Ok,
I have all ways had water in my basement,just ask anyone who has been over.:bc: Well the rain and snow put me over the the edge the past few days.
I ripped down the sheet rock and found a hair line crack 4 ft long with water flowing out.
Should I try and repair it? Has anyone down this before? or call in the contractors at 545.00 per crack!
They in-ject something into the wall.
Or have a sub-pump installed ?

Help please
VB

I did a crack like that before myself

I took a brick hammer and chiseled it out to a v shape, then mixed up hydraulic cement and put on rubber gloves and wet the surface then smeared it on pressing hard to fill it. It worked, but if you have water flowing, that may not work for you Peter. You must have alot of water pressurs on your foundation.good luck

IMHO a sump pump with a french drain in the basement is the way to go. I think if the one crack gets filled the next will be right around the corner. I live in an area with a high water table, to stop our water problem, I buried a 6gallon bucket drilled full of holes outside the enterance to my basement, so the water hits and gets diverted here vs. my basement. good luck.

IMHO a sump pump with a french drain in the basement is the way to go. I think if the one crack gets filled the next will be right around the corner. I live in an area with a high water table, to stop our water problem, I buried a 6gallon bucket drilled full of holes outside the enterance to my basement, so the water hits and gets diverted here vs. my basement. good luck.

Yes a french drain is the way to go, I agree, for $5,500.00 ouch
VB

At this point if the crack is big I would fill the crack with hydraulic cement. You can put this on while it is still leaking. That should stop the leak and fill any void. But if it is really tiny you many have some difficulty and have to open it up a bit.

IMO the best way to stop leaks is to work the problem from the outside, ie fix the drainage. Do you have good drainage? Is water pooling near the foundation? Do you have gutters? If you fix this most of the time you can keep the area around the house pretty dry and keep the water pressure from working on the foundation. If it is still a problem one way to insure good drainage is to install a perforated PVC pipe in a gravel filled trough all around the perimeter of the house with drain pipes running away from the house . Its a job but you will have a dry basement.

Lots of houses in NE don't have gutters and most NE'er hate gutters....but many NE'ers also have damp and wet basements and just use the place for storage they don't finish off the lower level. If you go down south...most people have quality living space down there and finish off to the same level as the main living space. Builders take a lot more care about drainage. (Just a personal observation from places I have lived)

Bottom line, fix the drainage so there is nothing to leak in. If it is not a drainage issue (surface run off) and is coming up from below...ie you live in a area with a very high water table, you have to punch a hole in the floor and dig a big pit, fill it with gravel and install a good sump pump and go what I call the "bilge pump" approach. If that was my house I would install all this then move. I don't like water pressure coming up from below. It is just a matter of time before you have a major foundation problem.

How's your roof drainage? You need to have your conductor pipes discharging as far away from the foundation as possible. Adding a sump and repairing the cracks are probably the way to go.

theres some grey caulking made especially for adhering to cement at the home depot... but the problem is being created outside your foundation. the water damage thing is an obvious problem but when your walls start growing mold on the backside of your sheet rock the house becomes unlivable and a danger to your life. So my point being , don't try the quick fix here....better to over kill it and quickly.

if it were my house, I'd dig the soil around the foundation away and put grey caulking on the outside of that crack covered by peel and stick ice dam barrier for roof edges there...and bullet proof it... then i'd install a ventilated black poly pipe in a gravel swale to wisk that water away forever to a lower than the crack -> direction.

also it's a good idea ...when it's pouring outside to throw on your rain gear (take your time here) and stand back and watch exactly how the yard and roof is handling the run off.... and where its going or coming from.

$5500 :eek5: now I know why my buddy was so happy i helped him put one in his basement last year.

It was a hell of a job, but those monster saws that cut the concrete are da balls.

I'v eused that Hydraulic cement before for just that scenario and the stuff worked Pissah. Give that a try on the crack and see if it works.

Thanks for all the advice guys,
And yes it's a very high water table, the rest of the homes were build on slab's.
VB

Thanks for all the advice guys,
And yes it's a very high water table, the rest of the homes were build on slab's.
VB

Sounds familiar. The house I bought during my first marraige had the same problem. I realized after we moved in that we had the only house on the block with a basement and found out why very shortly thereafter :wall:

The only permanent fix was a sump pump and a French drain.

This time of the year is especially bad. I stayed there over the weekend while visitng my kids and the pump kicks in like clockwork every 5-7 minutes.

You also want an auxiliary battery powered pump.

