photos of basement waterproofing with bx - questions and comments?

[frwinks]

IMO, this is a perfect DIY project....and this thread is perfect proof. You can work @ your own pace, and can spend that extra hour... or a day making sure your house is waterproof for years to come.. the $$ saved can go towards the top of the line waterproofing products...
Blueseal liquid rubber membrane


Delta plastic membrane


Socked 4" pipe, R20 EPS insulation, 6' geo fabric (wrapped under pipe and all the way up to grade backfilled with 4.5' of clear stone.





for the first time in 3 years there's not a single spider, potato bug, or any type of moisture loving creature in our basement this spring Not to mention the air quality is of living space quality

Quote on that Barkri12 just kiddin'

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

nice looking job.....

this is what i'd like to do when we build our new home.......thanks for posting..

the squidgee stuff i posted has a subfloor channel too......

usually the fixes for after the fact aren't as good as the ones installed during construction...

i'll tell ya, though, i'm impressed with mine......if i would have cut the floor and spent significant more money, i MAY have helped mine.....when i dug out for my sump pump it was all creek gravel....i live in a hollow that is a creek and the creek across the street rises, the ground is saturated to whatever height the creek is...

that why i bought my new property on top of a hill.....i'm the highest point on the whole entire hill.....

IMO, this is a perfect DIY project....and this thread is perfect proof. You can work @ your own pace, and can spend that extra hour... or a day making sure your house is waterproof for years to come.. the $$ saved can go towards the top of the line waterproofing products...
Blueseal liquid rubber membrane


Delta plastic membrane


Socked 4" pipe, R20 EPS insulation, 6' geo fabric (wrapped under pipe and all the way up to grade backfilled with 4.5' of clear stone.





for the first time in 3 years there's not a single spider, potato bug, or any type of moisture loving creature in our basement this spring Not to mention the air quality is of living space quality

Quote on that Barkri12 just kiddin'

 

[2manyrocks]

Lots of good information in this thread and a job well done, too.

 

[NuBota]

In my previous life (20 years ago) I did waterproofing as a living. I am with JB here - interior drain tile /sump pump systems are generally the best way to go. They are virtually guaranteed to stop any water problem and are cheaper than digging up the outside perimeter. Doing the exterior perimeter can be 5-10 times more expensive than doing it from the inside, especially if there are obstacles. And interior systems can address issues where hydrostatic pressure, say from a high water table, directly beneath the slab, cause leakage at the cove joint

The OP did a very impressive job. The outside work will solve the problem in many cases - but without his own equipment and time, it could have been a very expensive job. With a hoe, it is great seat time! And more fun - interior work is labor intensive - hauling dirt/gravel/cement in 5 gallon buckets - no place to really use the tractor. But can be done as a DIY project.

Ironically, I was just at my DW's grandmother's house yesterday looking at putting in a system for her to save her some $$. 89 years old and lives by herself, on a fixed income, etc etc. Have to dust of some old knowledge

Another good thread on this subject was a job Scotty (Scott_Vt) did on his place. JB contributed a ton of good information in that thread

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/72203-water-basement-help.html

 

[Barkri12]

Choosing the right basement waterproofing company for your needs isn't as simple as leafing through the phone book. As with any major investment, there's a pretty substantial amount of research to do.

 

[mbohuntr]

Excellent thread! Here's a interesting situation that you people may have ran into...I need a little advice... The 12 year old house I bought about 2 years ago seems to have 2 separate perimeter drains. One on the outside, and one on the inside going to a sump pump. Here's the catch, My downspouts are connected to the drains, I put leaf guards on to protect the drains. I noticed the sump pump runs a little more than I'd like, and it failed after about a year of use last summer when we had a week of rain. The other day I was looking for the open air drain so I ran a garden hose to the west side downspout. Guess what? the water ran into my sump!!! I know the east side downspouts are not connected this way, and I think there may be a connection through the footing, I'm hoping there isn't a erosion issue under the footing leading to the inner drain!!!! I'm thinking of hiring a plumber with a camera scope to find the connection and then I'll dig it up and plug it. Is there any reason it should be this way???: (I wonder if it could be a secondary way to protect the basement in case the pump fails???)

 

[JB4310]

I'm thinking of hiring a plumber with a camera scope to find the connection and then I'll dig it up and plug it. Is there any reason it should be this way???: (I wonder if it could be a secondary way to protect the basement in case the pump fails???)

