Tips: Basement water proofing ?
 

Any of you guys had any trials at doing this ?

Other than digging up around the foundation and installing new drainage pipe,( which I intend to do when the $$ roll in )what can a guy do other than use a sealant( ref: drylock ). I have already chipped some holes out and patched with cement.

The sad part is I'm doing this now, in the rainy part of the year ( I knew I should have done this last year when it was dry )...... I have a daughter moving back in to help around the house and to help take care of my wife and mother in law, I have to get the basement ready fast.

It's an old house and the foundation was poured back in the 20's.... it looked like they used any gravel they could find, bricks, sandstone .

At my house the #1 rule to keeping the basement dry is to keep the gutters clean.

I'm no pro, but there are some simple things you can check and do to "help".

1. make sure your gutters are good, and draining water away from the house.

2. make sure there aren't any low spots in the dirt against the foundation.........Heap some dirt against the foundation so water doesn't collect against it.

No. Virtually anything you try is going to be a bandaid or not work at all. Which is why basement waterproofing is such big business. Talk to Bowser about it.

You could try a roofing product. There are tubes of caulk designed to patch a wet roof that may help you during the rainy season but that's only if you can see cracks in your foundation. I've used Henry branded products in the past.

That's a good preventative response. My post assumes all these measures have been taken.

I've helped waterproof 1 basement..........we dug down below the footings, and put some Rolled Rubber (I'm thinking it was Bitchathane, but not sure of the proper name)...it was black rubber, maybe 1/4" thick.............attached with black tar calking................and then back filled, with a drain tile under some peagravel towards the surface.

I wonder, if in a pickle, if he could get by with spraying that foam commercia roof coating on the INSIDE?

whaddaya think phildo?

Gutters are clean, it's raining now. I need to do some landscaping work in the front and side of the house. The ground does slope to the foundation so this is a big negative.

I need to know if any of you know of a good patching method or sealant that will stop the leaks while I have active water.

In the 2 rooms I have worked on, I have 1 dry and 1 about 90% leakes stopped.

I still have 2 rooms to go after these 2. :shake:

End of thread. There's your problem.

Roy..........If the water is draining to the foundation....thats a big problem.

You need to get some dirt heaped against your foundation, and maybe even dig a shallow "trench" a foot away from the house to divert that water. Running a Tile with holes/screen and pea gravel to divert that water is a better option, but heaping a foot of dirt on the foundation will help big time.

I'm a bit disappointed in the lack of smart ass responses on this thread. The correct answers would have been:

A.) - Move.
B.) - Start drinking heavily.

I understand this, it's a summertime project that is on the to do list .

If the funds are available this summer as well, I'm going to trench down about 4 feet and install new drainage pipe.

Again, I was wondering if any one knew of a good sealant that works with active water for the time being.

Oh - then you may wish to edit your thread starter "what can a guy do other than use a sealant".

I don't really know. If you'd got active water seeping in, I know of no other products that will bond in water other than roofing sealant.

You can always go the sump pump route. Let the water come in, but pump it out faster than it comes in. That will keep the basement dry.

you can buy extensions to go over the ends of gutters to run the water as far from the foundation as possible. its what i did.

I have done dug and chipped enough of the wet areas, patched it with cement and sealant that I have 2 rooms temp. fixed.

The one long wall is going to be a bitch. It has cedar boards up and the bottom is mildew, moldy. I'm saving it for last.

I'm need to make a bedroom, storage room, and a living room for her to live in.

Again, 2 down and 2 to go....I just checked the one that I'm currently doing, I have 1 small leak at this time.

This is a bitch to do.

I'm with Jimgaysium, i have been there for 12 years trying to dry one up. JUST MOVE !!! :cuss: :banghead:

BTA, so is the summer project. :shake:

That's my next step if this doesn't temp. stop it !

I have to agree with Phil. As long as you have a downhill run to your house, you will have problem. Short of digging around and putting in a drainage system and re-tarring the foundation, you really need to get the water away from the house as soon as possible. Building up the dirt around the house is one of the first and best things to do. Also, put some long extensions on the downspouts and get them out away from the house. Sure they are a pain to mow around but the really help.

If you do put in a drainage system in around the foundation, please don't let it drain into a basement sump well. That was the setup at our first church and it worked great - until the storm knocked the power out, at which point the basement would flood every time.

Another option is to paint the walls of your basement swimming pool blue and give your daughter an air mattress to sleep on.

:)

You could put in a french drain that leads to a sump. Keep the sump hooked up to a battery backup in case of a power outage.

Okay, this has gone on long enough. Mods, help a brutha out.
:harumph:

ROFL ROFL

You can always go the sump pump route. Let the water come in, but pump it out faster than it comes in. That will keep the basement dry.


