Water engineer for basement water issues

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The basement waterproofing business is full of charlatans. You don't want anyone who does a lot of marketing, if they wear a uniform or drive a truck with fancy logos steer clear.

The problem is that rainwater is running down the foundation and finding cracks to get in. The solution is first to keep that water away from the foundation in the first place, and then to give it a place to go where it can be disposed of safely. The exact details depend upon the site and how it was built. But if someone starts talking about "groundwater" or "water table" or similar mumbo-jumbo, cross them off your list.

Avoid interior perimeter solutions at all cost if you at all can. Go for external dig out and repair and slab repair. If you think about it interior sump pump and interior perimeter is making your walls into a water conduit. You don’t want water to come near or into your walls in the first place.

Not to mention pests, mice, crickets (black indoor ones). You’ll never get rid of these again. Pick your company on whether they’ll attempt exterior solution as the priority one.

Avoid anyone who proposes excavating anything until all possibilities of handling runoff on the surface have been exhausted.

It's not a question of internal or external, it's a question of whether you need to dig at all.

This is fine but for the houses I’ve lived in in Maryland, I don’t think you can have a dry basement without functional perimeter drains. If your house is of the age where the original ones have failed, you can play with downspouts all you like and it may not solve the problem.

I have a 60some year old house in MoCo. We've had no water issues in our basement since we managed the surface flow shortly after purchasing almost 30 years ago, and doubling the size of the house 15 years ago.

Ground water isn't really an issue for us as we're on the side of hill. Location, location, location. I'd think twice before buying bottom land in the piedmont.

If you doubled the size of the house 15 years ago, those are new drains? I don’t understand what you mean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The basement waterproofing business is full of charlatans. You don't want anyone who does a lot of marketing, if they wear a uniform or drive a truck with fancy logos steer clear.

The problem is that rainwater is running down the foundation and finding cracks to get in. The solution is first to keep that water away from the foundation in the first place, and then to give it a place to go where it can be disposed of safely. The exact details depend upon the site and how it was built. But if someone starts talking about "groundwater" or "water table" or similar mumbo-jumbo, cross them off your list.

Avoid interior perimeter solutions at all cost if you at all can. Go for external dig out and repair and slab repair. If you think about it interior sump pump and interior perimeter is making your walls into a water conduit. You don’t want water to come near or into your walls in the first place.

Not to mention pests, mice, crickets (black indoor ones). You’ll never get rid of these again. Pick your company on whether they’ll attempt exterior solution as the priority one.

Avoid anyone who proposes excavating anything until all possibilities of handling runoff on the surface have been exhausted.

It's not a question of internal or external, it's a question of whether you need to dig at all.

This is fine but for the houses I’ve lived in in Maryland, I don’t think you can have a dry basement without functional perimeter drains. If your house is of the age where the original ones have failed, you can play with downspouts all you like and it may not solve the problem.

I have a 60some year old house in MoCo. We've had no water issues in our basement since we managed the surface flow shortly after purchasing almost 30 years ago, and doubling the size of the house 15 years ago.

Ground water isn't really an issue for us as we're on the side of hill. Location, location, location. I'd think twice before buying bottom land in the piedmont.

If you doubled the size of the house 15 years ago, those are new drains? I don’t understand what you mean.

We had a small bit of water getting into the basement during rain when we moved in 30 years ago, quickly fixed with improved downspout draining and a bit of sculpting of the yard. 15 years ago, we popped the top and bumped basement out a bit. We did usual construction on the foundation bump, but nothing to the original foundation - just continued careful surface flow management. We still have no water getting in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The basement waterproofing business is full of charlatans. You don't want anyone who does a lot of marketing, if they wear a uniform or drive a truck with fancy logos steer clear.

The problem is that rainwater is running down the foundation and finding cracks to get in. The solution is first to keep that water away from the foundation in the first place, and then to give it a place to go where it can be disposed of safely. The exact details depend upon the site and how it was built. But if someone starts talking about "groundwater" or "water table" or similar mumbo-jumbo, cross them off your list.

Avoid interior perimeter solutions at all cost if you at all can. Go for external dig out and repair and slab repair. If you think about it interior sump pump and interior perimeter is making your walls into a water conduit. You don’t want water to come near or into your walls in the first place.

