Water seepage in basement walls

[jackie]

We have an old house with cement walls in the basement. During heavy rains or spring thaw, water seeps in through the wall on one side of the basement.

There are companies and products that say they can stop the leaks from inside the house. Do these work? Are they temporary bandaids only? Are they worth a shot or a waste of money? Or is the only solution to excavate the foundation and fix the problem from the outside?

Any advice or tales of experience with water seepage would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Jackie

 

[PaulPoulsen]

In my experience, the only thing that really works is excavating and fixing from the outside. When you fix a troubled area from the inside, the water will just look for another way in, either further down the wall or higher up.

 

[cmattric]

Although it looks cheaper to fix the problem from inside, I would strongly recommend you to excavate and insulate the foundation wall from outside. Interior solutions will be temporarily. The problem will definitely occur in future.



Mehmet
Civil Engineer-Geotechnical, BS,M.Sc.

 

[kabuku]

Hi There,
The short answer is that the outside approach is prefered.
However, the interior aproach works and is utilized when outside access is difficult due to hardscaping etc.
The inside approach I have seen involves digging a channel around the perimeter of the basement and laying a drain tile(pipe) it that. A membrane similar to the dimpled plastic wrap you see installed on the outside of foundations is then hung on the interior wall and runs right down into the excavated channel the channel is then concreted over, job done. The concept is almost the same as what happens on the outside. The water runs down the wall and into the drain tile either way.
This past week I was replacing the window in a large Forest Hill Toronto home (3 mil) and they had done the inside waterproofing and were about to start finishing the basement.
Get a price for both and weigh the pros and cons.
Good Luck, Brian

 

[dfluet]

QUOTE (jackie @ Jan 19 2009, 08:14 AM) We have an old house with cement walls in the basement. During heavy rains or spring thaw, water seeps in through the wall on one side of the basement.

There are companies and products that say they can stop the leaks from inside the house. Do these work? Are they temporary bandaids only? Are they worth a shot or a waste of money? Or is the only solution to excavate the foundation and fix the problem from the outside?

Any advice or tales of experience with water seepage would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Jackie
Like everyone else says, fix the problem from the outside. It costs more but it stops the problem at the source. We had Abalon Construction fix our leak. They did a good job and warranty their work for 5 years I think, we had a repeat leak and they dug down found and fixed it for free.
The only inside fix we tried was epoxy injection for cracks in the wall. It does seal up very well and `welds` the wall back together. It also works for holes that go right through the wall, like rusted out snap ties from the original basement pour.
Good luck!

Darrell

 

[NathanS]

QUOTE (kabuku @ Jan 19 2009, 11:54 AM) Hi There,
The short answer is that the outside approach is prefered.
However, the interior aproach works and is utilized when outside access is difficult due to hardscaping etc.
The inside approach I have seen involves digging a channel around the perimeter of the basement and laying a drain tile(pipe) it that. A membrane similar to the dimpled plastic wrap you see installed on the outside of foundations is then hung on the interior wall and runs right down into the excavated channel the channel is then concreted over, job done. The concept is almost the same as what happens on the outside. The water runs down the wall and into the drain tile either way.
This past week I was replacing the window in a large Forest Hill Toronto home (3 mil) and they had done the inside waterproofing and were about to start finishing the basement.
Get a price for both and weigh the pros and cons.
Good Luck, Brian


This is a good idea and should work the only part left out would be to tie it in to the storm sewer directly or connect a sump pump which can pump the water into the storm sewer or out on the yard. Without this step the water would have no where to go and during a wet season you could end up with wet spots in the floor.

 

[Stephen1151]

If you want an expert opinion talk to Ray Ebel from Coastal Weather proofing. I worked for him for 2 years and he knows basements and foundations like no one else I know. He does exterior foundations but he also does water proofing from the inside if they are cracks that are causing leaks. his number is 1-604-866-9116

 

[jackie]

Thanks, everyone, for the replies. I see the long term fix is to excavate and solve the problem from the outside. Anyone care to give me a ballpark of what that kind of job costs? Are we talking a couple grand or $10k+?

Also, I might try the interior epoxy just to get through the spring thaw until we can see what`s happening under the snow.

Thanks.

 

[housedoc]

Sometimes the simple things are overlooked!
Is there a reason for water to pool against the house? Downspouts? Faulty gutters? Improper grading?
If you `fix` the leak from the inside, the foundation still deteriorates; you just don`t notice it.

 

[invst4profit]

I had a similar problem on my home when I first bought it. Heavy rains or rain in the winter when the ground was frozen resulted in water problems on back wall. Had a expert in to evaluate the problem and suggested I redirect my downspouts to the low side of the house and regrade the yard to move water away from the foundation. As suggested above.
$50 and a couple of afternoons of regrading and the problem was solved.

 

[dplummer]

Epoxy injection only works on a poured concrete foundation & may only last 3 plus years. Outside repair is perferred. As a quick fix try Hydraulic cement or commonly called plug tight. It`s found at most home improvement stores. It`s a cement type powder you mix with water & apply to the wall like parging.Works well & it`s inexpensive.

Doug