[PKCK]

Hi Guys,

I'm lurking on these forums from last few weeks & trying to learn a few things. Posting here for the first time for your advice.

I live in Central New Jersey area in a cinder block foundation house. House is around 17 years old, I am living here from last 3 years. When I bought the house seller freshly painted the whole basement & entire house. We were very happy to see such a clean basement.

From last 6 months I noticed that a few of the cinder blocks in the basement are weeping & there is a little water puddle around. I checked the gutters, grading etc & did not find anything wrong. Also checked sump pump & it is working fine & water level in sump pit is way too low for pump to kick in.

Recently we are having dry spell, not any significant rain but water is still oozing. So I started calling a few basement waterproofing guys.These guys told me that basement has drylock paint on the wall, but I need a new footing drain with weep holes at the bottom of the cinder blocks.

We recently build a beautiful patio in the backyard, so exterior waterproofing is not an option. All of these basement contractors are advicing almost same kind of work with lifetime warranty. They quoted from $10,000 to 17,000. I am worried that if I get the work done & have any issues in future these companies may not going to be there, so who is going to honor lifetime warranty?

One of these contractor is very famous on youtube with lots of videos ripping other people's work. I felt very confident going with him, he is charging around $12,000 for almost 190 linear feet of drain. He is also offering 2 new sump pits at opposite corners of the basement with Zoeller pumps & a backup battery pump. Also he offered to spray the whole basement for any mold conditions. He is going to use 4"perforated ADS pipe next to the footing with 2 cleanout ports. Drill the weep holes in the bottom blocks, use Mira drain.

Now I need your advice:
1. Should I go with ADS pipes, because he refused to install PVC pipes.
2. What you think about the price quote? My basement is around 1500sq ft.


Thanks a lot for your help in this matter.

 

[Aggie67]

In my humble opinion, you can't do an effective job of water proofing a basement without a) exposing the outer wall and cleaning/resealing it, and b) putting in a modern drain system. Drylok is a band-aid, and will not last. It might get a seller through the sale of his house, but the buyer ends up with the aftermath.

As for your specific questions, ADS is probably a better choice than drilled PVC. ADS is designed to be buried and to convey groundwater. As for price, get multiple quotes, get references, pick the one you're most comfortable with. If your contractors are quoting different materials, get them all to quote the same thing.

 

[Mattia.R]

As far as I know the only long term solution is exterior waterproofing.

 

[Daniel Holzman]

I don't fully understand your post. You say the existing sump pit is dry, or at least the water level is too far below basement floor level for the pumps to kick in. So that indicates the groundwater level is below slab elevation. Have you investigated to see if there is a perimeter drain already leading into the sump pit? There is no purpose building a new perimeter drain to lower the water table if the water table is already below the slab, and you already have a perimeter drain.

Even if you have a fully functioning perimeter drain, it is possible for surface water to percolate downward and flow through cracks in your block wall. This problem will NOT be solved by installation of a new perimeter drain, it can only be solved either by application of exterior waterproofing to the block, or (possibly) by injection of waterproofing foam, often either epoxy or polyurethane, into the cracks that are leaking the water.

So I would start by determining if you have a functioning perimeter drain, and check the groundwater level at another location besides the sump pit by drilling a small hole through the slab and measuring the water level. You may have a floor drain, that would work. If groundwater is not the problem, move on to either exterior waterproofing, or epoxy or urethane injection.