Not to mention pests, mice, crickets (black indoor ones). You’ll never get rid of these again. Pick your company on whether they’ll attempt exterior solution as the priority one.

Avoid anyone who proposes excavating anything until all possibilities of handling runoff on the surface have been exhausted.

It's not a question of internal or external, it's a question of whether you need to dig at all.

This is fine but for the houses I’ve lived in in Maryland, I don’t think you can have a dry basement without functional perimeter drains. If your house is of the age where the original ones have failed, you can play with downspouts all you like and it may not solve the problem.

I have a 60some year old house in MoCo. We've had no water issues in our basement since we managed the surface flow shortly after purchasing almost 30 years ago, and doubling the size of the house 15 years ago.

Ground water isn't really an issue for us as we're on the side of hill. Location, location, location. I'd think twice before buying bottom land in the piedmont.

If you doubled the size of the house 15 years ago, those are new drains? I don’t understand what you mean.

We had a small bit of water getting into the basement during rain when we moved in 30 years ago, quickly fixed with improved downspout draining and a bit of sculpting of the yard. 15 years ago, we popped the top and bumped basement out a bit. We did usual construction on the foundation bump, but nothing to the original foundation - just continued careful surface flow management. We still have no water getting in.

Do you have reason to believe the original drains aren’t functioning?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The basement waterproofing business is full of charlatans. You don't want anyone who does a lot of marketing, if they wear a uniform or drive a truck with fancy logos steer clear.

The problem is that rainwater is running down the foundation and finding cracks to get in. The solution is first to keep that water away from the foundation in the first place, and then to give it a place to go where it can be disposed of safely. The exact details depend upon the site and how it was built. But if someone starts talking about "groundwater" or "water table" or similar mumbo-jumbo, cross them off your list.

Avoid interior perimeter solutions at all cost if you at all can. Go for external dig out and repair and slab repair. If you think about it interior sump pump and interior perimeter is making your walls into a water conduit. You don’t want water to come near or into your walls in the first place.

Not to mention pests, mice, crickets (black indoor ones). You’ll never get rid of these again. Pick your company on whether they’ll attempt exterior solution as the priority one.

Avoid anyone who proposes excavating anything until all possibilities of handling runoff on the surface have been exhausted.

It's not a question of internal or external, it's a question of whether you need to dig at all.

This is fine but for the houses I’ve lived in in Maryland, I don’t think you can have a dry basement without functional perimeter drains. If your house is of the age where the original ones have failed, you can play with downspouts all you like and it may not solve the problem.

I have a 60some year old house in MoCo. We've had no water issues in our basement since we managed the surface flow shortly after purchasing almost 30 years ago, and doubling the size of the house 15 years ago.

Ground water isn't really an issue for us as we're on the side of hill. Location, location, location. I'd think twice before buying bottom land in the piedmont.

If you doubled the size of the house 15 years ago, those are new drains? I don’t understand what you mean.

We had a small bit of water getting into the basement during rain when we moved in 30 years ago, quickly fixed with improved downspout draining and a bit of sculpting of the yard. 15 years ago, we popped the top and bumped basement out a bit. We did usual construction on the foundation bump, but nothing to the original foundation - just continued careful surface flow management. We still have no water getting in.

Do you have reason to believe the original drains aren’t functioning?

What original drains? There was no evidence of anything beyond some gravel when we dug out the foundation for the bump.

[Anonymous]

Exterior waterproofing and drains

Try Drainage & Erosion or Newborg

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:JES are complete scam artists. Do not use them and believe the horrible reviews online. Call Mer Waterproofing in Lorton. They used to be Mer/Morrison and have been around since the 70s. They are old school pen and paper but they will get it done. If they can't, no one can.

It's a data point of one but, I had a very good experience with JES. It probably comes down to who you get but our inspector was not pushy at all and we went with them even though they were not the cheapest. Basement has been bone dry ever since and that was 6 years ago. They also give a life-time transferable warranty which is important to us as we do plan to sell in a few years when the last kid is done with college. I don't want the next owners dealing with the water issues that we struggled with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The basement waterproofing business is full of charlatans. You don't want anyone who does a lot of marketing, if they wear a uniform or drive a truck with fancy logos steer clear.