The entire slope on the Tiverton side of the Sakonnet river bridge has a very high water table, and in many places open springs that flood basements and roads. It makes for some wicked ice in the winter.

Our cottage is built on a very steep slope, with a stone rubble foundation (original) and dirt cellar at a higher grade (around 12") than our finished basement (addition).

Needless to say, this configuration sucks big time. We have a sump in the cellar, but during very heavy rain, or worse when we had that slush followed by rain the system gets overloaded...and the water has nowhere to go but into the finished side.

I need to dig a drain system throughout the entire cellar, but what PITA :splat: :splat: :splat:

-spence

Thanks for all the advice guys,
And yes it's a very high water table, the rest of the homes were build on slab's.
VB

forgot to mention...sometimes you can cut off a piece of romex cable
for running 110 circuits ....and remove all the inner wiring so you have just the flat white shell left over...
you can slide that on the end of your gray goop caulking nipple and then you'll have a flat insertion tool
if that'll get the caulking in deeper in the crack.

Crack-X

I think it is $595.00 per crack (floor to ceiling) and they guarantee it for 10 years. I had it done to my last house in 2005 and then we got all that heavy rain and not one drop of water came through. To watch them you could probably do it yourself but it would cost you a couple of hundred in materials I would think.....

The waranty is transferrable.....

www.crackx.com

generally a sump pump won't help if the water is coming through a crack in the wall...

It usually indicates there is a lot of water around your foundation seeping through the ground right next to your foundation wall. Usually as some houses do not have gutters. It is always best to grade the land so the water runs away from the house but standing water near your foundation will run down the wall and pour in through any crack in that wall....

Checklist:

1. Gutters
2. Direct downspouts as far away from the foundation as possible
3. Regrade the land so water runs away from foundation walls.
4. Repair any cracks in the walls and foundation floor...
5. Install a sump pump if necessary.

Not the answer to your problems, but as a temporary measure, I still have this;
http://www.striped-bass.com/Stripertalk/showthread.php?t=38579&highlight=spring

A nice plug or two and you can take it.:hihi:

Well, here is a update on yesterdays rain :hs:
Well the patch held up but as you can see it's only a quick fix.
I had another contractor come over to check it out, he digs down to to footings from the outside and does a rubber repair.Has anyone done this or know something about it? Sounds like I could do it and save big bucks!
I like his idea the best of all, "fix it where it comes in"
A few pictures of my pool in the back yard and da crack from hell
VB

If you play with the hydraulic cement make sure you wear gloves, and wash off any that gets on exposed skin. I've been told that it can cause nerve damage to your skin without you ever feeling any pain while its happening.

Nice crack

Crack-X

I think it is $595.00 per crack (floor to ceiling) and they guarantee it for 10 years. I had it done to my last house in 2005 and then we got all that heavy rain and not one drop of water came through. To watch them you could probably do it yourself but it would cost you a couple of hundred in materials I would think.....

The waranty is transferrable.....

www.crackx.com

I second CrackX. Had a floor to cieling crack and water leaking throuh where the septic pipe leaves the house. They fixed them both and never looked back.

My belief is to siphon the water off the outside of the house. Looking at the puddle, you could do yourself a lot of good if you could dig a shallow ditch and get rid of the water. Don't underestimate how much scratching a trench with a garden hoe will dry your cellar..


I am tempted to dig down to the footing on the low side of my house and run some drain pipes to carry the water away. Year round there is standing water in my sump pit that is just below the slab. Since I did my first repair, the sup pump hasn't run once (12 years) so there isn't really a rush to get it done...

build a swale.... its a sloping trench that funnels the water away

Nice crack


Here is a Crack for ya P-

That is spooky looking. Hows your crack? You bailing yet?

Just started coming in my cellar..Here we go..:crying:

Yup,
Snow this am , now all rain, Talk with me in a few days :af:
VB

cuz i thought it was butt clevage....

and of course i'm hammered.... lol :jester:

Put your finger in the dyke. Good luck

man I got water in the shop today in two places that's never happened.

