Noted that our basement is having damp walls and there are some leakage happening through the foundation walls. Checked and found few cracks, in the form of step along the bricks, on the walls and I'm sure that they are the culprits. I'm thinking of fixing it myself and I would appreciate if someone helps me with it? In our neighborhood, we have Doctor Rooter www.doctorrooter.ca to do the foundation crack repair but I would like to fix it myself, rather than approaching the professionals.

"Benjamin S. Carroll" wrote in message
...
Noted that our basement is having damp walls and there are some leakage
happening through the foundation walls. Checked and found few cracks, in the
form of step along the bricks, on the walls and I'm sure that they are the
culprits. I'm thinking of fixing it myself and I would appreciate if someone
helps me with it? In our neighborhood, we have Doctor Rooter
www.doctorrooter.ca to do the foundation crack repair but I would like to
fix it myself, rather than approaching the professionals.



Does the "S" stand for ****head?

Benjamin S. Carroll wrote:
Noted that our basement is having damp walls and there are some leakage happening through the foundation walls. Checked and found few cracks, in the form of step along the bricks, on the walls and I'm sure that they are the culprits. I'm thinking of fixing it myself and I would appreciate if someone helps me with it? In our neighborhood, we have Doctor Rooter www.doctorrooter.ca to do the foundation crack repair but I would like to fix it myself, rather than approaching the professionals.

Hi,
Good luck with lots of digging. Have to fix it from exterior wall
for sure.

On Tue, 31 Mar 2015 18:16:20 -0600, Tony Hwang
wrote:

Benjamin S. Carroll wrote:
Noted that our basement is having damp walls and there are some leakage happening through the foundation walls. Checked and found few cracks, in the form of step along the bricks, on the walls and I'm sure that they are the culprits. I'm thinking of fixing it myself and I would appreciate if someone helps me with it? In our neighborhood, we have Doctor Rooter www.doctorrooter.ca to do the foundation crack repair but I would like to fix it myself, rather than approaching the professionals.

Hi,
Good luck with lots of digging. Have to fix it from exterior wall
for sure.
Definitely with a block foundation it will need to be exposed from the
exterior,membrane added, and drainage checked and repaired.

NOT a simple DIY job

On Tuesday, March 31, 2015 at 9:15:34 PM UTC-4, wrote:
On Tue, 31 Mar 2015 18:16:20 -0600, Tony Hwang
wrote:

Benjamin S. Carroll wrote:
Noted that our basement is having damp walls and there are some leakage happening through the foundation walls. Checked and found few cracks, in the form of step along the bricks, on the walls and I'm sure that they are the culprits. I'm thinking of fixing it myself and I would appreciate if someone helps me with it? In our neighborhood, we have Doctor Rooter www.doctorrooter.ca to do the foundation crack repair but I would like to fix it myself, rather than approaching the professionals.

Hi,
Good luck with lots of digging. Have to fix it from exterior wall
for sure.
Definitely with a block foundation it will need to be exposed from the
exterior,membrane added, and drainage checked and repaired.

NOT a simple DIY job

Been there done all this GOT THE DEGREE

first look for water infiltration areas around home, gutters overlowing, downspout drains clogged or broke, slope wrong where water runs towards home, go outside in a heavy rain and take a look...

Now I had my moms house all execavated around, pressure washed the foundation, repaired cracks, sealed walls, installed exterior french drains with drain lines to curb. installed tons and tons of gravel, I was the laborer. replaced sidewalks steps etc, re sloped and landscaped the entire yard..

spent about 8 to 9 grand job took entire summer.......

gave the home real curb appeal.....

the basement was finally dry.........

Within a few months the basement was again wet the water coming up thru the floor......

I was totally steamed

I got a interior french drain installed. that ended the water problem forever and only cost $3500 bucks and all I did was watch them work.

As others have said, you can't really do much from
inside, but you might be able to take a different
approach:

Figure out where the drainage is letting the water
get to the outside of the wall. If there are specific
spots you can dig down a foot or so, then lay down
some plastic or a black rubbish bag so that's it's
sloping away from the house. Finally, replace the soil.
That will shunt the seeping water away from the house
and greatly reduce -- maybe stop -- the leaking.

But this technique will only work with specific problem
areas. If you just have something like a high water
table it won't help.

