water

[low_delta]

Torrential rains again, and running water in my basement again. I've lived here for three and a half years, and never had the problem before this summer. It's getting old. I couldn't even enjoy the storm.

I went out to take the trash to the curb, and there was constant lightning coming over the northwestern horizon. It was nearly half an hour before the rain started. It was coming down pretty hard, with a thirty mile an hour wind. It lasted about thirty minutes.

Comments

[cynnerth.livejournal.com]

I saw the lightning in the distance when I was driving home, but never saw or heard the rain all night. I hear it was worse up in your county.

[vlinker.livejournal.com]

just how does the water get into your basement?......do you have positive drainage to take surface water away?........what happens to the water coming off the roof?...........gutters?.....downspouts?.....

if this is a relatively new (this summer) occurrance, then there is a new change that's causing it.....

[cynnerth.livejournal.com]

His downspouts are clean...I helped with that messy job.

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[vlinker.livejournal.com]

is the water that comes down the downspouts directed away from the house?....out onto the lawn?....

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[cynnerth.livejournal.com]

Of course

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[vlinker.livejournal.com]

well?.........where does the water come from?.....are there well drained garden soils adjacent the house?

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[cynnerth.livejournal.com]

I'll let Kevin take over from here.

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[vlinker.livejournal.com]

cool.......

i've repaired a couple of leaks in basements before and it always seemed like once the problem was found, it was quite obvious......repairs were always simple, albeit laborious

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

About one third of the roof rdrains to that side of the house. There is a sidewalk that goes by that side, and the door and steps from my sunporch. Over the years, the debris has collected on the lawn and built it up a little. The neighbor's driveway is just a little higher than the lawn. The flower bed slopes away from the house and towards the sidewalk.

The low spot is the sidewalk at the base of the steps. I can watch the water pool up there, and when it gets high enough, it pours over the edge of the window well, fills it up and starts coming in under the window.

To alleviate the problem, I'd have to jack the sidewalk up about four inches, or remove it and fill it in with dirt to that height. Or seal up the window.

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[vlinker.livejournal.com]

well, sealing the window is prolly the easiest, but the least likely to work fix that you can do,,,,,,,jacking the sidewalk slab might not be much fun.....and it's difficult to backfill under the slab......just tearing up the walk might be the ticket.......and instead of replacing the slab, use some pavers if you need a walkway......

it definitely appears that something must be done.....i wish you good luck on the job.....

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

My first step will be to dig out the well and fill it with beach stone. That should hold some of the water.

I might look into a pump, to pump the water into the back yard, but that is obviously a short term fix.

If I were going to jack up the sidewalk, I'd have it mudjacked. But three or four inches seems excessive.

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[vlinker.livejournal.com]

sump pumps have this tendancy to fail when needed........and i think it a poor idea to hold any water close to the foundation......are their contractors available to mud-jack (prolly with sand and a little portland cement) a sidewalk cost effectively?.......

in my biz, there are three causes for a foundation to go bad.......water, water, and water.....

uphill from my house, about 1/4 mile, there is a house being built on a spring.......the naive owner-builder is making a mess that will never really "go away" until they spend some serious $$ and get that subsurface drainage routed appropriately.....i see a musty moldy crawlspace/basement in those people's future.....and should we be subject to a bit of strong ground motion........and EQ in the 7 range, i foresee a bit of unplanned home movement relative to the yard......there hasn't been work on the site for a few weeks.........i'm hoping the city has shut them down and requiring that they get a plan for dealing with the water........the little sump pump they have is not an effective solution.......

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Actually, I was thinking of a pump that I could take outside when it storms and pump the water over a rise, so it makes it into the back yard, instead of pooling up right there.

And I'm onyl half serious about it.

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[vlinker.livejournal.com]

that means you always have to be home in a storm......not a good passive solution

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

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[vlinker.livejournal.com]

of course, it might just be what gets ya by until a permanent fix can be done........