I put a couple of flexible extensions on the gutters on the back of the house to keep the water from pooling up on the corners and seeping in.......basement stayed dry until I went to bed late last night which I thought was better but alas......with the torrent of water we got after midnight the ground just saturated and there was a very little in the usual spots this morning......not bad though and I don't expect it to worsen!:kewl:

three places now

$5 says home depot is WELL out of wetvacs and sump pumps

Ditto, I put 4" PVC extensions on the gutters all winter and take them off when I turn on the outside water and fire things up for the summer. I was just about to take them off when I heard of this storm and said....I'll leave them on for a few more weeks until I cut the grass.

build a swale.... its a sloping trench that funnels the water away

Hey Raven,,,,, How wide should that swale be? lol :rotf2:
VB

VB

Patching cracks won`t work in your situation. Many moons ago I was part 2 of a 2 man team that installed french drains and sump pumps.... we even did outside trenching, perforated pipe with crushed stones to help drain away water. Bite the bullet for the long term solution which is managing the water.... if its as bad as you say you cannot keep it out with any patching or injecting various goop....

The guy I used to work with passed on but his son is still in the business.... in Upton I think.... my brother Jack could get his information if you wish.

Good luck and sorry for your troubles,


Skittah

The ground at my place is totally saturated now. every 15minutes this bucket fills up. Only problem now is my pump has gone from automatic to semi-automatic, it starts but wont stop without a little help.

Just got done with the tree guy estimate. $1100.00 for 3 gigantic pines hanging over the house and wires. One is cracked and leaning on the other 2 . Damn there goes my GPS this year. Oh well. Those were the strongest winds I have ever heard living here 14 years. Kept me up all nite. I knew those trees would have to go when i woke up this morning. I just hope they stay up till tomorrow when the guy comes. Hey Peter nice Koi pond. Good luck. P.

Hey Raven,,,,, How wide should that swale be? lol :rotf2:
VB

Couple feet wide, 6" below the grade level at the lowest point. The trick is to blend it in so it doesn't look like a trench but carrys the water off. Looks low in the back right corner of the photo, chances are if you could get the water flowing downhill under the stone wall you'd be home free......

I looks worse than it is, because the swale starts working whne the first drop of water falls, now you see an accumulation......

Hey Raven,,,,, How wide should that swale be? lol :rotf2:
VB



Peter.... if you need temporary storage for all your goodies let me know.... I would have to blindfold you though :rotf2:

we had a stupid guy
build an earthen dam
on his property above ours...ok
then it finally broke in a big storm
completely washing out our drive way
and that was a 1/4 mile walk to home...

we had to park one car on one side of the fissure,
and park the other car on the other side
and switch cars all the time just to come and go.

i almost was killed inside the friggan culvert
trying to remove all the debris clogging it up
all because of that stupid bastid....i wanted to beat him
within an inch of his life afterwards...let me tell ya.

the answer to your question is....

you build the swale ....while its raining
with a sharp as a knife shovel .....
the moving water will explain how deep
to dig it... and you go about three inches deeper
than you'd think because afterwards it fills in with silt
and lawn... (sod)...

then the next time you get a huge rain you watch it work
and adjust it if necessary .........
but it's always best to do it in the rain.
any Rancher knows this.....:jester:

we had a stupid guy
build an earthen dam
on his property above ours...ok
then it finally broke in a big storm
completely washing out our drive way
and that was a 1/4 mile walk to home...
Isn't that illegal?

-spence

So was shooting him.......................

Fixing the crack is definitely needed, but you may want to get some more permanent work done on your property to keep the water away from the foundation. Curtain drains, footing drains, or some swales, maybe pitch the soil away from the foundation. Talk to a good excavator. It may be a bigger project, but do you want to continue dealing with water in the basement?

three places now

$5 says home depot is WELL out of wetvacs and sump pumps



maybe not if your local Home Depots parking lot is under a river like ours.....:eek5:

woke up this A.M. and had a funny feeling I should look down stairs....saw exactly what I feared....Stayed home from work and spent the day on clean up duty. The river here went from a normal 2,000 cubic feet per second to 24,000 in a matter of hours......water is scary when it does that!

[quote=Raven;484317]So was shooting him.......................[/quote:rotflmao:

So was shooting him.......................
:jester:

Peter, just do what Curly Howard with do. Make another hole to let the water out!:kewl:

Put your finger in the dyke. Good luck

I've found that most dykes won't let me put my finger in them.

I've found that most dykes won't let me put my finger in them.

Hate to say this butt.... they like the butt plug better.....
right P-

Hey Raven,,,,, How wide should that swale be? lol :rotf2:
VB

Better get some giant powder to get rid of that stone dam. :spin:

I have some spare RICOS I could pull the hooks off for you Peter :hee:

Hate to say this butt.... they like the butt plug better.....
right P-

At this point.. it might be easier to turn the thing into a Herring Tank?









;)



Hope it dries up for you soon VB...