On Tuesday, March 31, 2015 at 10:37:48 PM UTC-4, Mayayana wrote:
As others have said, you can't really do much from
inside, but you might be able to take a different
approach:

Figure out where the drainage is letting the water
get to the outside of the wall. If there are specific
spots you can dig down a foot or so, then lay down
some plastic or a black rubbish bag so that's it's
sloping away from the house. Finally, replace the soil.
That will shunt the seeping water away from the house
and greatly reduce -- maybe stop -- the leaking.

But this technique will only work with specific problem
areas. If you just have something like a high water
table it won't help.

the interior french drain works by drilling holes in the bottom of each concrete block to let any water that gets in the wall to drain down to the underground drain line. most companies give a lifetime dry basement warranty with this/

it really works

On Tue, 31 Mar 2015 20:03:06 -0700 (PDT), bob haller
wrote:

On Tuesday, March 31, 2015 at 10:37:48 PM UTC-4, Mayayana wrote:
As others have said, you can't really do much from
inside, but you might be able to take a different
approach:

Figure out where the drainage is letting the water
get to the outside of the wall. If there are specific
spots you can dig down a foot or so, then lay down
some plastic or a black rubbish bag so that's it's
sloping away from the house. Finally, replace the soil.
That will shunt the seeping water away from the house
and greatly reduce -- maybe stop -- the leaking.

But this technique will only work with specific problem
areas. If you just have something like a high water
table it won't help.

the interior french drain works by drilling holes in the bottom of each concrete block to let any water that gets in the wall to drain down to the underground drain line. most companies give a lifetime dry basement warranty with this/

it really works
Water inside a cinder block wall is bad juju any way you cut it,
particularly where you get 3-7 feet of frost every winter. Keep the
water out, don't waste effort trying to get it out after it has gotten
in.

Personally, I wouldn't buy a house with a basement and block
foundation. I won't buy a house that NEEDS a sump pump. I most
definitely would NEVER buy a block foundation that needs a sump pump..

High and dry, in sand or gravel with an open bottom - poured concrete
or ICF foundation, nowhere near a flood plain. Then it's just a matter
of proper landscaping and gutters to keep the rain and snow-melt water
away from the foundation, and you have a warm dry basement.

If you are going to have a wet basement and a "bilge pump"you may as
well have a houseboat

On Tue, 31 Mar 2015 20:03:06 -0700 (PDT), bob haller
wrote:

On Tuesday, March 31, 2015 at 10:37:48 PM UTC-4, Mayayana wrote:
As others have said, you can't really do much from
inside, but you might be able to take a different
approach:

Figure out where the drainage is letting the water
get to the outside of the wall. If there are specific
spots you can dig down a foot or so, then lay down
some plastic or a black rubbish bag so that's it's
sloping away from the house. Finally, replace the soil.
That will shunt the seeping water away from the house
and greatly reduce -- maybe stop -- the leaking.

But this technique will only work with specific problem
areas. If you just have something like a high water
table it won't help.

the interior french drain works by drilling holes in the bottom of each concrete block to let any water that gets in the wall to drain down to the underground drain line

I can't tell if you mean that the water drains into the basement, down a
channel to a sump and is pumped out when necessary.

I've heard French drain used to mean something like this.


Or if you mean the water drains to the outside.

I've read that French drain only means drains outside at the base of the
basement walls, under the dirt.

. most companies give a lifetime dry basement warranty with this/

it really works

Which did you mean.

On Tue, 31 Mar 2015 00:00:13 -0700 (PDT), "Benjamin S. Carroll"
wrote:

Noted that our basement is having damp walls and there are some leakage happening through the foundation walls. Checked and found few cracks, in the form of step along the bricks, on the walls and I'm sure that they are the culprits. I'm thinking of fixing it myself and I would appreciate if someone helps me with it? In our neighborhood, we have Doctor Rooter www.doctorrooter.ca to do the foundation crack repair but I would like to fix it myself, rather than approaching the professionals.

How old are you and how far down,, if you plan to dig outside.

It sounds like your dampness and leaking are moderate.

I woudl consider waterproof paint, on the inside of the basement. IIRC
Ugl makes a popular brand, but I may have that totally wrong.

