Bsmnt walkout wall water question??

johnandbentley

Hi All,

A friend of mine asked me for help with his basement walkout wall as it was damaged in a small backyard flood. We ripped out 4 feet of sheetrock, removed poly and insulation and dried out all the cavities, then re insulated/rocked/paint,etc. When we got to the empty stud cavities in the exterior wall, there was a bit of rotting at the base of the exterior sheathing. We decided at that point to button up the interior first and then tackle the exterior next.

What we are thinking is remove 3-4 rows of siding and base trim, then cut out a 2ft high section across the bottom of that exterior wall and replace, then add housewrap and siding, etc.

My question is this. He has two drains in back yard, and is going to look at the why it floods next spring. (I am no expert, but it seems like neighbors yard left and right landscape would drain water right into my friends back yard, as would the hill at the back end of his yard.) Is there anything that will help prevent/slow water getting into the basement in the short term? Would ice and water placed on sheathing down to concrete slab help any?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

John

johnandbentley

Anyone? Am i in the wrong section? Just trying to figure out if Ice & Water applied on Sheathing is going to help anything or if there is any other prevention that can be made while i have the siding off?

Thanks,

John

jogr

I&W won't help. You'd have to get rid of the door and build a boat hull to keep flood water out. From your description of all neighboring properties draining into the backyard the fundamental problem seems to be the house location which can't be fixed. All you can do is put in the best drainage you can in the yard. Friend should look into flood insurance and be more careful the next time he buys a house.

johnandbentley

Ty.......

We ended up using treated plywood and then silicon on all the seams, including a bead along bottom of baseboard. Since the concrete slab slops toward house about a 1/4 inch over 10 ft, we are going to make an underdeck water drainage that will bring water out to the edge of deck then attach gutter system to bring the rain to the drain in back yard. That should help with pooling issues as well and get any water off back of house through the deck to the drain a little better. I agree on the picking of the house... it would have been something i questioned right off the bat.