Please help me help my dad!!1

[2zwudz]

    I need you guys. My 74 year old dad has been getting water in his finished basement and I need help from you guys as how to stop the water from getting in?  He cannot afford to escavate around the perimeter of the house and put in drain tiles etc. but I was wondering about putting in a pit and pump for him?  What do you think, will it work and what are some helpful hints to do a good job for him?

Thank you very much
Mark

[Redoverfarm]

Mark the problem with a sump pump is that normally the floor is elivated to feed the sump hole.  Without some elevation it would just be standing water in the middle of the room.  If you can determine exactly where it is getting in then a perimeter drain might work in that area to feed to the sump hole. 

I know you have heard it before but the only good fix would be to excavate, french drain, waterproof the exterior.  Is there gutters on the home? No gutters would just allow the water to run off near the foundation.  If there are gutters then there needs to be a pipe to carry it from the downspout away from the house.  How old is the home?  Some water coming through the walls can be attributed to poor back fill.  The ground needs to slope away from the foundation.  A lot of new homes and old as well the ground has settled to have the water pitching in the wrong direction.  Some remedy would be to add fill to pitch the water away from the foundation.  Of course all of this would have to work together.  Meaning, french drain, waterproof, gutters, back fill pitch. 

Wish I could be of more help.

[jbos333]

Hi, Mark. Ahhhhhh, water in the basement.....and it's a finished basement, you say?

Well, if you don't want to excavate outside, at least make sure the gutters (if any) are functioning properly, and the water is going out the downspouts like it is supposed to. Gutters or not, you also need to make sure the ground around the perimeter of the house is graded down and away from the foundation. If the downspouts are discharging onto the ground (not into a drain system) make sure the water is directed well away from the house (I would guess at least 6 ft. or so).

Now, on the inside, if you are going to install a sump pit you need to somehow get the water to the pit. Does the water collect in one corner? Is the water coming in through the upper walls or through the floor/wall seam?

I personally used an interior perimeter drain system at my house, but since I have two floor drains that go to "daylight"- I am on the side of a hill- I didn't install a sump pit, I just directed the water to the floor drains. This seems to have worked pretty well for me, and I didn't have to cut any concrete, haul rocks/broken concrete out of basement, haul clean stone in to basement, etc. However, if the walls are finished, you have to disrupt something to install these perimeter systems. I used the SquidGeeDry system- check it out at www.waterproof.com.

Well, good luck I hope it all works out. I'm sure someone else on here will have more info to offer you- I am just passing on what I did to solve my water problem.

[2zwudz]

Thanks for the replies Red and Jboss

The water is coming in thru the basement floor and wall seam. He has a high water table where he is located.  All of the gutter drains are good.  He didn't start getting water until he had his old well filled in??  I don't know if this had anything to do with it.  He didn't like the well because of all of the grandkids.

Mark