Water in basement help!!

[vineyardblues]

Ok,
I have all ways had water in my basement,just ask anyone who has been over. 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

[Slipknot]

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

[fishsmith]

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.

[vineyardblues]

Originally Posted by fishsmith

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

[Mr. Sandman]

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.

[stripersnipr]

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.

[Raven]

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.

[fishsmith]

$5500 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.

[The Dad Fisherman]

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.

[vineyardblues]

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

[Mike P]

Originally Posted by vineyardblues

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

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.

[spence]

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

-spence

[Raven]

Originally Posted by vineyardblues

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.

[daceman63]

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

[daceman63]

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.

[BigBo]

Not the answer to your problems, but as a temporary measure, I still have this;
http://www.striped-bass.com/Stripert...ghlight=spring

A nice plug or two and you can take it.

[vineyardblues]

Well, here is a update on yesterdays rain
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

[Diggin Jiggin]

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.

[ProfessorM]

Nice crack

[Chris in Mass]

Originally Posted by daceman63

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.

[Fishpart]

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...

[Raven]

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

[vineyardblues]

Originally Posted by ProfessorM

Nice crack

Here is a Crack for ya P-

[ProfessorM]

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

[Squid kids Dad]

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

[vineyardblues]

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

[Raven]

cuz i thought it was butt clevage....

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

[ProfessorM]

Put your finger in the dyke. Good luck

[UserRemoved1]

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

[BigFish]

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!