I had a company come in for French Drains and don’t know if he gave me a song and dance. We got some water in the front of my basement after 4 inches of rain. I probably removed 50 gallons over an 8 hour period.
Now this particular company gave me this long lesson on how water moves through the ground and how the clay in my soil with its higher pH is pushing through the poured concrete foundation and pushing out the lime. This causing effervescence to the walls and creating pockets of air in the concrete wall where water gets in. His company will dig for the drains but in addition they will drill holes in at the bottom and then up my foundation every 6 inches to allow the sediment cause by the above water and clay and lime to come out of the wall, then they will use some kind of foam to fill in those drill holes. Is it possible that happens. This was at a cost 3 times that for French drains from other companies.
Greg
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Did any of the companies look at the drainage and slope OUTSIDE the house and make any comments about doing any work in that area?
No, no one looked at anything.
Try to find some one that knows how to solve water problems and not just install french drains.In the largest majority of cases the problem is best solved outside the house.
Ross,
Sounds like this guy is blowing smoke. In my opinion, not having seen your problem, but having dealt with many water migration issues from residential footing drains to landfills and multi acre retention basins, soil chemistry rarely has any effect on water entering your foundation walls.
In addition to what was mentioned above
1. Slope property to drain away from house.
2. Water proof exterior of foundation-dig it up and use commericially available membranes that start at the base of the footing and come up to the surface. I know TAMKO makes one very similar to I&W but thicker. These are more durable than the classic tar on the wall.
3. Install perimeter drains along base of footing and have it drain away from house. This drain pipe should be wrapped in a sock. The pipe should be surrounded by stone, the stone should be surrounded by an appropriate non-woven geotextile fabric.
4. Backfill with permeable materials if possible. With your clay you may consider installing sand or pea gravel along the foundation wall with a fabric seperating it from the clay soil. The high permeability material sand will generally allow your wall to be much drier than the clay.
Good Luck
Bruce
PS None of this is applicable if the source of water is a high water table. Should be fine if is just precipitation.
Edited 11/10/2006 6:55 pm by Hiker
Ya I don't think its a high water table, because other houses don't get and it only happens on really heavy, wind driven rains. I may try the foundation approach but the feasibility of digging on one side is is going to make it hard.Thanks for the advice.
Greg
Bruce,
So, if I can "pipe in" and ask, what should be done if it is a high water table?
I know of digging up the floor in the basement and putting in the drain pipe, gravel, etc. under the cement floor, then re-cementing the floor and having the pipe go to a sump & pump. Any other methods that people have used successfully?
Thanks.
Sal
Sal,
Ideally, it would be to build above the water table because there is no real fix beyond pumping the water table down to keep the basement dry.
If the basement is near the water table, as you described is to build a thicker stone base. This helps break the capillary action of the soil and keeps the water from rising upward.
I have seen larger commercial projects that had permanent well points installed to lower water table during construction and then created a membrane diagphram (basically a big baggie) around the structure. I was not privy to the extent of pumping done post construction but I assume there must be some pumping capacity to lower the water pressure on the basement structure.
Bruce
I'd ask him how he proposses to stop the water, with it's higher ph from the clay, from creating pockets in your concrete walls, by dealing with it after it has passed through the wall? This is like making a bullet proof vest that stops the bullet after it passes through you... Not very effective when your selling scared.
Sounds like this idiot has hybidized block and poured foundations into some cure all solution of drilling holes every 6". Don't walk away.... RUN!!! outside and solve the problem there... water follows the course of least resistence. Make your concrete foundation the last place water wants to go.
the clay in my soil with its higher pH is pushing through the poured concrete foundation
Red Flag: Scam
Bet this guy used to sell 200 MPG carburetors. Jim
For anyone interested, I finally found someone to do the work. I ended up calling the plumbing company that did work in my house. The guy that came out took time to walk around the house and look at where water could be coming in and offered suggestions (re-grade the alleyway, the front walkway, the flowee beds, extend the gutters to backyard) After doing this and then looking at the basement and asking questions, he suggested only a sump pump, thinking the french drains may be overkill for my problem. So they are installing a pump and leaving me the option of installing drains later.
Greg
SamT