Drainage Issues

Jonny85

I am not sure if this is the forum I need to ask this in so bear with me if not.
I was asked to come and look at a house with water issues in the basement. The problem seems to be multi-faceted.
First, water is seeping into the basement from through the block walls.
The point of entry seems to be one or all of these points:
1. At the hole about 4' up from the slab floor where the water mainline comes into the house. The plumber did not bother to sleeve his pipe and the mason did not seal around the pipe with foam or mortar. Water is entering at this place for sure.
2. Possibly through the block itself.
3. Possibly at the seam between the slab and block wall.
This house was probably built fifteen-twenty years ago. My first guess is that the block was either not properly parged or waterproofed or both. The current homeowner has only lived in this house for four years, the first three our area was under a draught. This was a very wet summer. So it makes sense that this is the first time they have had an issue.

My question is how do I fix this problem with the least intrusive action. Do I need to dig down to the footer, let the wall dry and then apply a waterproofing? Or would digging a trench and installing a french drain be acceptable? Or do I need to do both?

Any help is gretly appreciated.

genecarp

John, welcome to CT, go to the INTRO page and tell the guys alittle bit about yourself, you will get more responses if then gang knows who you are, To answer your question, When addressing wet basements #1, always have good working gutters, and always make sure grading is in order, If still leaking, dig down to footing, clean off foundation, allow to dry, and waterproof, mesh of narrow cracks, podge wider cracks before WP.. while your at it, rigid foam set into tar, and membrane the joints, its a nice extra, and a good time to insulate the walls, GMOD

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