I'd be inclined to clean the base and pour it full of concrete up to
the level of the cleanout door/and or higher if raising the door is not
a big issue.
grodenhiATgmailDOTcom wrote:
I've posted about this ongoing issue in the past about my chimney
leaking. It's an all brick chimney (including the part that goes
underground), on the side of the house, and as far as I know the
original from the 50's. The base of the chimney (the ash clean-out) is
about 2 feet below ground. During really heavy rains (say 2-3 inches
in a day), the base of the chimney takes on water and begins to fill
up. Once the water reaches about 1 foot deep it spills through the
clean out doors into our basement. In troubleshooting this issue we've
had the chimney capped, bricks sealed (ChimneySaver), and flashing
redone. I also dug out around the base of the chimney (to the slab it
rests on) and did two coats of foundation sealer and wrapped it in
plastic. These steps have worked very well (no water during the last
few storms) until the storm we just got on Thanksgiving. We got about
3 inches of rain and about 2-4 inches of water still managed to get in
there. No water seems to get in until the ground gets saturated (at
two inches of rain both the sump and the chimney were bone dry, then
between the 2.5 inch and three inch mark both the sump and chimney
start to show some water. Now I have a few questions....

1.) Where is the water coming from? Is it seeping up from the "floor"
of the clean out (if so why doesn't water seep up into my cellar window
well that goes one foot below grade? Could it be getting in through
the seam where the brick of the chimney meets the foundation? When I
did my sealing job I couldn't get to exactly where the chimney meets
the foundation on one side due to the fact that it looks like they just
dumped the extra cement there as there was a huge hardened blob there.


2.) I think this problem is beyond what I can do myself and I need to
call a pro to evaluate. Would I call a basement waterproofing company,
a chimney company, or foundation/mason? Do any of these companies
offer a warranty (I'd hate to throw a lot of money into solutions that
won't work).

Thanks for any suggestions!!