I’ve got a back portion (cellar) of our basement that gets water when we have a heavy rain. The house is a about 80 year old twin in the suburbs of philadelphia. The foundation is a fieldstone wall with parged pointing. There is a small stream about 100 yards down the road at about basement floor level.
This area has a high water table as well, the cemetary down the street has issues in the winter and in heavy rain.
The cellar is segregated from the rest of the basement by a foundation wall which includes the walkout. I’ve regraded the yard and the gutters are ran about 25-30 feet away to the street.
The basement has a sump at the opposite end of the house with a french drain system that ends at the foot of the walkout. The cellar area sits lower than the rest of the basement so thats where the water collects. It gets slightly damp with mild rain. So I think the water is coming up not in.
So a couple solutions this treeguy has considerd are:
Dig and install a second sump and pump in the cellar.
Cut the concrete and tap into the french drain and put another drain in the cellar area.
Cut a trench in the concrete and make the flow towards the drain.
Or add more concrete/leveler to drain towards the drain at the walkout.
So do any of these sound like a good plan?
Steve
Edited 11/9/2006 6:57 pm ET by treeguy
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underground water is just plain weird.....I'm trimming out a house, new job...hear lot's of water running in the basement when I get there the first time
I go look, thinking there's a burst pipe...nope, just a freaking spring running into the second sump in the far corner....while the rest of the basement is dry as a bone, & sump number one runs every twenty minutes or so.
The terrain isn't hilly (so, I'm not thinking springs), grade outside the area of the basement that's getting all the water is pretty good, and the ground isn't wet, but there's enough water constantly pouring into that pit to make a drought ridden farmer shout Hallelujah
I asked the HO how they even got the basement poured; he said it was bone dry, but I'm not believing it...
Wish I had GPR eyes, cause I'd sure love to be able to see where all that water's coming from
"I asked the HO how they even got the basement poured; he said it was bone dry,......."
Have you tested the water running into the sump for chlorine? Could be city water coming in from a broken lateral outside of the basement.
Don't ask why I suggest this test, but it might answer your question.
Jim
Never underestimate the value of a sharp pencil or good light.
That's very impressive, I don't know that I would've suggested that as a possibility, but it could be.
My experience once involved a very deep underground creek which existing long before the little suburban town was developed. Sump pump keeps pumping.
"Have you tested the water running into the sump for chlorine? Could be city water coming in from a broken lateral outside of the basement"
Maybe, but its not wet all the time, just when it rains alot, same with explanation below.
A little more info.
When we moved in we would get water in the basement and the sump pump would run for any rainfall, after regrading and running the gutters away the sump pump sits idle most of the time. I investigated a little and picture 4 shows the last cleanout before the pump with water at the bottom, it seems that the other drains run into this one about 6" down and its gravel bottom with an outlet pipe at the sump pit.
I checked the the second to last drain all i can see is a 1.5" pvc with water sitting in it.
Our attached neighbor say they have no water issues at all.
Picture 1 and 2 show the cellar (excuse the mess) and the walkout. picture 3 shows the sump pit with gravel bottom and some water in it.
Just for fun picture 5 is a crane job we did recently with 120 ton crane. That piece of wood weighed 18,000 pounds, it was about 40 feet tall.
So my hesitation with putting it a second sump would be constant running if there was an underground stream. But like I said the water only becomes an issue when it rains.
Any more info needed?
Thanks so far,
Steve
Treeguy, if this was my house and my basement (and I planned to live there for a number of years) I would dig inside the cellar wall for drain tile and install a second sump and pump in the cellar. Then I would pour cover the tile with fabric, gravel, and concrete to create a level, or near level, cellar floor.