If the pump fails it will be the primary source of your trouble

You probably wont find any one connection, just finding it's way under footing. An out side system should only be used with a gravity daylight exit drain. Never in combination with an inside system for just the exact reason you discovered. You should at least disconnect the roof leaders from that system, if you can't isolate the exterior system from the interior.

If there is no way to have a daylight exit drain then no system should be installed on the outside. An interior footing drain should always be installed regardless of if there will be one on the outside or not, easy to do for new construction, expensive to do on existing.

Just witnessed the same thing your describing at the house I worked on last Monday, I worked on the existing basement but they were putting an addition on the back of the house, the contractor put a sump pit in the inside with an interior perforated footing pipe (the white PVC type with holes just on the bottom, First mistake) then they put the same system on the outside.

This is a small lot with no way to have a gravity drain, they bedded the outside system in tons of crushed stone, I questioned the builder as to where the outside system would drain and the answer he got from the foundation guy was not clear at the time. When I came back last week they installed another sump pit on the outside, 7 ft deep!!! future nightmares. I don't care, more work for me in the future.

Ideally in that situation you damp proof the walls and back fill with just dirt compacting as you go, this way you hold as much water back as you can with compressed earth and monolithic concrete foundation, any water that does get by will be controlled by the interior system. with all that stone you are collecting ground water in a huge reservoir on the outside of the foundation. In this case they will have to run a pump in the outside pit or all that water will come through to the inside system, either way they will be pumping more water than is necessary.

This is an area of construction that is not well understood, there is alot of debate over the right way to do it, we often see builders sabotaging themselves with stubborn ways of thinking.

Again, more work for me so I've got no problem with it

JB.

 

[Slackdaddy]

Never ever tie the gutter downs into the foundation drain tile.
4" perf PVC drain tile, with the holes DOWN and a filter sock is the best drain tile.

75% of basements that have a sump pump, could have easilly been built with a daylight, just lazy or "dumb" builders.

I gut out at least 1 basement a month (power off, vacant homes)that had water issuies, many are newer homes with walkout basements, that have sump pits/pumps ????

Day light if at ALL possible.

Nick

 

[frwinks]

Sorry if I missed it, but how do these inside systems address water entering walls from the outside? Seems like they're a much more convenient way to go about the problem, but are they as effective?

 

[mbohuntr]

I was going to get a laser level and get the elevations of all the parts concerned. I find it hard to believe that all that hose water could find it's way into the sump that quick without a direct connection. I will then cap it off if it is, and I wonder if I can drill a 1-1/2 hole in the footing without compromising it to drain the sump to open air??I'll leave the pump in just in case the drain fails... I'm going th re-route the gutters away on their own. Ant better suggestions are welcome.....Thanks for the input...

 

[JB4310]

Sorry if I missed it, but how do these inside systems address water entering walls from the outside? Seems like they're a much more convenient way to go about the problem, but are they as effective?

This business is geographically sensitive, we deal almost exclusively with interior footing drain systems, IMO the most reliable effective system. But I understand in other locals it is not the accepted approach.
The area I work in is all concrete foundations, no blocks. Concrete foundations can leak down the wall from cracks or holes but not as much as a block foundation can. Some older concrete foundations or stone foundations can have multiply leaks through the wall, we install what we call a weep joint, which is a geotextile that leaves a gap between the floor and the wall to allow any seepage down the wall to pass down under the floor to the footing drain.

The jobs that Ampsucker and frwinks did are very comprehensive and effective but would be expensive to hire a contractor to do, I would only recommend such an involved job like that for the block foundations like they have.

For a contractor to do a job that involves complete excavation around a house foundation by OSHA standards would be cost prohibitive in most cases. Not impossible, but very expensive, I've heard of jobs like that in the $20,000.+ range, never done one myself.

JB.

 

[NuBota]

DC Area pretty much the same as JB says. I always explain it to people this way. Was doing a job (years ago) - entire inside perimiter and pump - cost homeowner ~ $4K with 20 year standard "no leak" guarantee. Neighbor two houses up, same model house, had company digging up the outside. They came down to talk to us. Cost them $30K and no guarantee of any sort - they were crushed. We also did many houses that had prior outside work done.

It seems counter intuitive to let the water in and then pump it out - but it is virtually guaranteed to keep the basement dry assuming the pump doesn't fail

Did another job where the slab was "floating" on water and the entire yard outside was saturated. After 36 hours of the pump running it actually drained the yard along with the foundation. A good pump can move a lot of water.

And water is funny - we did houses that never had problems for 50+ years and suddenly developed an issue. It is just easier to control the water at the point of entry versus the entire outside environment