)

In my case, I exposed the whole crack, and hammer drilled several inches into the crack, making holes about 5 inches apart (3/8 inch.)

You then glue ******* at those locations, and cover the rest of the crack with epoxy to the top. The ******* also act as shutoffs.

They have you start at the bottom, (the stuff mixes in the tube, a caulk gun) and start pumping the stuff in. As it comes out of upper holes, you shut off the ******, and keep pumping, shutting off ******* as they flow.

Your leak is really simple, I'd drill one hole to the bottom of the crack, in the center, and epoxy cover as much of the crack (inside and outside) as you can. (Maybe another hole outside...)

Pump that stuff in, it bonds with water, so the crack should be a bit wet. Capillary action makes it follow the water in the crack.

You job is really small, so a full dose will waste most of a kit, I don't know what to tell you there, maybe a call to a poly supplier can get you a small crack kit.

Cliff's notes: poly injection worked great in my basement, even against hydrostatic pressure; it may be something you'd want to consider (among other suggestions)


Youtube "polyurethane injection leak" for videos.

Mike

 

[awd_ftw]

Thanks for the help and suggestions! This house was a new build and the grading is pitched towards the backlane. I had 3 different landscape companies come to get an estimate on the paving, all 3 said that the grading would have to be up to the top of the gray area of the garage which is what I sort of did. Apparently my neighbor's are the same way. 1 of the owners said that the developer of the area graded it to the clay so the house owner can landscape it how ever they wanted to. This was done last year so this is the first year the leak happened. This area is not a true 4" deep, I graded it so the first foot is flushed with the pavers, and has a slope the rest of the way, the only part that is 4" deep is the last foot. The exit of this drain was blocked with ice but since clearing it the water is flowing again.

As for this area I was planning to put soil and grass in this area, but now with this crack it would leak in anyway.

I know this is stupid but it looks like the other areas are dry so the crack is the culprit. So my options are
A: Fix the crack and fill the gutter with soil/grass or some other product/flashing like what.

B: Fix the crack and lower the grade, that would mean ripping out all the pavers and taking a layer of the base gravel off which is only a 2" base.

C: Another suggestion from someone from Home Depot said to fix the crack, and just add move paving stones in area.

 

[awd_ftw]

Re: Not all this applies to your situation; poly crack sealer.

To directly address the crack, I've used 2 part expanding polyurethane crack sealer to close up a crack in my basement. (Poured concrete)

In my case, I exposed the whole crack, and hammer drilled several inches into the crack, making holes about 5 inches apart (3/8 inch.)

You then glue ******* at those locations, and cover the rest of the crack with epoxy to the top. The ******* also act as shutoffs.

They have you start at the bottom, (the stuff mixes in the tube, a caulk gun) and start pumping the stuff in. As it comes out of upper holes, you shut off the ******, and keep pumping, shutting off ******* as they flow.

Your leak is really simple, I'd drill one hole to the bottom of the crack, in the center, and epoxy cover as much of the crack (inside and outside) as you can. (Maybe another hole outside...)

Pump that stuff in, it bonds with water, so the crack should be a bit wet. Capillary action makes it follow the water in the crack.

You job is really small, so a full dose will waste most of a kit, I don't know what to tell you there, maybe a call to a poly supplier can get you a small crack kit.

Cliff's notes: poly injection worked great in my basement, even against hydrostatic pressure; it may be something you'd want to consider (among other suggestions)


Youtube "polyurethane injection leak" for videos.

Mike

Thank you very much! I will look into this, when it comes to foundation or concrete i rather have a professional do this but it seems easy enough!

 

[oldmxracer]

Ayuh,..... Yer paver walkway is too high,.....

All of the grades around the buildin' Must be fallin', away from the buildin',.....

Yer walkway is a dam, holdin' water against the buildin',......

No way in 'ell you'll stop the held water from seepin' into the buildin', unless ya drain the outside,.....

Ayuh,..... I agree !

 

[jd_1138]

Yeah lower the grade, seal the wall, put longer down spout extensions. It's basic physics.

 

[awd_ftw]

Thanks guys for the tips and comments! Tried to diy the pavers but I ended up with a failed project.

I will look into lowering the pavers this summer, and my friend says he will help me seal the crack from inside and outside. I always wanted a concrete walkway so maybe next summer Ill hire someone to do it!

 

[JamesW84]

I've used polyurethane injection from Radionseal. Not terribly hard to do. Yours should be fairly simple. Mine was a 3/8" crack 8 ft long, so it took A LOT. They use a tar on the outside of basements, etc to waterproof it where the soil contacts, so you could do that to the outside as well.

The best thing would be the lower the grade as mentioned, but you could also maybe use some 10-20 mil very low perm (1 or below) vinyl and create a channel to your lower ground (driveway or whatever). Backfill with rocks or whatever, but be careful to not rip it.

 

[awd_ftw]

I've used polyurethane injection from Radionseal. Not terribly hard to do. Yours should be fairly simple. Mine was a 3/8" crack 8 ft long, so it took A LOT. They use a tar on the outside of basements, etc to waterproof it where the soil contacts, so you could do that to the outside as well.

The best thing would be the lower the grade as mentioned, but you could also maybe use some 10-20 mil very low perm (1 or below) vinyl and create a channel to your lower ground (driveway or whatever). Backfill with rocks or whatever, but be careful to not rip it.

Thanks I have spoken to a few places and my friend got some of that sealer from his previous project.

Right now that is priority and will be repairing the crack this May. I have decided to do concrete walkway but that will be next summer, so in the mean time I will be looking in a trench drain or French drain idea. I can reuse the paving stones for a patio project.

That vinyl idea shoulda good, put it against the foundation and channel it away. Again this is a temp solution for next summer.

I have cleared the water and ice, yes it's still -10 in April in manitoba! The original plan I did was 1/4 rock and I did have an elevation that would channel the water away, but this winter with snow compacted some areas making flat spots and unable to drain fast enough.

 

[SouthLake]

why cant you just install a french drain (exterior side) to carry the water away with perforated pipe. access looks easy. wont fix the grade but it will carry the water away. a band aid until you get around to doing your walkway again...