So, my north-facing basement wall leaks a bit due to natural slope of the
land and 60-odd years of deterioration to whatever coating and drainage
might be on the external side of the wall - but it'll get particularly
bad in about a month as things warm up and the snow we've got here
(currently around 18" deep) melts. (By 'bad" it's not horrible, but
enough to end up with a couple of puddles and musty rooms, preventing the
space from being made more habitable)

The plan has always been to see if I can't make a drainage channel on the
interior side of the wall (the basement has a concrete floor) which will
direct any water ingress to one end, where there's an unfinished section
of floor about 3'x3'. I can dig down and put a tub in that unfinished
section, and I have a sewer pump which can sit in it and pump accumulated
water out - although initially just directing water into the sandy dirt
will probably do and allow it to soak away naturally.

Anyway - thoughts on the best way to do this? I was thinking about
pouring concrete between a couple of forms to create a 'wall' about 3.5"
wide and 3" high, but will new concrete likely adhere to the old OK, or
should I be thinking about scoring the old concrete to provide a better
key? Also, is treatment of the channel using some kind of rubberised
product wise, or will 3" of concrete form a natural barrier without (as
long as it doesn't ever crack)? I'd like this to last at least 50 years,
after which I won't be around to care :-)

If I do the 'wall' approach then the plan will be eventually to put a
false wall on top extending up to ceiling height (leaving a 1-2" gap
between it and the real basement wall behind), but for now I think I'd
just embed some J-bolts or concrete anchors into things (letting them
penetrate down below the concrete floor level) and leave that project for
another day.

Cheers,

Jules

Jules Richardson wrote:

So, my north-facing basement wall leaks a bit due to natural slope of the
land and 60-odd years of deterioration to whatever coating and drainage
might be on the external side of the wall - but it'll get particularly
bad in about a month as things warm up and the snow we've got here
(currently around 18" deep) melts.


Could be worse, 18' deep in parts of Japan.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21625702

"Jules Richardson" wrote in message ...


So, my north-facing basement wall leaks a bit due to natural slope of the
land and 60-odd years of deterioration to whatever coating and drainage
might be on the external side of the wall - but it'll get particularly
bad in about a month as things warm up and the snow we've got here
(currently around 18" deep) melts. (By 'bad" it's not horrible, but
enough to end up with a couple of puddles and musty rooms, preventing the
space from being made more habitable)

The plan has always been to see if I can't make a drainage channel on the
interior side of the wall (the basement has a concrete floor) which will
direct any water ingress to one end, where there's an unfinished section
of floor about 3'x3'. I can dig down and put a tub in that unfinished
section, and I have a sewer pump which can sit in it and pump accumulated
water out - although initially just directing water into the sandy dirt
will probably do and allow it to soak away naturally.

Anyway - thoughts on the best way to do this? I was thinking about
pouring concrete between a couple of forms to create a 'wall' about 3.5"
wide and 3" high, but will new concrete likely adhere to the old OK, or
should I be thinking about scoring the old concrete to provide a better
key? Also, is treatment of the channel using some kind of rubberised
product wise, or will 3" of concrete form a natural barrier without (as
long as it doesn't ever crack)? I'd like this to last at least 50 years,
after which I won't be around to care :-)

If I do the 'wall' approach then the plan will be eventually to put a
false wall on top extending up to ceiling height (leaving a 1-2" gap
between it and the real basement wall behind), but for now I think I'd
just embed some J-bolts or concrete anchors into things (letting them
penetrate down below the concrete floor level) and leave that project for
another day.

Cheers,

Jules


Can you not stop it coming in by excavating on the outside of the wall and
putting in a french drain and land drain?

AWEM

Jules Richardson pretended :
The plan has always been to see if I can't make a drainage channel on the
interior side of the wall (the basement has a concrete floor) which will
direct any water ingress to one end, where there's an unfinished section
of floor about 3'x3'. I can dig down and put a tub in that unfinished
section, and I have a sewer pump which can sit in it and pump accumulated
water out - although initially just directing water into the sandy dirt
will probably do and allow it to soak away naturally.

