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June 5, 2008
Water Leak in Cellar. Who to call?
We have water leaking into our cellar along a side wall. It does not really seem to correlate with rain. Front of the house along the base of the brick in the cellar water is leaking from between the mortar joints. Enough that it has created holes. There is no way this not coming from the neighbor. They have a very decrepit chimney that could be an issue. But every time I look or try to ask about the leak we never get any answers.
Who can I call about this? Brownstoner's have any suggestions? Is this a plumber, roofer or someone else?
We are looking for an inspection to find the leak and determine who needs to fix it.
Thanks
Comments
Call/complain to the DOB and they will send an inspector. I did this about 5-6 years ago for the same problem, and an inspector did show up.
Posted by: guest at June 5, 2008 11:59 AM
If the water is from the neighbor's place then you want the DOB to confirm that and take action. They're the ones to call, 11:59 is right.
Posted by: guest at June 5, 2008 1:15 PM
Why do you think it's coming from the house next door. It could be coming from your own pipes. If it doesn't correlate with rain, then the chimney is not the cause.
Posted by: Park Place at June 5, 2008 2:52 PM
2:52: I'm 11:59. If the water were coming from the homeowner's own pipes, he/she would know it. Unless the cellar is finished, all pipes are exposed. The neighbor probably has a major leaky pipe(s) as my neighbor did...when my neighbor's faulty pipe was removed, it was looked like swiss cheese, and she denied the water came from her side (and she had the nerve to continue to deny it even in the face of that evidence). I now have no more water infiltration in my cellar.
Posted by: guest at June 5, 2008 3:51 PM
Hard to tell exactly from the description- but we once had a problem you could describe in the same way. Turns out it was a broken pipe in our wall one story above- slowly leaking and seeping down and then back out through our masonry.
Whatever it is, it sounds like a pro needs to be called, and even if you want to blame the neighbor- right now it's your problem, and you need to find the source. Don't allow the foundation of your house to be comprimised while waiting for bloggers to help.
Posted by: Park Place at June 5, 2008 4:51 PM
Besides the above comments, it is neither a plumber or a roofer, it's an engineer. Don't ask contractors to solve invisible problems, pay someone who is on your side.
Posted by: denton at June 5, 2008 4:54 PM
Try Econo Sewer 718 253-1060. They see this kind of thing in their line of work all of the time. They found a simmilar problem in my sisters basement. It was comming from their neighbors pipe. Their neighbors were very easy to deal with. It could'nt hurt to try Econo Sewer. Their inspections are free. Good Luck.
Posted by: guest at June 6, 2008 7:32 PM
Thanks for info. Called 311, DEP came that day and said it was not our pipes. Ends up it was the neighbors hose in the front yard on 24-7. Amazing that could soak her yard and go into our basement. Park Slope, water goes down the slope...
As soon as she turned off the hose the water stopped leaking an hour later. Explains why we would get more when it rained. Ground was saturated.
Posted by: remyching at June 7, 2008 11:50 AM
Remyching,
Glad to hear it worked out. What did DEP do when they came to your house?
How did they determine it was not your pipes?
Thanks.
Gideon
Posted by: guest at June 9, 2008 7:16 PM
They have something that looks like it is out of a Chaplin movie. Like and old phone receiver. They can listen on your water feed and tell pretty quickly by the noise or lack therof if the leak is from your water system.
311 actually worked very fast. DEP dropped by in about 2 hours and then came back to check the neighbor's house for the same thing.
Posted by: remyching at June 10, 2008 6:17 PM
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