Water coming into Basement

gblondet

Hi guys, Ive been putting up walls in my basement to add bedrooms and a living room down there for the kids. good thing I stopped for a week for other reasons and its been raining here for about 2 days, not hard but non-stop. Well I went downstairs to look at it and I find a huge puddle on one side and a minor one on another. it looks as if its seeping in through the corners but one side definitely worse than the other. Ive looked online and one solution is to make a drain alongside the edge of the wall all around as to act as a drain. Also I looked outside and one wall looks as if water is not properly draining away from the house (last image) so I can look into that also. Well I was just looking for some input before I start hammering into the floor!! Also this has been light rain, I really need to have this fixed by the time it starts down-pouring for 2 months straight like last year! Thanks for your input






(Outside)

Fix'n it

the first thing you do = stop building. the next thing to do is look for all outside drainage issues and work on those.
then the next time it rains after that, you will be able to tell if your drainage fix's did any good, or not.

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hammerlane

With the looks of things are your kids on punishment?

Anyway water entering a basement from outside the foundation is usually caused by one of the 3 gs:

Gutters, Grading, or Ground water.

joecaption

You have much piled up againt the foundation holding in moisture for one thing.
No grade away from the house.

That foundation has been leaking for a while, see all the stains on the blocks.

My main concern is the big puddle in the middle of the floor.
Can you tell if it was leaking in from the walls and running over there?
If not, it can be coming right up through the slab. In that case there needs to be a sump pump installed.

Daniel Holzman

The previous posts provide a good idea where to start. As noted, address all outside drainage issues, which means make sure grade leads downward away from your house at a minimum of 2 percent, gutters are at least five feet from the house where they empty. If this does not address the water leakage problem, a perimeter drain is a good second step. Actually, I like a perimeter drain regardless of how well graded the house is.

Installation of a perimeter drain after the house is constructed is a lot of work. You need to excavate a trench at least a foot below the slab elevation all the way around, install perforated pipe, surround with crushed stone and filter fabric, and connect the pipe to the sump pit. Unless you are very fortunate and can drain the groundwater via gravity to a stream, storm sewer, or low point well away from the house. If you cannot go gravity, you need to install a sump pump with associated piping, connected to the storm drainage system (never the sewer system).

A lot of work and money in a perimeter drain system, best to try correcting exterior drain problems first.