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Posted by Banty on March 31, 2008, 8:35 am
>
>> Gritz_1 wrote:
>>> We have a bi-level home on a hill; recently the garage, which is about
>>> 6' under ground, has been taking on water after a heavy storm. The
>>> house is on a slope, and we know that hydrostatic pressure is the
>>> culprit. We asked 4 contractors for ideas/bids and all suggested a
>>> French drain-sump pump set-up, which seems like the correct way to go.
>>> The sticking point is this; the garage is a 2 car, divided by a
>>> cinderblock, load bearing wall. One contractor says he can just go
>>> through that wall, and around the perimeter of the garage. This makes
>>> the job much less expensive, instead of going around 6 walls with the
>>> drain, he is going around 3, so the linear footage is much smaller. He
>>> says, the hole that would be cut through the load bearing wall is
>>> insignificant, and will be recemented anyway. I tend to agree with
>>> him after thinking about it, but I do not want to wake up with a
>>> collapsed/cracked wall one day! I would love to hear everyone's
>>> opnions.
>> My opinion is to regrade the back yard, and put in a swale to redirect the
>> water around the garage. If that isn't enough, bite the bullet, and dig
>> out the backfill on the outside of those 2 sides, and put in a proper
>> foundation drain, with proper gravel and whatever above. While the trench
>> is open, replace the waterproofing on the outside of the wall. Interior
>> french drains are a second-best solution in a basement, where the floor
>> gets almost no load. But putting them in a garage, thereby breaking the
>> link to where the slab sits on the footer, seems to be asking for trouble.
>> Not to mention, how warm does the garage stay? Ever get cold by where the
>> big doors open?
>>
>> IMHO, water should be redirected or stopped outside the basement wall.
>>
>> (Yes, I just had a site survey from a 'reputable' basement waterproofing
>> company, and even after I told him I grew up in the business and knew
>> better, he still tried to sell me snake oil. As he was packing up, he even
>> tried to offer me a discount if I would sign a contract and give him a
>> check right then.)
>>
>> But having said all that- no, a small hole in the bottom corner of the
>> dividing wall, to tuck a tile under there, won't seriously affect the
>> load-bearing capacity. I assume you have a door through the wall already?
>> Just stay away from right under the door frame.
>>
>> --
>> aem sends...
>
>
>From one who has gone through the drain problem from you know where, may I
>say that your suggestions are the first ones that make any sense.
>
>Gritz has tried to describe his problem, but it is a bit difficult to do so.
>And I can understand that.
>
>Your comment about french drain people selling snake oil is absolutely
>right. They wanted to do that on my property for $1-2000. The last owner
>sold rather than deal with it. I decided to do it myself. I found my
>problem was caused by construction fill of a deep ditch between my house and
>the neighbors; the street slopes downward toward me and the lawns are even
>with the curb. As I said, apparently before the houses were finished there
>was a big ditch there until they filled it in. The problem was that they
>used construction sand: very porous.
>
>After digging it all out, I could see that the groundwater would go six feet
>under the surface, then under my crawl space, which was like a swamp. The
>french drain guys wanted all that money to dig a 24" french drain. A lot of
>good that would do!
>
>Like your suggestion, I dug out around the house. The crawl space had been
>filled in with concrete block some years ago, but it wasn't sealed very
>good. I sealed and waterproofed it, then put a border of 4mil vinyl
>sheeting on it before I filled it in.
>
>Where the snake oil guys would have put a 24" french drain, I dug a
>50'X2'X6' deep trench, put a 4" socked slotted pipe at the bottom, then a
>sheet of 4mil vinyl along the side of the trench. The pipe went around the
>house to the lower side, where I got permission from the city to put a drain
>in the curb. I tied my gutter drains and a basement drain into it.
>
>This drastic fix works. We've had less than moderate rains so far this
>spring and haven't had any for nearly a week, but that drain that comes out
>of my curb is still running down the street today. It shows no sign of
>stopping.
>
>They would have put in the french drain and missed all that water!
>
>Oh, by the way, that crawl space is dry as a bone, even in rainy weather.
>The partial basement, which used to be slimy, is now dry as a bone.
>
Good thing you were apparently situated to do all that yourself so I won't ask
you about labor, bringing equipment to the site, etc. (did you compare even the
costs of materials, like the gravel, so what the "snake oil" would have been??)
Banty
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