The problem is that rainwater is running down the foundation and finding cracks to get in. The solution is first to keep that water away from the foundation in the first place, and then to give it a place to go where it can be disposed of safely. The exact details depend upon the site and how it was built. But if someone starts talking about "groundwater" or "water table" or similar mumbo-jumbo, cross them off your list.

The water in my neighborhood literally pushes up out of cracks in the street. Groundwater is a real thing. I have no idea if OP has this problem but in our local soil and geology you may have basement water problems even if you clear all the water from your roof and around your house. There may be other parts of the country or even spots locally where redirecting surface water is all you have to do. But the poster who keeps insisting this is always true is wrong! And no, I don’t sell basement waterproofing.

He is wrong. We have very poor clay soils that don't drain well at all. Water coming into a basement is almost always from underground. Cracks are a very small cause of the problem but does happen with concrete foundation walls. Most leaky basement have block walls and the blocks also fill up with water. I'm not in the business either but I always see so much inaccurate information on this topic whenever it's posted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The basement waterproofing business is full of charlatans. You don't want anyone who does a lot of marketing, if they wear a uniform or drive a truck with fancy logos steer clear.

The problem is that rainwater is running down the foundation and finding cracks to get in. The solution is first to keep that water away from the foundation in the first place, and then to give it a place to go where it can be disposed of safely. The exact details depend upon the site and how it was built. But if someone starts talking about "groundwater" or "water table" or similar mumbo-jumbo, cross them off your list.

Avoid interior perimeter solutions at all cost if you at all can. Go for external dig out and repair and slab repair. If you think about it interior sump pump and interior perimeter is making your walls into a water conduit. You don’t want water to come near or into your walls in the first place.

Not to mention pests, mice, crickets (black indoor ones). You’ll never get rid of these again. Pick your company on whether they’ll attempt exterior solution as the priority one.

It's rare that a house will be a good candidate for an external drain. It involves excavating all the way down to the foundation footings all around the house. If there are stoops, porches, decks, HVAC equipment, walkways, or anything else, it would have to be removed or demo'd. Then that dirt has to be piled well away from the house if there is room. Then the old clogged drain tile is replaced and the walls treated with a waterproof membrane. It's not even a possible solution for most houses or in most neighborhoods. Almost all water management solutions will be interior drains, tied to a sump pump, if not two. Because it works, is not anywhere near as disruptive or expensive as exterior drainage. I know you are that one holdout who still insists on doing that way but I'm sorry to let you know, we drive cars now and have smart phones. Times have changed. Try to keep up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The basement waterproofing business is full of charlatans. You don't want anyone who does a lot of marketing, if they wear a uniform or drive a truck with fancy logos steer clear.

The problem is that rainwater is running down the foundation and finding cracks to get in. The solution is first to keep that water away from the foundation in the first place, and then to give it a place to go where it can be disposed of safely. The exact details depend upon the site and how it was built. But if someone starts talking about "groundwater" or "water table" or similar mumbo-jumbo, cross them off your list.

Avoid interior perimeter solutions at all cost if you at all can. Go for external dig out and repair and slab repair. If you think about it interior sump pump and interior perimeter is making your walls into a water conduit. You don’t want water to come near or into your walls in the first place.

Not to mention pests, mice, crickets (black indoor ones). You’ll never get rid of these again. Pick your company on whether they’ll attempt exterior solution as the priority one.

Avoid anyone who proposes excavating anything until all possibilities of handling runoff on the surface have been exhausted.

It's not a question of internal or external, it's a question of whether you need to dig at all.

This is fine but for the houses I’ve lived in in Maryland, I don’t think you can have a dry basement without functional perimeter drains. If your house is of the age where the original ones have failed, you can play with downspouts all you like and it may not solve the problem.

You're correct. At best, it may help a little but this is now an underground problem. The original footer drains do not last anywhere near as long as the house. Some start to fail in as little as 20 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The basement waterproofing business is full of charlatans. You don't want anyone who does a lot of marketing, if they wear a uniform or drive a truck with fancy logos steer clear.

