Heres the scoop. Lady has water seeping through wall cracks in basement. Not standing water just wet. She called a foundation guy and he told her to raise the grade around her house with topsoil to get it to wash away from the house. On the biggest problem side there is only room to raise the grade against the house four to five inches. So the water will be going away from the house but not drasticly. So she wants me to come in with topsoil and just do that. Five inches thick about two feet wide all the way around the house. Personally I dont think doing that will make any difference in the water problem. I was wondering if you guys think it will. I think she would be better off laying a perferated tile all the way around the house with two inches of peastone on top of it and throwing bark on top of the peastone. She wants to tile out her downspouts anyways so I figure we could just get the tile running down and hook it into the downspout tiles. My idea of course would cost more money, especially because on one spot we would have to lift up the concrete and relay it. Only about 4' by 4' though. So I was wondering what you guys thought. If she actually had standing water in the basement then ya I would raise that grade four inches cause every little bit helps. But with the little wet spots she has I wonder if it would really make a difference. Of if you had any other ideas.
i'll be the first to admit, i don't know much about this. in fact, when customers start talking to me about water leaking in the basment, i automatically say no. with my family and neighbors some water problems seem very hard to fix. i know several people who have been struggling with it for DECADES. i do not want to get in the middle of that. anyway, it seems to me that 4 or 5 inches is a significant difference.
I'd recommend you have a contractor "wrap" the basement.They'll have to dig down to the foundation and install a heavy vinyl membrane around the home.It'll only stick up about 1/4 inch above the soil.Then you install drainage grates and tile along the perimeter of the home.The grates can be found at Lowes.They're about 9" wide by 2 feet long.Run them along the side of the home and connect them to your drainage tile and run them away from the home.This will take care of all her water problems.It's gonna be costly,but it'll save her thousands down the road.
I am wondering if u can give some more information or digital pics............ie how high up or low in the basement is water coming through. Also is it in the area of were the down spots are out side of the house. Is the water from the down spots pooling back towards the foundation? where are u going to run her down spots to in the yard?
the downspout already have tile running them away from the house except they are just above ground and need to be barried. The basement walls are seeping water in all up and down the wall and coming in through the floor. No standing water though. Just wet spots. I havent taken pics of it. I am goin to run the downspout all the way out to their ditch. I shot some grades out there. As of right now there is ten foot between the driveway and the house. Ten foot of dirt. The grade is already sloping down. Three grade is falling away from the house there is a total of a eight inch drop from the house to the driveway. Thats why I just dont think raising the grade another four inches is goin to help at all. She had some other landscaper come out though and he told her it would work like a charm. I asked her if he would guarantee that and of course he wouldnt. He just wants to make a couple hundred bucks throwing some soil down in my opinion.
Being in the Midwest we deal with quite a bit of wet basements..........but in this instance think you are gonna have to do some digging on the out side foundation and ad tile along the foundation and also prob bust her basement floor and install a sump pump system. So you debate is weather to walk into this job slowly or tell her time to call another company that deals with wet basements only. l
Concrete Sealer cost about 100 bucks for 5 gallons each gallon covers about 250 SFmight not get you the soil job but it will save the client $$