Whatever the brand, I've used waterproof paint twice. Once in 1962. I
was 15 and I painted the basement walls of the house my mother used to
live in, without cleaning the dirty walls first and without even
brushing off the cobwebs. My mother told me it worked and the basement
was dry afterwards. The tenant had already movied out. The paint
was recommended to my mother by the chief building inspector, after the
tenant complained that the basement was wet. (The tenant had gotten
reduced rent in exchange for his promise to fix things, but instead of
fixing things, he complained to the buildng inspector. He was also
behind on the reduced rent. He did however drop by unannounced shortly
before moving out and pay 2 months's rent (or at least one month's). I
was the only one home and he didn't use that as an excuse not to pay.
It's a curious situation.

I only did one wall, where one could tell the water was coming in. Most
of it was under the stairs. It only took me an hour.


The second time was a couple years ago. A friend is renting part of the
basement from a nice woman, and the water just "poured in" though the
walls in when it rained. The probem in that case was that the basement
was stuffed with stuff, includign a freezer and other stuff we could
barely move and had no empty place to move it too. So we painted about
80% of the walls. One wall and half of another (a third wall never got
wet because the basement is only half as wide as the house, so that wall
is shielded by half the house. This took 2 of us about 2 hours,
maybe 3. Used 2 or 3 or maybe 4 gallons. My friend tells me that
water no longer came in where it was painted, but it came in new places
where it had not been painted, because we couldn't get to those places..
Still it was much better. But it will work much better if you paint
from the floor to the earth line all around the basement.

If it doesn't work, you can always spend money later.

Don't economize on the paint.

Amazingly, it was water-based, easy cleanup. I don't remember if they
make oil based, but I don't think so. .

Follow the directions. It's not quite the same as regular paint.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_41348-96-275...ductId=3033249
Slightly different product name, I don't know why. 5 gallons instead of
one.
http://www.lowes.com/pd_255229-96-28...ductId=3073101

I haven't read any of the reviews.

http://www.ugl.com/newProducts/extreme.php

| Which did you mean.
|
The former. It's an inside, perimeter drain. I've
seen several of them that work perfectly. As Bob
said, they're generally guaranteed. But the OP is
talking about a brick foundation wall. I don't know
how long that can be expected to hold up exposed
to constant dampness. The use of french drains I've
seen is where there's a high water table that floods
in occasionally, and the foundation is made of field
stones. Thus, the water won't hurt the foundation
wall and it would be impossible to stop the rising
water table from coming in. Sometimes it just comes
right up through a concrete floor. The french drains
work there because they drain and pump out the
water from a level below the floor level, and they
only need to function for a few days at a time, typically
only once per year or so.

I have a customer who lives on a steep hill and
got stuck with that problem. It turns out her house
is in a bedrock bowl, so she has her own private
water table. A french drain took care of the
problem. But as noted above, that's solving a problem
coming up from the bottom, not in from the side.

On Tue, 31 Mar 2015 00:00:13 -0700 (PDT), "Benjamin S. Carroll"
wrote:

Noted that our basement is having damp walls and there are some leakage happening through the foundation walls. Checked and found few cracks, in the form of step along the bricks, on the walls and I'm sure that they are the culprits. I'm thinking of fixing it myself and I would appreciate if someone helps me with it? In our neighborhood, we have Doctor Rooter www.doctorrooter.ca to do the foundation crack repair but I would like to fix it myself, rather than approaching the professionals.

What kind of foundation? I had a few leaks in my concrete foundation
fixed by US Waterproofing about 7 years ago. That solved it.
There were 3 hairline cracks and a through-the-wall pipe leaking
around it. Cost about $950.
Lifetime guarantee. I went with them because a workmate had used
them, and they stood by their guarantee fifteen years later and
refixed a leak on his house.
The hairline cracks were filled with some kind of gray plastic caulk
that set like rock. They used what looked like a heavy duty caulk
gun. Mechanical. Applicator tips are still stuck in the walls.
Around the pipe the concrete was chiseled out for maybe 2" around and
3" deep. Filled with some hydraulic concrete, then the same caulk.
You can probably find the same stuff they used.
NOTE: I just looked on the web and it may be more involved, in that
the gray "caulk" is only on the surface, put there to hold back
injected sealer until it can cure.

On Wednesday, April 1, 2015 at 1:41:23 AM UTC-4, micky wrote:
On Tue, 31 Mar 2015 20:03:06 -0700 (PDT), bob haller
wrote:

On Tuesday, March 31, 2015 at 10:37:48 PM UTC-4, Mayayana wrote:
As others have said, you can't really do much from
inside, but you might be able to take a different
approach:

Figure out where the drainage is letting the water
get to the outside of the wall. If there are specific
spots you can dig down a foot or so, then lay down
some plastic or a black rubbish bag so that's it's
sloping away from the house. Finally, replace the soil.
That will shunt the seeping water away from the house
and greatly reduce -- maybe stop -- the leaking.