The problem is that rainwater is running down the foundation and finding cracks to get in. The solution is first to keep that water away from the foundation in the first place, and then to give it a place to go where it can be disposed of safely. The exact details depend upon the site and how it was built. But if someone starts talking about "groundwater" or "water table" or similar mumbo-jumbo, cross them off your list.

Avoid interior perimeter solutions at all cost if you at all can. Go for external dig out and repair and slab repair. If you think about it interior sump pump and interior perimeter is making your walls into a water conduit. You don’t want water to come near or into your walls in the first place.

Not to mention pests, mice, crickets (black indoor ones). You’ll never get rid of these again. Pick your company on whether they’ll attempt exterior solution as the priority one.

Avoid anyone who proposes excavating anything until all possibilities of handling runoff on the surface have been exhausted.

It's not a question of internal or external, it's a question of whether you need to dig at all.

This is fine but for the houses I’ve lived in in Maryland, I don’t think you can have a dry basement without functional perimeter drains. If your house is of the age where the original ones have failed, you can play with downspouts all you like and it may not solve the problem.

I have a 60some year old house in MoCo. We've had no water issues in our basement since we managed the surface flow shortly after purchasing almost 30 years ago, and doubling the size of the house 15 years ago.

Ground water isn't really an issue for us as we're on the side of hill. Location, location, location. I'd think twice before buying bottom land in the piedmont.

If you doubled the size of the house 15 years ago, those are new drains? I don’t understand what you mean.

We had a small bit of water getting into the basement during rain when we moved in 30 years ago, quickly fixed with improved downspout draining and a bit of sculpting of the yard. 15 years ago, we popped the top and bumped basement out a bit. We did usual construction on the foundation bump, but nothing to the original foundation - just continued careful surface flow management. We still have no water getting in.

Do you have reason to believe the original drains aren’t functioning?

What original drains? There was no evidence of anything beyond some gravel when we dug out the foundation for the bump.

Okay well I’m not an expert but I think all houses with basements would have had clay “tiles” or something like that depending on when they were built, so possibly you’re not an expert about this either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The basement waterproofing business is full of charlatans. You don't want anyone who does a lot of marketing, if they wear a uniform or drive a truck with fancy logos steer clear.

The problem is that rainwater is running down the foundation and finding cracks to get in. The solution is first to keep that water away from the foundation in the first place, and then to give it a place to go where it can be disposed of safely. The exact details depend upon the site and how it was built. But if someone starts talking about "groundwater" or "water table" or similar mumbo-jumbo, cross them off your list.

Avoid interior perimeter solutions at all cost if you at all can. Go for external dig out and repair and slab repair. If you think about it interior sump pump and interior perimeter is making your walls into a water conduit. You don’t want water to come near or into your walls in the first place.

Not to mention pests, mice, crickets (black indoor ones). You’ll never get rid of these again. Pick your company on whether they’ll attempt exterior solution as the priority one.

Avoid anyone who proposes excavating anything until all possibilities of handling runoff on the surface have been exhausted.

It's not a question of internal or external, it's a question of whether you need to dig at all.

This is fine but for the houses I’ve lived in in Maryland, I don’t think you can have a dry basement without functional perimeter drains. If your house is of the age where the original ones have failed, you can play with downspouts all you like and it may not solve the problem.

I have a 60some year old house in MoCo. We've had no water issues in our basement since we managed the surface flow shortly after purchasing almost 30 years ago, and doubling the size of the house 15 years ago.

Ground water isn't really an issue for us as we're on the side of hill. Location, location, location. I'd think twice before buying bottom land in the piedmont.

If you doubled the size of the house 15 years ago, those are new drains? I don’t understand what you mean.

We had a small bit of water getting into the basement during rain when we moved in 30 years ago, quickly fixed with improved downspout draining and a bit of sculpting of the yard. 15 years ago, we popped the top and bumped basement out a bit. We did usual construction on the foundation bump, but nothing to the original foundation - just continued careful surface flow management. We still have no water getting in.

Do you have reason to believe the original drains aren’t functioning?

What original drains? There was no evidence of anything beyond some gravel when we dug out the foundation for the bump.

