Stop Leak through Foundation - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

Bubbles · 09-23-2009, 08:36 AM

Greetings. First time caller over here to the plumbing section. Here's the deal. I have a customer that wants us to fix the leak into the basement. I tried like hell to get him to get someone else but he insist we do it. Anyhow, we have a 4" old rigid conduit 3ft underground passing through foundation (5"hole) into the electrical CT cabinet. Currently, the water is getting down into the trench and following the conduit on the outside, dripping into the CT and out a weephole. He was supposed to fix this 6 months ago. I don't know much about plumbing or water leakage but I'm thinking excavate, fix gap around conduit with hydraulic cement, put some gravel french drain in just b4 it enters foundation slanted downhill to divert the water, cover up. Does this sound like a good plan or bad???

tgeb · 09-23-2009, 09:24 AM

Do you have access to the conduit and the hole in the wall from the inside, or is the panel in the way?

Bubbles · 09-23-2009, 10:00 AM

no way. we would have to disconnect the whole service and pull out. Although, my waterleak specialist says he could get up there from below and use a hose with 90degree fitting for tight spots and try to inject it from inside the basement. It's the typical 4'x8x board on 2x4's so there is about 3/4" gap to get up in.

Ron The Plumber · 09-23-2009, 10:17 AM

How is this plumbing related? Sounds more like foundations to me.

tgeb · 09-23-2009, 07:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ron The Plumber

How is this plumbing related? Sounds more like foundations to me.

What.....it is water... and it's leaking. Plumbers fix leaks.....right?

Bubbles, if you can not get any room to access this from the inside, you're left with digging and repair from outside. I would not worry with any french drain stuff.

Dig it up, clean around the conduit, hydraulic cement the opening, cover with foundation coating, compact the fill, and you should be good.

Now if there is even a small amount of room that you can access around the conduit from inside I have a method that has worked for me.

I have taken hydraulic cement and mixed it real wet, soaked your typical gauze bandage in the cement slurry and then pushed it into the area around the pipe.
I have used this method to stop running water before and it worked well. You'll need only a little space around the pipe to do this.

Best of luck.

Ron The Plumber · 09-23-2009, 08:01 PM

When you talk about conduit pipe that is electrical, maybe you need to post this on the electrical forum, plumber don't use conduit.

tgeb · 09-23-2009, 08:12 PM

According to Webster's,

Quote:

Main Entry: con·duit
Pronunciation: \ˈkän-ˌdü-ət, -ˌdyü- also -dwət, -dət\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French cunduit pipe, passage, conduct, in part from cunduit, past participle of cunduire to lead, from Latin conducere, in part from Medieval Latin conductus — more at conduct
Date: 14th century
1 : a natural or artificial channel through which something (as a fluid) is conveyed
2 archaic : fountain
3 : a pipe, tube, or tile for protecting electric wires or cables
4 : a means of transmitting or distributing <a conduit for illicit payments> <a conduit of information>

So technically, plumbers use way more conduit than the sparky's do.

Ron The Plumber · 09-23-2009, 08:16 PM

I'm so glad so explained it to me, good luck. Guess your more of a plumber then I, since you know so much, you have the floor.

tgeb · 09-23-2009, 08:44 PM

No Ron, I'm not more of a Plumber than you.

But I might figure that the OP may have thought that plumbers typically have wall penetrations that need to be water tight to the exterior environment.

Maybe you've never had a problem with pipes going through walls that leaked around the piping, but I would think most plumbers have, and would be able to offer advice to someone with less experience in these type things, (other than "sounds like a foundation problem")

My earlier post was poking fun, sorry you missed the humor. I did not intend to offend.

Bubbles · 09-24-2009, 08:13 PM

thanks tgeb. I talked with a guy a few days ago and thats basically the plan we came up with. He has been fixing leaks for 30 yrs and basically what you said was the solution. He said to add layers as well. Let hydraulic sit. Maybe some roofing tar after that, maybe a membrance after that. Basically layering. Thanks for the tip. Of all the trades I thought this looked closest to problem. Didnt see foundation topic anywhere or I would of posted there. Besides, I've been hanging in the electrical section and it's really brutal there sometimes so I can take anything. There only words.

come on over to electrical sometime

tgeb · 09-26-2009, 07:30 AM

I hope it works out.

I stop by the electrical section occasionally but just to look at the carnage of the new guys who have asked the wrong questions.