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Posted by Joseph Meehan on September 24, 2006, 11:31 am
DaileyJohn.20.decij@spamgourmet.com wrote:
> I bought a small house in Cincinnati Ohio that was built in the
> early 70s knowing that it was in bad shape, with a leaky basement, and
> I am rehabbing it. The gutters were broken, and the land near the
> block-foundation of the basement was sloping towards the basement in
> some spots. I fixed the gutters and directed downspout water away
> from the house. I also put dirt in the appropriate spots around the
> house so that the land around the foundation sloped away from the
> house for about 2.5 feet. However, the backyard generally slopes
> toward the house, and there is a swale at the Northwest corner of it
> that is lower than the SW corner of the house. I should also mention
> that the house has a sump pump (on the NE corner of the basement),
> and I installed a back flow preventer about 3 weeks ago, and both of
> those steps helped significantly when there were lesser rains. Also,
> the sump pump water flows out about 15 feet from the house in a pipe
> that I installed to handle the water flow.
>
> On Friday night and Saturday morning we got about 2.6 inches of
> steady rain, and there were small puddles of water that appear to have
> come from the NW back corner, the NE and SE front corners. (Since I
> don't live in the house yet, I was not there to see exactly where the
> water came from.) There are a number of anomalies that appear to be
> suspicious to me. Downspout drain pipes on the south side of the
> house are apparently clogged -- I ran a hose into the the SE
> downspout, and it caused a significant amount of water to go into the
> sump pump's inflow pipe, so I capped it off, and I have the water
> from that downspout running down what is mostly a very subtle slope
> from the frontyard to the street. The other southern downspout was
> in a window well, and when I ran a hose into that downspout's drain
> pipe, the window well became soggy. So I removed the downspout and
> capped off the drain pipe.
>
> Also, I installed perforated drain pipes on the north and south
> sides of the house (about 2.5 feet from the house) to take advantage
> of what is generally a slight slope from the back of the house to the
> front yard and street. The idea of the pipes was to absorb large
> amounts of flowing water and take it from the back of the house to the
> street in the front yard. However, I wonder whether the pipes, which
> are covered with gravel are merely attracting water and that the water
> is somehow flowing to the base of the basement -- Following the
> Friday night and Saturday morning rain, there was virtually no
> standing water near the house, and the ground on the surface was not
> mushy. Also, I didn't see any water flow in the pipes shortly after
> the rain.
>
> Finally, there are about twenty 1/2" diameter holes drilled
> through the basement floor that are spread all throughout the
> basement. I don't know why they are there, but maybe they have some
> effect on the flooding. Since, I don't live in the house yet, I
> can't say whether any water is coming up through them or not.
>
> On the basis of this situation, I am puzzled as to why the
> basement is leaking. If someone could give me their ideas as how the
> leaks are coming about and how to fix the problem, it would be greatly
> appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
>
> JD
Well I can make a few guesses and suggestions.
2.5 Feet is not enough to do any real good. You need more like 15 feet
plus. What you are trying is the right idea, but I think you have failed
because you did not go far enough.
I suspect you may have a problem with the local water table. How close
are you to the river and how far above it?
Those holes are interesting. Maybe someone thought it would drain the
water or maybe it has something to do with radon?
--
Joseph Meehan
Dia duit
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