Edit: Sorry if this was already mention. For some reason it took about 2 hours before this post would go through.

And you are a big meanie. :cuss:



















:)

Roy, after actually having to deal with the sump pump method, I would advise against it. Seriously, ours was installed profesionally and we still had problems at least 2x a year.

I would tie into the actual sewer line or run a drain pipe to a low spot away from the house to let it drain.

The basement floor slopes to the drain, the drain is clear and doesn't backup on the floors at all. The walls have been treated before, I'm currently redoing them and patching where needed.

It's coming along, but damn, the patching is a bitch. I'm getting alot of dirt and tree roots when I have to dig and clean it to patch.

You can tell the walls had alot of honeycomb in it when poured.

It's a big summertime project to take care of.

You shouldn't tie into the sewer line or else you risk sewage gases backup up into the house during dry periods. BOOM.

It already is and has been since the late 20's ........


Still hear and after 5 years of living here, we haven't had a problem.

In the future, name changes are gonna be PPV only. I'll take care of this one on the house.

Have you considered moving?

That just cost you some homebrew. I had a very nice double-chocolate stout with your name on it to. WooWoo

Yeah - I'll bet it was gonna taste pretty good when you drank it with my name on it, too.

Damn, he's on to me. ROFL

I tried clicking my heels 3 times once, the devil appeared laughing his ass off at me.

Make sure you have a good sump pump and well for the water to collect in. The drainage pipe is preferrable as well as the heavy sealing wrap, I forget the proper name for it. We used it on three houses in an area with a high water table, along with the sump and piping it all worked great.

A new house in my neighborhood has all three, sump inside/outside, viscous wrap (not the actual name of the stuff) and piping around the footing that feeds into the outside sump well.

In most cities that is against the code.

I do not have a sump pump nor do I need one, the water drains out very nicely. It's the walls that leak,I need to stop the leakage and currently doing so. Just wanted to know if anybody else knew of a better way to treat it on the inside before the outside work is done.


That's all ............. :p

Is this in your basement? Are your gutters clogged?

















ROFL

For treating from the inside there are two methods.

1) Chip away at the cracks (or holes), and then patch with hydraulic cement.
2) Inject the crack with hydraulic epoxy.

As to solutions, number 2 is the best way, but I don’t recall the name or manufacturer of the product. I used it some 10 years ago very effectively. It’s pumped into the crack and will actually follow the moisture filling the crack all the way to the exterior.

Now when you come to doing the outside work you need to consider whether you need to damp prop or waterproof. If you have good drainage and soil conditions, damp proofing is the way to go. That’s just a good drainage system and sealing the outside wall with something along the lines of Tamms Dehdratine 85 or a similar product.

However if you have a lot of clay in your soil and poor drainage you may need to waterproof.
This means going all the way to the footing to install the drainage system and in extreme cases installing a second drainage system halfway up the wall.
You will then need to install a membrane to the exterior wall this can be done with either MIRADRI 860 (a peel and stick, pain in the ass) or MIRADrain 6000 which is a heavy duty drain system for the wall.

The cost is around $5.25 a gallon for the Dehydratine which will cover about 25 sq yds a gal.

A 200 Sq ft roll of MiraDri 860 costs about $70

MiraDrain 6000 cost $0.75 a sq ft.

Good luck it’s a big job but best done by the home owner as most Waterproofing Companies are out to rip you off (worked for one for about 6 months).

Marine epoxy will stop most water leakes.

III, put your daddy back on the phone

Heh, trying to work the office and do the work downstairs is a bitch. Up the stairs, down the stairs.......back up, back down....

At least I'm working them pounds off da ass.

Don't give yourself a damn stroke.

I'm trying to think of the name of it, but I'm thinking the hydrolic cement you inject is what I'm thinking of.............you can do that from the inside.

edit: or what redbrian had already said anyway.

I have been using a quick dry patch cement of the repair spots. What is the difference between hydrolic cement and the quick patch cement ?

The small leaks I'm trying to just brush the sealant over for now, but marking them for another date to do since time is a concern.

Again, the big plans are set up for the summer whear I can get the landscaping done as well as the rest of the inside.

As for III, damn that boy is lazy. Finds more damn resons not to help than I have ever seen from any kid. :cuss:

I'm thinking it was Bitchathane

is that what MEME is using these days as a tampon.. that would explain EVERYTHING!

bitchathane is what we called it........I wasn't sure if that was the actual name or not. We used the same stuff on roofs in the mountains........a couple of rows at the bottom 8' to protect the roof from damage from Ice-dams etc...............same stuff around school foundation I worked on in Iowa.

