What is the cheapest way to solve water leaking from outside to the house?

Question

My house is very old.
Whenever it is raining, all the water runs into the basement.
we are currently using bumps to bring the water out.
we have to do this because we don't want the water ruining the gas/heater in the basement. we are tired of doing this. The walls arehave molds already.
We want to drain the water.
What are some ofthe causes?
What are some suggestions? Thanks!!

Answer 1

Big bag of trouble is what you have. I would consult a professional because that is a terrible mess to repair. It is because your brick or wood or cement blocks are not water proofed and waterproofing them can be a big job.

Answer 2

Do you know where the water is coming in? Has it always done this? is the basement constructed out of poured in place cement? concrete block? stone and mortar? It makes a difference on how you repair the leak.

If you look around the outside of the house ALL of the ground around the house is supposed to slope AWAY from the house. Does it? If not, make is slope down hill from the edge of the house for 20 or 25 feet. It's alot of work, but even if you make it flat standing water soaks into the ground and eventually saturates the ground to the point where it stands on top, then runs into your basement. It HAS to slope away from the house.

Do you have rain gutters and drain pipes? Where do they drain? If you don't, you have to find a way to sheet the water from the roof away from the edge of the house so it doesn't sit next to the walls. You can do this a couple of ways, but the easiest and cleanest is with rain gutters and down spouts.

Where each downspout exits attach a flexible drain and run the water away from the house as far as practical, but at least 10 feet.

If you still get water accumulating in the basement you may have to check on the ground water level. When basements are built the outside of the cement wall is supposed to be waterproofed. If yours isn't eventually the cement (or if it's really old the stone) foundation lets water seep in through the cement.

If there are cracks you can fill them, but it has to be dry.

There is some "stuff" you can waterproof the walls from the inside, but again it depends on the quality of your cement (or stone) walls. If the cement or mortor is chalky and flakes without much effort you're in for a big expense.

Spend the money and have a cement guy that specializes in basements/cement take a look at it. Might as well get the bad news from someone reliable.

Answer 3

i had the same problem over the summer with a heck lot of rain, we dug up the foundation in front of the yard and we had a broken pipe, then we blocked that pipe and re-cememnted that entire area, we made a cement platform above the pipes and puit the dirt back, then if it still keeps going dig a ditch going from ur foundation to the nearest street. make sure the level of the dich declines while going to the street otherwise it will back up on you, then you can scrub the mold or use ether and a lighter, make sure u have a fire extinguisher handy. Good Times.

Answer 4

buy a sump pump!


what is a bump?