Forgive me if this is the incorrect forum, seemed the best option since I'm concerned about concrete damage to my basement walls. I have two walls in the otherwise dry basement that leak. This only occurs with extraordinary rain falls and we've been hit with a very wet Spring in the South East. As a new home owner I'm concerned about this issue above all others in my 1940's era farm house.
Now I've already searched for "French Drain" solutions and I'm a little confused, so I'm aware of the search function in forums, but I'm going to think that every drainage issue is probably a little different. Our home inspector was very thorough and he warned us that we would probably see water on the two walls in question - he was correct. We've seen record amounts of rain already this year and I just want to nip this in the bud.
His suggestion was what he called a French Drain on the exterior walls in need of the drainage. My confusion comes from research that I've done on here and on other sites that indicates that a TRUE French Drain is actually a drain that goes beneath the footers of the basement floor, the interior of the basement is being drained. The trouble I'm having with this is that my knee jerk reaction is to stop the rain water from even hitting either of these walls? I don't know which method is "correct" in my case, and I think I'm having a hard time understanding ground water, versus rain water maybe? Are they the same?
Pictures are worth a 1,000 words: The first photo is showing the sloping of the yard coming off the driveway and into little piece of grass before it hits the basement walls and drains inside eventually. The second photo is a major source of this drainage issue, inside the basement there's actually a couple of pencil eraser sized holes just seeping water currently.
Now I've already searched for "French Drain" solutions and I'm a little confused, so I'm aware of the search function in forums, but I'm going to think that every drainage issue is probably a little different. Our home inspector was very thorough and he warned us that we would probably see water on the two walls in question - he was correct. We've seen record amounts of rain already this year and I just want to nip this in the bud.
His suggestion was what he called a French Drain on the exterior walls in need of the drainage. My confusion comes from research that I've done on here and on other sites that indicates that a TRUE French Drain is actually a drain that goes beneath the footers of the basement floor, the interior of the basement is being drained. The trouble I'm having with this is that my knee jerk reaction is to stop the rain water from even hitting either of these walls? I don't know which method is "correct" in my case, and I think I'm having a hard time understanding ground water, versus rain water maybe? Are they the same?
Pictures are worth a 1,000 words: The first photo is showing the sloping of the yard coming off the driveway and into little piece of grass before it hits the basement walls and drains inside eventually. The second photo is a major source of this drainage issue, inside the basement there's actually a couple of pencil eraser sized holes just seeping water currently.