Okay well I’m not an expert but I think all houses with basements would have had clay “tiles” or something like that depending on when they were built, so possibly you’re not an expert about this either.

I think this is the problem, people don’t have an understanding of footer drains (why would we?) and they imagine that their house is like a boat. So then when someone comes along and tells you water is going to be in drains under the floor, it sounds so weird that it feels like a scam.

And people get very into surface water and gutters because they can see them. AND they’re important. So that’s hard because they are important, but also aren’t the whole story.

The basement water companies are set up to sell you whole systems.

We had a problem with a section of relatively new drains that were just done wrong (long story involving a drain at the bottom of the stairs that crossed the foundation drain) and the big basement companies would only quote me for redoing the whole wall. Eventually found a handyman who fixed that section. But I get why the companies quoted what they did, because that’s their model and they offer a guarantee so they couldn’t risk that the one section was the only problem. They were transparent about it.

If I buy a house with a finished basement I just assume this is coming at some point, like replacing a sewer line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:JES are complete scam artists. Do not use them and believe the horrible reviews online. Call Mer Waterproofing in Lorton. They used to be Mer/Morrison and have been around since the 70s. They are old school pen and paper but they will get it done. If they can't, no one can.

It's a data point of one but, I had a very good experience with JES. It probably comes down to who you get but our inspector was not pushy at all and we went with them even though they were not the cheapest. Basement has been bone dry ever since and that was 6 years ago. They also give a life-time transferable warranty which is important to us as we do plan to sell in a few years when the last kid is done with college. I don't want the next owners dealing with the water issues that we struggled with.

Interior drain? Do you have mice, crickets or bugs? Genuine question

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The basement waterproofing business is full of charlatans. You don't want anyone who does a lot of marketing, if they wear a uniform or drive a truck with fancy logos steer clear.

The problem is that rainwater is running down the foundation and finding cracks to get in. The solution is first to keep that water away from the foundation in the first place, and then to give it a place to go where it can be disposed of safely. The exact details depend upon the site and how it was built. But if someone starts talking about "groundwater" or "water table" or similar mumbo-jumbo, cross them off your list.

Avoid interior perimeter solutions at all cost if you at all can. Go for external dig out and repair and slab repair. If you think about it interior sump pump and interior perimeter is making your walls into a water conduit. You don’t want water to come near or into your walls in the first place.

Not to mention pests, mice, crickets (black indoor ones). You’ll never get rid of these again. Pick your company on whether they’ll attempt exterior solution as the priority one.

It's rare that a house will be a good candidate for an external drain. It involves excavating all the way down to the foundation footings all around the house. If there are stoops, porches, decks, HVAC equipment, walkways, or anything else, it would have to be removed or demo'd. Then that dirt has to be piled well away from the house if there is room. Then the old clogged drain tile is replaced and the walls treated with a waterproof membrane. It's not even a possible solution for most houses or in most neighborhoods. Almost all water management solutions will be interior drains, tied to a sump pump, if not two. Because it works, is not anywhere near as disruptive or expensive as exterior drainage. I know you are that one holdout who still insists on doing that way but I'm sorry to let you know, we drive cars now and have smart phones. Times have changed. Try to keep up.

That’s ridiculous; it’s just harder and more expensive and a lower profit margin for the company. It can be done including where hard scape patios abut the house. It takes 2-4 days and is hard work, often done by hand, but you done have interior sump pumps, perimeter holes all inside, radon risks, pests, and just generally mold - the inside all dry but where’s the water coming from into your interior drains: your walls, floor etc.

Well if you are not stopping the water from getting into your walls and are instead draining it through them to the interior, your interior might be dry, but what do you think is the state of your walls? Not to mention the unseemly white plastic and trench all around your rooms etc.

[Anonymous]

Most houses have or should have an exterior footer drain. These could become crushed or clogged. Either way, digging around, waterproofing and ensuring drain is working is a much superior solution

[Anonymous]

Are interior drains going to solve water on the outside of the foundation that manage their way from the surface soaking soil next to your foundation and even creating moisture/water within foundation (or even in your cinder blocks)? In that instance… wouldn’t the act of water pulling into your foundation, even if it is then kicked out via weep holes and a interior drain, deteriorate the foundation slowly?