One building I worked in had to have something similar done. They used
galvanised 3" x 3" angle, bolted to the floor with a bed of mastic
under it to seal it. It was quite effective.

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

On 01/03/2013 14:00, Jules Richardson wrote:

So, my north-facing basement wall leaks a bit due to natural slope of the
land and 60-odd years of deterioration to whatever coating and drainage
might be on the external side of the wall - but it'll get particularly
bad in about a month as things warm up and the snow we've got here
(currently around 18" deep) melts. (By 'bad" it's not horrible, but
enough to end up with a couple of puddles and musty rooms, preventing the
space from being made more habitable)

I would be more inclined to prevent ingress of water by altering the
exterior of the wall if possible rather than pumping it away internally
after it has come through the wall.

Ideally you want any channel sloping down to the sump with a pump in.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On Fri, 01 Mar 2013 14:20:17 +0000, Andrew Mawson wrote:
Can you not stop it coming in by excavating on the outside of the wall
and putting in a french drain and land drain?

In the grand scheme of things it'd be the right way to do it, I'm sure -
but it would be a complete pig of a job. I've got a fence which meets the
house part-way along, plus the well pipework and power to the workshop
come through that wall - not to mention that I'd have to dig down to the
footer, so 9' or so, which would require a mini digger. Plus of course
it'd have to wait until all the snow's gone and the ground's thawed out.

Part of the problem too is that at the west end of the wall (which is at
the lowest part of the outside slope) there's a wood chute into the
basement; I did dig down around that last year and re-did a lot of the
concrete, which helped enormously, but I think it'll always prevent good
drainage outside.

cheers

Jules

On Fri, 01 Mar 2013 15:08:58 +0000, Harry Bloomfield wrote:

Jules Richardson pretended :
The plan has always been to see if I can't make a drainage channel on
the interior side of the wall (the basement has a concrete floor) which
will direct any water ingress to one end, where there's an unfinished
section of floor about 3'x3'. I can dig down and put a tub in that
unfinished section, and I have a sewer pump which can sit in it and
pump accumulated water out - although initially just directing water
into the sandy dirt will probably do and allow it to soak away
naturally.

One building I worked in had to have something similar done. They used
galvanised 3" x 3" angle, bolted to the floor with a bed of mastic under
it to seal it. It was quite effective.

That's an interesting idea. I wonder what the longevity will be like; my
comment about a 50 year lifespan was due to my wanting to eventually put
a false wall to ceiling height on top, so there wouldn't be access for
maintenance - although having said that, I'm only intending the rooms
down there to be utility space rather than living space, so I suppose I
could use plywood for the wall covering which could in theory be
unscrewed to provide access once every ten years (picking a number at
random).

I need to stop by a couple of DIY places today anyway, so I'll take a
look at what they have just to get an idea of prices.

cheers

Jules

On Mar 1, 3:54*pm, Jules Richardson
wrote:
On Fri, 01 Mar 2013 15:08:58 +0000, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Jules Richardson pretended :
The plan has always been to see if I can't make a drainage channel on
the interior side of the wall (the basement has a concrete floor) which
will direct any water ingress to one end, where there's an unfinished
section of floor about 3'x3'. I can dig down and put a tub in that
unfinished section, and I have a sewer pump which can sit in it and
pump accumulated water out - although initially just directing water
into the sandy dirt will probably do and allow it to soak away
naturally.

One building I worked in had to have something similar done. They used
galvanised 3" x 3" angle, bolted to the floor with a bed of mastic under
it to seal it. It was quite effective.

That's an interesting idea. I wonder what the longevity will be like; my
comment about a 50 year lifespan was due to my wanting to eventually put
a false wall to ceiling height on top, so there wouldn't be access for
maintenance - although having said that, *I'm only intending the rooms
down there to be utility space rather than living space, so I suppose I
could use plywood for the wall covering which could in theory be
unscrewed to provide access once every ten years (picking a number at
random).

I need to stop by a couple of DIY places today anyway, so I'll take a
look at what they have just to get an idea of prices.

cheers

Jules

There are special systems for dealing with this problem.
You could make your cellar habitable.
Example here. But lots more out there.
http://www.cellars.co.uk/cellar-conversions