[barhoc11]

Hi, any help is greatly appreciated with our issue.

After experiencing a slight constant leak in the finished part of our basement (coming through crack in a fireplace in basement) we decided to tear up our patio to get access to the outside wall that it faced. After tearing out the patio, digging down to the foundation and even replacing the old drain tile on 2 sides of the house (house was built in 1941) we still get a leak when there is a lot of rain.

The only other thing I can think of to do is to install a trench drain around the perimeter of the new patio concrete where water seems to sit (about 15 feet out from the house) and then drain the area to a lower part of in the back of the backyard.

Does anyone think that water that is pooling 15 feet out from our house could be causing our leak? It would have to be pooling and then draining under the concrete patio and down under the foundation and then forced up through some crack in the basement floor.

I am just running out of options and money trying to fix this problem, it also doesnt help that its been one of the rainiest years so far this spring.

Thanks in advance

 

[jayp]

2 things

No offense, but you really should have put in the drainage since you dug it up. It never hurts. Also, the leak might be traveling from somewhere else. Where do your gutters drain to?

 

[barhoc11]

No offense, but you really should have put in the drainage since you dug it up. It never hurts. Also, the leak might be traveling from somewhere else. Where do your gutters drain to?

What do you mean that I should have put the drainage in since I dug it up? Do you mean that I should have put in the trench drain before we repoured the cement patio?

My gutters drain about 4 feet from the house where the closest downspout is to the leak.

I am trying to avoid tearing up all of the grass and hauling away a ton of dirt in order to regrade my backyard so this is why I am asking if a trench drain will work or not or if there is another solution.

Thanks for your help

 

[Gary in WA]

I'm sure this must be very stressful.

1. Are you sure it's not the fireplace leaking, from the roof flashing failure?

2. Are you on clay just below the earth surface?

3. I would drain any standing water, period.

4. Did you tar the footing/ wall joint when it was exposed?

5. Did you place the new drain tile - holes down? Be safe, G

 

[barhoc11]

1.Well there is a brick gas fireplace in the basement that was added when they finished that part of the basement (estimate it was finished in the 70's), does this make a difference?

2. There is some clay in the soil but not a ton

3. when they dug up the dirt surrounding the foundation water seemed to pool at foundation which is why we decided to replace the drain tile after seeing the original drain tile clog with tree roots. We were not able to physically remove any of the water that pooled up.

4. they tarred the entire wall and put on some type of styrofoam over it when they did it, not sure what it was for besides waterproofing.

5. The holes in the pvc drain tile were put face up if I remember correctly and covered with a screen.

 

[Gary in WA]

1. I thought the leak may be from the chimney case, if it had one. A leak could exit " (coming through crack in a fireplace in basement)"there. Just exploring the possibilities.

2. A clay stratus creates a waterproof mini-creek to lower areas. A french drain may or not work, depends on the soil, depth of water, pitch of drain, etc.

3. Is that the only section of drain clogged with roots? Did you run water from a hose in the old drain tile, while exposed, to see how fast it drained? Pitch, obstructions, effectiveness, etc. Run a plumbers snake through or a camera, checking for blockages, miss-alignment, etc. of the drain tiles?

4. The insulation is for water shedding and insulating.

5. The holes are supposed to be down on the lower half, on each side to let water in. Research the web, to verify me, and for documentation to have them replace it. Be safe, G

 

[yesitsconcrete]

really doesn't make a whit of difference if the holes're up, down, or sideways as long's they're open & can admit wtr - the insulation may've been to protect the coating,,, hopefully it was ' sonolastic ' or an approved equal rather'n roofing cement,,, the only way you'll stop this from the outside is to dig to the footer the full perimeter, waterproof the walls after cleaning & patching, install a ' french drain ' w/exterior sumps, pumps, & risers, & backfill.

you'll never get the investment back outta your house, tho - treat the leak inside & be done w/it ! :thumbup:

 

[Gary in WA]

I asked about the holes because if they are on the upper 1/3, the water has to rise two more inches in the trench before it starts to drain. When it's done raining, the trench has 2" more water than needs to be there (than if the holes were in bottom 1/3). This water has to go somewhere without the help of the pipe because the holes are upper 1/3. In a 80' building, with a 24' wide trench bottom, with rock(1-1/2"), that extra 2" is about 67 gallons of water.

Here is some reading: http://www.easydigging.com/Drainage/pipe_tile.html

http://www.servicemagic.com/article.show.Foundation-Drainage.13702.html Holes down in that one. Be safe, G