Water Seeping Up on Garden Floor
Sigh. Not only did our basement flood last night, but this morning the front room on our garden floor also had some water (an area rug was wet in places). From the basement, one could see a seam of water in the ceiling — right below where the rug was. It’s water and it seems…
Sigh. Not only did our basement flood last night, but this morning the front room on our garden floor also had some water (an area rug was wet in places). From the basement, one could see a seam of water in the ceiling — right below where the rug was. It’s water and it seems to be travelling along a path, and not pooling… But there are no water pipes between the basement and the floor, so I am sort of stumped. Has anyone experienced this? Could it be water coming into the house from the front and travelling along a pipe or some groove? A waterproofer was here today and he said to watch it — he didn’t know what the root cause could be. Thanks for any ideas, suggestions or shared experiences. – Rachel
The woes of brownstone Brooklyn when it storms! I feel your pain, everyone — my lower level rental unit is now vacant; I released the tenants from their lease after the THIRD flood and I’m trying to get the problems under control before renting again. Finally solved the sink/shower/toilet backup problem with a check valve, but post-tornado I found a landslide of mud that had come in through the front door of the apartment, which is surrounded by concrete and is normally protected by the exterior drain and a sump pump. What the *$%&??? Anyone else experience this or have any idea what’s causing it?
Hi Marjorie et al, We are not sure what caused the water in the basement, but part of it was from the front and back hatches that need to be recauled. I think water just also came from the ground in…. My neighbors always have weird things with their drains — their sinks and toilets back up during the rains… so maybe that is affecting us also. Thanks for all the feedback. — Rachel
Thanks 1:53. It’s a process. Do you know any details about the pump you mentioned? Would be good to have on hand regardless and I’m not seeing anything online – but tools aren’t my thing I admit.
In the meantime I’ll figure out whether to change my tenants extra ’cause they’ve got an indoor pool now 😉
John, there’s a pump you can buy that will pump the water out and send it further out in the yard via a hose. We looked into getting one ourselves but knock on wood, we’re growing closer to solving our water issues. Good luck! Keep at it, you’ll get there.
We’re now having floods in my poor tenant’s finished basement every time it rains hard. Regraded the back yard and added a stone patio to no avail. That may help with a damp back wall but the flooding still happens. It’s rainwater that’s coming back into the house somewhere. Unfortunately, less than bright prior owner put a finished raised floor over the entire back half of the basement so we can’t find the effing drain – which is probably overflowing. Sessa plumbing can apparently do some fancy thing with fiber optics to find it. Untill then, we’re hoping we won’t have to bail another six inches of water for some time. I’m too old and cranky.
Which reminds me, is there such a thng as a cost effective pump to drain occasional water out? A sump pump won’t work ’cause it’d just be connected to the line that’s overflowing . . . I think.
I have a monster maple tree which dumps a pound of those whirlywig seed things all over my patio daily. I sweep them up to prevent what happened with the rain. The rain was so driving and came down so hard and fast that with it, the little seed suckers matted over the drain near the garden floor door from the garden. So I got a nice little lake on my kitchen floor this am and water in the basement too. I understood this so I was annoyed but not scared. My tenant called this morning to tell me that she had drips coming from her ceiling, which was a little scary. I had had a problem before but thought it was fixed. Which means I had to go up to the roof to check gutters, where I discovered that the mortar from the bricks in my chimney had crumbled and a few loosened and FELL OUT allowing the horizontal rain to enter the walls. So it was a waterfall on all accounts. With the damn subways, what a day.
Good luck.
Check out the condition of your drain in
That rain last night was a doozy. You might never see that water on the garden level again, or only see it maybe once a year.
Sounds like the basement is the place to focus on. I agree with checking neighbor’s runoff, checking the grading, checking roof gutters making sure they are going into sewer and not onto the ground at the back of your house.
Best thing next time it rains hard, is to get up in the night and watch where the water seems to be coming in, in the basement. Also importantly, go outside with a flashlight and see where the water seems to be pooling up around your foundation and making “lakes” because that’s where it’s going to come into the foundation walls.
the bricks in your foundation could have leached the water upwards (as there was plenty of it last night) and effected the front room of your garden floor. I
I have seen, studied and attempted to solve this effect before.
The only way to solve this is to deal with the water issue in your basement by stopping the water from getting in in the first place. May I suggest making sure that the land abutting (sp?) your building is graded properly.
What caused your basement to flood?