A friend of mine recommended this company, who put a drain in his
basement back in the 1990's. He had no water infiltration since then,
until the latest nor'easter, when a little bit of water returned. This
company came back after all these years and addressed the problem.

Does anybody have any comments on their proposed system? It runs in
the neighborhood of $6K.

http://www.aridbasemen****erproofing...e%20System.htm

Note, I have no affiliation whatsoever with this company nor do I
endorse their work. I'm just looking for a solution myself...

this is a pretty standard waterproofing solution. i have a similar
system in my basement which was installed in the 50's. the problem w/
these kinds of companies is that they want to sell you this solution,
rather than sell you a waterproofing system tailored to your house. i
had a similar company try and sell me an 8k solution, even tho i
already had a drainage system and sump pump installed.

if you're having basement moisture problems, the first step is to look
at gutters and landscaping, which is a cheap fix. an alternative is
installing a french drain around the perimeter of your foundation,
which is also expensive. instead of installing an entire perimeter
drain, you may just be able to dig a pit and installa sump pump to
lower the water table.

On 4 May 2007 12:34:14 -0700, davidmc
wrote:

if you're having basement moisture problems, the first step is to look
at gutters and landscaping, which is a cheap fix. an alternative is
installing a french drain around the perimeter of your foundation,
which is also expensive. instead of installing an entire perimeter
drain, you may just be able to dig a pit and installa sump pump to
lower the water table.

I definitely plan to address some issues outside, such as grading and
running the downspouts underground to the storm drain. However, others
on my block seem to have water issues despite doing this.

I do have a sump pump, but I believe the former owner just dug a pit
and stuck a pump in it without any solution to bring water from other
parts of the basement into the pit. So I get water coming up through
the floor in other areas.

I definitely don't want to overkill it, but I'm tired of getting water
after every heavy rain despite the sump pump...

On May 4, 3:44 pm, DaveR wrote:
On 4 May 2007 12:34:14 -0700, davidmc
wrote:

if you're having basement moisture problems, the first step is to look
at gutters and landscaping, which is a cheap fix. an alternative is
installing a french drain around the perimeter of your foundation,
which is also expensive. instead of installing an entire perimeter
drain, you may just be able to dig a pit and installa sump pump to
lower the water table.

I definitely plan to address some issues outside, such as grading and
running the downspouts underground to the storm drain. However, others
on my block seem to have water issues despite doing this.

I do have a sump pump, but I believe the former owner just dug a pit
and stuck a pump in it without any solution to bring water from other
parts of the basement into the pit. So I get water coming up through
the floor in other areas.

I definitely don't want to overkill it, but I'm tired of getting water
after every heavy rain despite the sump pump...

The sump pump should be in the lowest spot of the basement. If it's
not, it needs to be moved. If it is and there is another valley
somewhere, you may consider renting a jackhammer (short $ ½ day rental
@ Home Depot, get earplugs while you're there) and putting in a
channel to the sump pump.

Grading issues & proper downspout routing from gutters is key. I
wouldn't consider spending $ on any multi-thousand dollar solution
until all grading is handled.

We recently purchased an old house, and the neighbors mentioned it had
always had a wet basement regardless of attempts to rectify it. I
don't know what the attempts were, but they were wrong. I regarded
the yard quite a bit (a few truckloads of dirt as opposed to the few
wheelbarrow loads the previous owner brought in) where water was
clearly coming in and 90% of my water issues were gone. Toss a sump
pump and some gutters into my situation and my "always very wet"
basement is dry.

On Fri, 04 May 2007 12:34:14 -0700, davidmc wrote:

this is a pretty standard waterproofing solution. i have a similar
system in my basement which was installed in the 50's. the problem w/
these kinds of companies is that they want to sell you this solution,
rather than sell you a waterproofing system tailored to your house. i
had a similar company try and sell me an 8k solution, even tho i
already had a drainage system and sump pump installed.

I agree its pretty standard. The knock against this system as shown on
the website is the drains are within the perimeter of the house. Which
means water has to flow under the foundation to get to the pipes. Not the
best answer, but it works I hear.