But this technique will only work with specific problem
areas. If you just have something like a high water
table it won't help.

the interior french drain works by drilling holes in the bottom of each concrete block to let any water that gets in the wall to drain down to the underground drain line

I can't tell if you mean that the water drains into the basement, down a
channel to a sump and is pumped out when necessary.

I've heard French drain used to mean something like this.


Or if you mean the water drains to the outside.

I've read that French drain only means drains outside at the base of the
basement walls, under the dirt.

. most companies give a lifetime dry basement warranty with this/

it really works

Which did you mean.


french drains can be either interior, exterior, or have both like the home i did so much work on, the exterior one didnt work but the interior one did

either can drain to a ump pump or daylight.

daylight is far better, storms cause power outages that stop pumps. gravity drains to daylight are highly reliable.

I have personally seen the drylock paint bubble from the water trapped behind it. large 6 inch diameter bubbles. one broke when I touched it..at the time it just looked wierd, i didnt know what it was.

theres nothing wrong with owning a home that been retrofitted or even built new with french drains sump pumps etc

in some areas they are required for all new construction, and are easier to install at that time

On Wed, 1 Apr 2015 08:33:13 -0400, "Mayayana"
wrote:

| Which did you mean.
|
The former. It's an inside, perimeter drain. I've
seen several of them that work perfectly. As Bob
said, they're generally guaranteed. But the OP is
talking about a brick foundation wall. I don't know
how long that can be expected to hold up exposed
to constant dampness. The use of french drains I've
seen is where there's a high water table that floods
in occasionally, and the foundation is made of field
stones. Thus, the water won't hurt the foundation

I have a friend with a cinder block basement iirc. Certainly not brick
or fieldstone and a 40+ year old house which I don't think would have a
cement foundation. She finally put in an interior french drain and
had no more problems after that. I guess the channel at the base of the
wall was wet but it drained to a sump and then dried out.

It only leaked during heavy rain, iirc, from the walls, not the floor.

I might have suggested the paint, but she doesn't take my suggestions
very often.


wall and it would be impossible to stop the rising
water table from coming in. Sometimes it just comes
right up through a concrete floor. The french drains
work there because they drain and pump out the
water from a level below the floor level, and they
only need to function for a few days at a time, typically
only once per year or so.

I have a customer who lives on a steep hill and
got stuck with that problem. It turns out her house
is in a bedrock bowl, so she has her own private
water table. A french drain took care of the
problem. But as noted above, that's solving a problem
coming up from the bottom, not in from the side.

On Wed, 01 Apr 2015 20:38:51 -0400, micky
wrote:

On Wed, 1 Apr 2015 08:33:13 -0400, "Mayayana"
wrote:

| Which did you mean.
|
The former. It's an inside, perimeter drain. I've
seen several of them that work perfectly. As Bob
said, they're generally guaranteed. But the OP is
talking about a brick foundation wall. I don't know
how long that can be expected to hold up exposed
to constant dampness. The use of french drains I've
seen is where there's a high water table that floods
in occasionally, and the foundation is made of field
stones. Thus, the water won't hurt the foundation

I have a friend with a cinder block basement iirc. Certainly not brick
or fieldstone and a 40+ year old house which I don't think would have a
cement foundation.

Why not? Concrete foundations have been common around here for well
over 50 years. Concrete block foundations are relatively common too,
because they were cheaper to build when labour was cheap.

Rubble and feild stone are virtually all over 70 years old.

She finally put in an interior french drain and
had no more problems after that. I guess the channel at the base of the
wall was wet but it drained to a sump and then dried out.

It only leaked during heavy rain, iirc, from the walls, not the floor.

I might have suggested the paint, but she doesn't take my suggestions
very often.


wall and it would be impossible to stop the rising
water table from coming in. Sometimes it just comes
right up through a concrete floor. The french drains
work there because they drain and pump out the
water from a level below the floor level, and they
only need to function for a few days at a time, typically
only once per year or so.

I have a customer who lives on a steep hill and
got stuck with that problem. It turns out her house
is in a bedrock bowl, so she has her own private
water table. A french drain took care of the
problem. But as noted above, that's solving a problem
coming up from the bottom, not in from the side.