Basement water, drainage issues?

6 years ago

House built in 1900. Window wells need repair/replacement(?) but water is also coming from the floor wall seam too. Altogether not much maybe three four gallons tops when it rains a lot.

That black spot on the grass is a black drain grate of some kind. It has water in it however the water level is below the two pipes connected to it so, it's not flooded. I don't know where the pipe goes.

There's only one exit pipe all the way on the other side of the house but that seems to be separate for the subpump as water flows out of it even when there's no flow in the black grate. Hopefully I explained this clearly. Any advice?

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Comments (4)

PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
6 years ago
Contact a basement waterproofing contractor.
DavidR
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
You need to get out there when it's raining hard to see if water is pooling where it shouldn't. Make sure your gutters and downspouts are clear and that all are draining well away from the foundation.

Proper grading will prevent rain water accumulating near the foundation.

Probably 90% of cellar water problems can be solved or at least relieved by these simple fixes.

Make sure your footer drains (that lead to your sump) are clear and doing their job.

If nothing else works, you'll need proper cellar waterproofing. I don't recommend internal fixes. The only really successful cellar waterproofing is applied from the outside after excavation around the foundation. It's expensive, but it works.
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Seabornman
6 years ago
Hard to tell from pics but is grade sloped towards house? Pull one of the boots off a downspout and run a hose into it for a while to see if it is blocked.
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Original Author
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
DavidR, we've checked the outside when it's rained a few times and noticed that water pools on top of the retaining wall and seeps down toward the back window well where the cinder blocks are. So, would putting more top soil at the edge of the retaining wall help?

Regarding gutters, a roofer who was supposed to come to redo only the porch area (on the opposite side of house) was going to clean the gutters but then COVID19 happened and we haven't heard back.

Curious, do you think cellar waterproofing wasn't done when they built this home or it wore off?

Seabornman, the backyard is basically a hill which the house sits on the bottom of. It is not shown in these photos but it is farthest from the camera. In other words, impossible to grade at least in that area. It seems like a bad place to put a house but I'm not sure why they did that. Fortunately our water issue doesn't seem to be a huge deal although I am still concerned and would like to do what we can to make things better hopefully without great expense.