Waterproofing Cellar?
Hi, I’m closing on a building which has an obvious problem- it has water entering the cellar. there are a lot of signs- sump pump, mold, dehumidifier and cinder blocks to border the boiler and water tank. My inspector has suggested to install a french drain and to recement the walls with waterproofing compound. I…
Hi,
I’m closing on a building which has an obvious problem- it has water entering the cellar. there are a lot of signs- sump pump, mold, dehumidifier and cinder blocks to border the boiler and water tank. My inspector has suggested to install a french drain and to recement the walls with waterproofing compound. I much rather putting my money toward fixing the issue all together- by not allowing any water to come in into the building it self. Did anyone here have any experience with this kind of problem/solution?
ARKADY – I think your french drain in the yard idea is my best solution. I’d like to know more about how you did your. Could you please contact me at MJ at VANRHYN dot COM, or 917-647-7319. Thanks.
bessie – dump basement during summer months is a normal condition. During summer outside air has more moisture in it. when it moves into the basement it cools down and increases its own relative humidity. This is base physics and you cannot do anything with this besides drying out basement air or keeping basement temperature not lower then outsides.
we had a similar problem—our house is adjacent to a paved church play-yeard that didn’t have good drainage. we dug up along that side, had a roofer apply a waterproofing product (grace prepruf) to the outstide of the house and ran a perfortade pipe along the outside under the ground. It has worked great. from an abundance of caution we also placed a sump pump, which has helped during these flash flood type downpours where the volume is just too much. good luck.
I had a couple of estimates from companies that “do” interior drains, pumps, parging, etc. I tried the outdoor french drain first & haven’t had to do anything else.
Outside is always better than inside as far as water is concerned. I didn’t have a choice in our rear addition. I was taking in a lot of water on the side of the neighbor’s back yard, but she wouldn’t allow me to come into her yard to dig because of the trees she has right on the property line (most likely one of the biggest cuprits for the water infiltration). We ended up digging an interior trench lined with gravel, into which we place a wrapped slotted pipe. The pipe is pitched to the sump pump, where we installed a larger bucket. It seems to work pretty well. We also re-applied thoro-seal, a product I’m not really sold on, but the existing seemed to have some deficiencies and it seemed like the most expedient way to handle the problem.
I do, however, feel like damp conditions persist in the summer months. I get this water witch type feeling in the space, much like I sense in the East Village and the area downtown near the old Collect Pond. It doesn’t smell moldy or mildewy but I feel like there’s still water.
On the inside for the above. I’d do a french drain outside too
In places where basements are old and leak constantly, you build a trough around the perimeter and the leakage flows into the sump pump basin. No need to actually install a french drain.
This may seem obvious, but can you install a french drain in a basement you plan to finish and use as living space? The only ones I’ve seen are open on the top (like a little ditch). We are thinking about digging our basement down a foot or two (engineer said it was possible), but if we do it I want to be sure to install whatever is needed to keep the area VERY dry – it is damp now. We just finished covering the old stone and brick walls in a cement finish but that is all we have done… any advice welcome!
The house is a three family and is semi detached- there is a lot on it’s side.
I understand that there are two types of french drains- outside and inside?
Which one did you have installed?