Also I too had someone try to sell me a drainage system like this while I
have a sump system installed too. Plus my drains are exterior, and I also
have several cleanouts in the basement floor giving access to them. I had
to get them all cleaned and snaked and some lowerd and regraded, and the
water in the popes dropped a few inches...


if you're having basement moisture problems, the first step is to look
at gutters and landscaping, which is a cheap fix. an alternative is
installing a french drain around the perimeter of your foundation,
which is also expensive. instead of installing an entire perimeter
drain, you may just be able to dig a pit and installa sump pump to
lower the water table.


I think the previous owner of his house did that. its a rather weak
solution. Sump is not all that good without tiles to feed it. If the
sump is any good without tiles, then there is some serious water pressure
under that house.

The system they are proposing is very std and straightforward. It
should have been put in during construction when it was cheap and
easy.

Along with what has been suggested about fixing outside grading and
downspout issues, you need to also go outside during a heavy rain and
actually see what's going on. What you think is happening and what
really goes on can be very different. I was having a problem where
water came in one basement area during heavy rain. When I finally
went outside to check, I saw that during a heavy rain, water was
pouring out from the top of one of the 4" flex pipes that I was using
to carry the water away. So, instead of flowing into the pipe, a lot
of it was pouring out right against the foundation. I just had to
secure the pipe higher up on the downspout to solve the problem.

On 5 May 2007 05:35:18 -0700, wrote:

Along with what has been suggested about fixing outside grading and
downspout issues, you need to also go outside during a heavy rain and
actually see what's going on. What you think is happening and what
really goes on can be very different. I was having a problem where
water came in one basement area during heavy rain. When I finally
went outside to check, I saw that during a heavy rain, water was
pouring out from the top of one of the 4" flex pipes that I was using
to carry the water away. So, instead of flowing into the pipe, a lot
of it was pouring out right against the foundation. I just had to
secure the pipe higher up on the downspout to solve the problem.

I do realize the importance of this. I once got water in a part of the
basement that had never gotten water before. I went outside to find
one of the downspouts disconnected. So I do realize that what is going
on outside is crucial.

I have an old, rotting cement walkway about 3 feet from my house. The
downspouts empty onto it. I tried extending my downspouts beyond that
walkway, to deposit water approximately 6 feet away from the house. I
had more water in my basement. So it seems the cement walkway is
actually preventing water from seeping into the ground.

It makes me wonder what the best option is for landscaping around the
house. The situation is such that I cannot really achieve a good grade
more than 3-4 feet beyond the perimiter. Am I best off putting as much
soil as possible and planting grass and/or bushes? Or maybe putting
down some heavy plastic with gravel on top of it?

I also was planning to run the downspouts into the ground and run 4"
PVC pipe out to the street. There is a storm drain right in front of
my house, though I am not sure the city would be happy if I run
directly into it...

On Mon, 07 May 2007 14:59:56 +0000, DaveR wrote:

On 5 May 2007 05:35:18 -0700, wrote:



I do realize the importance of this. I once got water in a part of the
basement that had never gotten water before. I went outside to find
one of the downspouts disconnected. So I do realize that what is going
on outside is crucial.

I have an old, rotting cement walkway about 3 feet from my house. The
downspouts empty onto it. I tried extending my downspouts beyond that
walkway, to deposit water approximately 6 feet away from the house. I
had more water in my basement. So it seems the cement walkway is
actually preventing water from seeping into the ground.


Thats the rule appearantly. 6' away is where the water should go.

It makes me wonder what the best option is for landscaping around the
house. The situation is such that I cannot really achieve a good grade
more than 3-4 feet beyond the perimiter. Am I best off putting as much
soil as possible and planting grass and/or bushes? Or maybe putting
down some heavy plastic with gravel on top of it?


I believe another rule is not to have anything within 1' of your house.
But most people have bushes and grass right up to the edge. Then complain
about black ants and stuff...

I also was planning to run the downspouts into the ground and run 4"
PVC pipe out to the street. There is a storm drain right in front of
my house, though I am not sure the city would be happy if I run
directly into it...

If the city has seperate storm sewer from sanitary sewer, then they will
likely not care if you run rain water into the storm sewer. Otherwise
they may not like it.