You don't work, you don't eat. That cures lazy pretty quickly from where I'm sitt'n.

Far be it from me to tell you how to raise your boy, but the computer wouldn't come on until he had the slope fixed against your foundation.

The Corps of Engineers is always building levees and sh*t, I am sure they could figure out something. Give them a call.

http://www.usace.army.mil/

You could also try seeking remedy at the Courthouse.

And there is always the double-wide option.

It is very rare that folks with a double wide have any problems with basement moisture.

Its good.

There *IS* that whole Kentucky-Tornado magnet issue though....



I can see III on the 6 o Clock news now "It was Paaaaaaaaaaandalerium!"

I have no idea what bitchathane is or isnt'... I just thought it was a funny word...

Who needs a basement, pick up the house and put it on a slab. Pluse there better be a window in the Bedroom or the Police will come take you away...

Roy,
I have this same problem. I need to find a solution, too. I've been holding off on having the foundation repaired because that is very expensive. Here's something I found on Lowe's website.

http://www.lowes.com/lkn?action=howT.../rightNavHowTo

Jump right in, it's alot of fun ! :thumb:

Didn't read all the responses - this may have already been stated.

Trying to "seal" the interior of the basement walls is probably going to be pretty fruitless. It may slow it down or actually work - for awhile.

You will need to stop the water from even heading toward your foundation.

Gutters and downspouts must be working properly and you need to grade your lot so that you have a slope away from the foundation.

You can also dig out around the foundation and apply a waterproof wrap. They make spray stuff and there is a product that is like a rubber membrane that can also be applied.

If you do dig it out, go down to the footings and put some pipe (like 3-4" PVC) with holes in it surrounded by gravel. You may want to have a contractor help or give you the details.

Delayed maintenance (especially that which results in moisture intrusions) is the most costly home repair item.

Good luck!

Hey Roy, I haven't read through the entire thread but this is right up my alley.. Along with all the other suggestions about proper drainage you should also apply a membrane to the foundation since you already have it dug out..

The stuff you want to use is called Cetco Voltex DS www.cetco.com


It's easy to install and will solve your problem permanently..

I'm in the waterproofing business, The company I've worked for for the last 16 years (12 in the field) specializes in below grade waterproofing.

I know Iowanian meant well when he mentioned Bituthene, but I must reccomend you stay away from that stuff, we use lots of it though because architects still spec it..

Voltex is a bentonite product that should work well for ya..

Good luck and I'd be happy to answer any questions for you..

I'll just be over here in the corner, putting my thumb back in mah butt......

Listen to the seahag....I'm not a guru....thats just the stuff, people I worked for 8-10 years ago had me install.

I know.. I can tell you know what you're talking about, like I said I'm suprised anyone on this board (who is not in the WP business) has ever even heard of the stuff.. impressive..

Here's a basic cad for installing it on a foundation wall..

http://www.cetco.com/bmg/CAD/Details.../200/ds200.pdf

I'm glad you stepped in Joe....I wouldn't want to give the Roys poor advice.

I may look into that stuff you linked for my folks' house....Water was a problem in that basement.......until we heaped a few loads of Dirt against the foundation, and extended a downspout.

I swear by the stuff now.. I did a house on the water in laConner that had a basement slab that was six feet below the water table at high tide..
We installed voltex under the slab and tied it into the wall waterproofing, basically making an envelope.. when they backfilled it and turned off the de-watering system there were no leaks..

We did another job in a similar fashion and when they turned off the de-watering equipment (which in this case was an earth freezing unit) the slab tried to float and actually busted upward like a teepee.. OOPS! I bet that engineer lost his job..

OK, pretty much the advice I have gotten from all here I already knew. I knew where the BIG PROBLEM was to start with when we bought the house. The landscaping, I told the wife I would have to fix it, I just waited 5 years to do it. :banghead: I was basically looking for the best way to patch and seal the leaks from within.

I got the 2 rooms done out of 4, of course, it's a temporary fix until the dirt work is finished later this year.

As old as the house is, I'm not sure it has any drainage along the footing of the foundation. With the 2 big trees close to the house, the tree roots are going to be a bitch to cut thru if I choose to install a drainage pipe. ( last resort )

We are going to do the landscaping first, see if this and the repair work I do inside will do the trick. :thumb:

Thanks to all who have commented and offered there experence with this. :thumb: :thumb:

Oldest building knowledge there is. 'Get the water away from foundation'

Corregated french tile Drain pipe away from downspots,
just say no to splash blocks. Builders cheapo solution, slowly becomes a long term problem.

Never,ever have wet basements that way.