Determining if a french drain will work or not?

[grossgary]

This last photo shows the leak in the basement, I think that逞ｴ fairly straightforward. It蛟､l be dry and then gets wet after it rains. It can take on a little more water a day or two later after the rain stops I think..or maybe it's just seeping because it takes so long to dry in the damp/dark basement. I should keep better track, after it quits raining.

My first plan is to divert the gutters away from the house above the surface to make sure they豎*e not flooding the foundation but my guess (and I閾ｴe already been wrong a zillion times) is that逞ｴ not the issue here.

Thanks again. Look forward to making a good decision here.

 

[dave1949]

Thanks for the photos.

I think step #1 is some detective work to find where those gutter pipes lead to. It's possible there is a problem with the pipes which isn't allowing the gutter water to get away from the house. It would be reasonable to ASSSUME they are all tied together somewhere. It's actually good news that you see them turning away from the foundation. But to where?

No matter what you do or don't do later, the gutter issue has to be figured out. It's just too coincidental that the wet area in the basement coincides with the gutter location. In any case, you need to know where does the water go that comes off your roof.

One thought is to stick a garden hose in the top of the drainspout and see what you can see.

Another is dig up the gutter pipe, cut it open where it would be easy to splice back together and probe with a snake away from the house. You can rejoin the cut pipe using a flexible rubber coupling that has a hose clamp on each end. They are sold to fit standard plastic pipe sizes.

The clearance between your house and the hill behind is a lot more than I pictured, there is plenty of room to build french drains/swales etc. there, if it comes to that.
Dave.

 

[grossgary]

i left a hose running in where the gutter enters the ground for a few hours the other day when the basement was dry and got nothing in the basement. but the hose doens't put out near what the roof/a hard rain does.

if i re-direct the gutter water from the house temporarily, not using the in ground pipes at all, i'm thinking that should tell me if those in ground gutter pipes are the problem or not.

now, i guess it's just wait for rain to see what things look like. i'm sure we'll get plenty while we're on vacation.

 

[dave1949]

i left a hose running in where the gutter enters the ground for a few hours the other day when the basement was dry and got nothing in the basement. but the hose doens't put out near what the roof/a hard rain does.

if i re-direct the gutter water from the house temporarily, not using the in ground pipes at all, i'm thinking that should tell me if those in ground gutter pipes are the problem or not.

now, i guess it's just wait for rain to see what things look like. i'm sure we'll get plenty while we're on vacation.

Sounds like a plan. You have several months of decent weather to noodle it out. Did you happen to check the pipe at the creek when you ran the hose in the downspout? It's possible the gutter pipes tie into that pipe somewhere, they have to go somewhere - right?

Think three times and dig once
Dave.

 

[toy]

Pardon the length. Thanks to all your feedback, you guys are amazing. I postponed the French drain I was going to dig on Monday. Seems I should get a better feel for what痴 going on. Here痴 some pictures and a description that might help you guys.

The deck photo shows the grade leading down to the deck. On the far right edge of the photo is a GUTTER going into the ground at that corner of the house, you can't really see it in the photo but it's there. That closest corner of the house is the corner that leaks in the basement.

I checked that gutter out today the gutter does not appear tied into the foundation drains. It turns away from the house within about a foot of the surface using black corrugated pipe 3 in diameter is my guess from memory.

** This is the same corner that is leaking in the basement. Although the gutter is on the side and the leaking tends to be along the back wall, not the side wall where the gutter is but same corner, clear as mud?

From the picture of the trees around the patio, is it possible that the drain is partially stopped up with roots from these trees or bushes? That could very possibly be your problem especially if the pipe that runs around the house is perforated.

 

[wrooster]

some good advice in this thread.

we had a similar situation at the front of our house; inside the basement is a modern french drain system along with a sump pump so the water wasn't accumulating on the basement floor -- however, i didn't like the added moisture in the basement and moreover the times it storms are generally the times the AC power is off.

hence i worked a two-pronged approach in the (downsloping) front yard to keep the water off the foundation in the first place. lacking a proper tractor with a BH, i actually enlisted a high school student as a day laborer for manual digging help.

we dug 30" down, routed the THREE downspouts into pipe (the downspouts were a major contributor to the water problem), put a lot of stone in fabric in the ditch, and this has solved the problem. the drain system consists of two elements: solid pipe to carry the gutter water, and perforated pipe to capture surface water. they join up into solid pipe which in turn drains out into the creek.

wrooster

 

[wrooster]

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[wrooster]

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[wrooster]

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[grossgary]

after many months we finally got a thorough drenching, saturation, and flooding (outside) this week.

the basement is completely dry! i was shocked. all i did was unclog the gutters and reroute the rear downspout out into the yard away from the house.

what an awesome feeling to have this pegged and figured out, thanks a ton for all the time, pic's, tests, tips, etc, what a huge help.