Basement waterproofing...

• justincredible

  

  Has anyone ever had their basement waterproofed or know anything about it?
  
  I've got an old house (1909) with I believe a block foundation. It's not a finished basement, just your standard dungeon type basement, but when we get heavy rains we'll get a decent amount of water coming in from one wall. It's not really a huge deal but can be annoying at times. It never leaks enough to flood the basement, just enough to be inconvenient at times with streams running to the drains.
  
  Any idea how much something like this might cost? I don't want to schedule someone to come out if it's going to be really expensive, it would just be a waste of everyones time.
• Automatik

  

  Thought of installing a French drain?
• justincredible

  

  I have no idea what that is but I'll check it out.
• I Wear Pants

  This thread is now about basement waterboarding.
• justincredible

  

  I Wear Pants;992583 wrote:This thread is now about basement waterboarding.

  No it isn't.
• Automatik

  

  justincredible;992581 wrote:I have no idea what that is but I'll check it out.

  I think its rather pricey, but very common and effective for old houses. It's not too hard to DIY if you have it figured out.
• I Wear Pants

  justincredible;992585 wrote:No it isn't.

  Pussy.
• justincredible

  

  Automatik;992587 wrote:I think its rather pricey, but very common and effective for old houses. It's not too hard to DIY if you have it figured out.

  I looks like I'd need to dig a trench along the leaky wall?
  
  That would prove to be difficult as we have sidewalk running along the entire length of the house on that side.
• Curly J

  

  justincredible;992593 wrote:I looks like I'd need to dig a trench along the leaky wall?
  
  That would prove to be difficult as we have sidewalk running along the entire length of the house on that side.

  Beer and Jackhammer, not too difficult.
• I Wear Pants

  On topic: My basement floods like no other whenever it rains which is why I have no expertise on the subject.
• dlazz

  justincredible;992563 wrote:Has anyone ever had their basement waterproofed or know anything about it?

  No, I live in an apartment building and it doesn't have a basement.
• Commander of Awesome

  

  My mom has been dealing with a leaky basement since she moved into her new house. We've tried just about everything. Outside of digging up and checking the foundation (obv trying to avoid that) I dont think there is much more she can do. She's tried sealant, new gutter system, drainage on the outside of the house etc.. Nothing has worked so far. Hope this helps.
• sherm03

  

  My wife and I are having some issues in our basement as well. The price is going to be based completely on how big your basement is and the size of the sump pump you get. If you're only having trouble in the one wall, they can just waterproof that wall, which would save you a ton of money.
  
  We've had about 4 different companies come through. All except for one were around the same price. It works out to about $70-$90 per linear foot, plus about $1000 for the pump and battery back up.
  
  If you start getting quotes, don't go with EverDry. They were the first ones we had through, and the salesman had my wife in tears because he kept saying how our foundation wall was probably going to collapse if we didn't act soon, and then shot us a price for their "system" of $27,000 that he would knock down to $19,000 if we signed the paper right then and there. They are just sleazy, and there's plenty of other water-proofing companies in Cincinnati that won't pull that shit with you.
  
  Good luck.
• sherm03

  

  Also, if it's just along one wall in the basement, check and see where the downspout on the outside of that wall is located. Our house is older, too. And the downspouts just go into these clay pipes into the ground. A few of the water-proofers that came over said that if we seal off the clay pipe, and reroute the downspout away from the foundation, it will pretty much stop all the water that we have coming in on one of our walls.
• justincredible

  

  Did you guys have AquaProof come give you a quote? They look to be pretty reputable on AngiesList.
• justincredible

  

  Also, what does a sump pump do? I've always lived in older houses that do not have them so I have no idea what they are for.
• sherm03

  

  justincredible;992634 wrote:Did you guys have AquaProof come give you a quote? They look to be pretty reputable on AngiesList.

  Yep. They were really reasonably priced compared to the others that came through. I want to say it was $80/linear foot and $1000 for the pump. They were actually the ones that told us to seal off the clay pipes and that would solve the problems on one side of our house.
  
  The problem we have is that our basement is too big. It's huge, and most companies have said we need two pumps. It's just too much money to put into our house after all the renovations we have already done. I don't want to end up taking a loss on my first house.
• ZWICK 4 PREZ

  

  Waterproof paint the walls then jackhammer the floor around the perimeter and put corrugated piping leading to the sump pump. There will obvii need to be some digging to gravity feed the water to the sump.<O</O</O
• karen lotz

  

  justincredible;992642 wrote:Also, what does a sump pump do? I've always lived in older houses that do not have them so I have no idea what they are for.

  
  Pumps any water that builds up out of the basement to keep it from flooding.
• sherm03

  

  justincredible;992642 wrote:Also, what does a sump pump do? I've always lived in older houses that do not have them so I have no idea what they are for.

  Basically, the way they "water-proof" your basement is to dig a trench into the ground on the inside of all the walls that you want water proofed. They put in a drainage system, and then add cement back so that there's just a small amount of the drain showing. If you have a block foundation, they'll drill weep holes into each block along the wall, so that any water coming through will go through those holes and into the drain.
  
  The drain leads to the sump pump, which will then pump the water up and out of your basement.
  
  Water-proofing is generally a misnomer. In actuality, these companies make it easier for water to get in the basement, but make it so the water has nowhere to go but into the drain to get pumped out of the house.
• said_aouita

  

  I Wear Pants;992599 wrote:On topic: My basement floods like no other whenever it rains which is why I have no expertise on the subject.

  Hope this helps.
• THE4RINGZ

  

  Definately start by inspecting your foundation drain, if your house is older the foundation drain is probably made of clay tiles which can crack or have tree roots clog them up, thus preventing the water from running away from the house. You can have a plumber run a camera in the tiles to see if there is an obstruction. If there is, they should be able to give you an idea in the clogs approximate locataion, grab a shovel and some new pipe and fix it yourself.
  
  Adding a French Drain is a good solution if you are having a drainage problem.
  
  Painting the interior walls with a Dry-Loc paint is not a viable solution. That traps the water inside the wall and seeing that your foundation is porous the water will weep inside the wall and start to rot your sill plate.
  
  Digging down around the perimeter of the walls is the only solution that will really work. You can rent a little back hoe and do it yourself, just dig down to the footer and re parge the walls using a tar based product. Giving it a second coat really helps. And hell while you are down there, repair or replace your footer tiles.
  
  Companies who do basement waterproofing are now using a seamless membrane and attaching it to the walls chemically, this new technology seems to be the best and most costly solution. If you are going to hire it done, check references and warranties.
• sleeper

  

  Just ask your landlord to take care of the issue. I think most Section 8 housing facilities will come and do the repairs if they are needed.
• justincredible

  

  I really think the only solution that will work for us is for all of the work to be done on the interior. In order to do work on the exterior of the basement we'd have to dig up our sidewalk which will end up adding significant cost to the project. I'll probably end up not worrying about it since it's only annoying and not really a huge problem and it seems like it will be cost prohibitive.
• justincredible

  

  sleeper;992701 wrote:Just ask your landlord to take care of the issue. I think most Section 8 housing facilities will come and do the repairs if they are needed.

  Best advice so far. Also, since I'm unemployed I can't afford it anyway. Thanks.