flooded basement/pic of me bailing and a sump pump question.

[joehahn]

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[Hugh R]

I'm not a geologist, but I've installed a few ground water monitoring wells. I'd call a geological consulting firm. If you have high ground water, then the only thing you can really do is put in a well, or a deeper sump and run a pump to discharge the water. You said something about a creek. If its right next to you, then the ground water level next to the creek will be very close to the same elevation as that in the creek. By putting in a well between you and the creek you will create whats called a "cone of depression" which is sort of like a water funnel. Put in a deep enough well, and a big enough pump, with the appropriate size of well pipe and aggregate around the well casing and you may be able to create a cone of depression that is great enough to keep your basement dry. You need to talk to a hydrogeologist who can look at the groundwater levels, the porosity of the soil, recharge rates, etc. to design such a system. Generally, in household construction its impossible to keep the water out by trying to seal the concrete from the inside. Plane and simple, you need to lower the groundwater level. Nice ass, BTW.

[Z-man]

Sorry I can't help you, but...


..... nice moon!

-Z.

[joehahn]

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[joehahn]

Z, you should see my plumbers crack, or is it plumbers thong?

[RickM]

I strugggled for a few years with my unfinished basement. My first priority was to try and prevent the flooding in the first place. In order to do that I had to find the cause.
It's a bit complex to go into here but I ended up engineering an outdoor drainage system and the problem was solved.
Do you have an indoor French Drain connected to your sump pit? Was the water coming up through the pit, the floor, the French drain?
My preference is to attack this problem outside the house. If you merely need to redirect swelling ground water away from your foundation then you can go with perforated PVC pipe, GeoTech cloth and 1-2" gravel. Dig a four foot trench around your foundation, drop a foot of gravel, lay pipe with cloth, more gravel and cover. The pipe will use gravity to direct water away from your home.

Of course there are MANY variables but this is a common approach.

[RickM]

Here's some more info: http://www.askthebuilder.com/070_Linear_French_Drains_-_Controlling_Basement_Seepage.shtml

http://www.builderswebsource.com/techbriefs/drainage.htm

[azasadny]

Joe,
Ouch! I feel your pain as we have had alot of rain here (Southeast MI)recently and I've been afraid my basement would flood. We have been lucky, but I bought a Sears Craftsman 20 gallon, 6hp wet vac just in case, although it won't be much help if we're sleeping or not around when the water backs up... I hope you get everything dried out and damage is minimal!

[joehahn]

wow thanks, great sites. appreciate the info. Art, a shop vac would be like throwing a beach chair off the titanic. or not, i just always thought that was a great quote and an opportune time to use it. depending on volume of water that may work but shop vacs and water always frightened me (even though they are wet/dry)

[RickM]

It can be tough to wetvac a flooded basement when you have to find a place to dump the canister when it's full. I went with the vac with a water pump built into the head of the unit. Hook up a garden hose and you're pumping the water wherever you want.

BTW, I'd vacuum after the fact. Not while it's flooding.

[azasadny]

Good points, I forgot to mention that I put the garden hose adaptor on the wet vac and the wet vac would sit on the stair landing, out of the water, while I vacuum the water up and it's drained outside via gravity and the garden hose. Fortunately, I haven't had to use it, and I hope I never have to. We're doing a major remodeling project, so the vacuum will certainly be used...

[Moneyguy1]

Never had a flooded basement here in AZ......

Probably if I had a basement, things might be different.....

But during the monsoons, rainfall measured in inches per hour CAN flood roads and "washes" dry stream beds) to the point where occasionally a car is swept away and sometimes fatalities result (drowning in a desert)

[vash]

as a civil i dont quite understand where the water is coming from. it is seeping up from the ground? the most common answer is, when it rains the ground absorbs to the best of it ability and soon afterwards the water table will just raise. sorry, i came from the desert to the bay area. not much for basements at either location. i guess the basement is below ground level outside? i bet the water table is just raising. fix your sump, and as a backup plan get a portable water pump. the contractors we work with have these pumps that plug into (they use generators) a wall socket and they pump like crazed bastards. they are cylindrical and are about the size of a small watermelon. i have seen these things pump water from a 40 foot deep pipe pile and bring the water up that distance. that is alot of head pressure! that or one of those honda gas powered jobs. both use three inch diameter hoses as discharge. the gas model has an additional pickup hose. they would both be good to have around during the rainy season.

cliff

[vash]

here:

http://www.whitecapdirect.com/store/worker?command=prodsearch&command=prdcompsrch&destination=%2Fstore%2Fproduct.jsp&text=176ST2005UL&searchby=productid&method=exact

i just re-read your post. call a civil engineer in your area. one that specialized in foundations and buildings. it would be interesting to find out where the water is coming from. if it is seeping from the perimeter, i bet a well designed french drain would work. but if it is seeping from the groundwater, like from an artesian well, where the water is being pushed into your house from a surrounding aquifer, that is altogether tougher. maybe a bigger sump. i dont know.

[TimT]

I may be able to help.

Sounds like you have positive water pressure either below your foundations slab, or walls..

I live in a tidal zone on the south shore of Long Island, NY

There is a salt water canal about 175 feet from my house, and a fresh water pond about 500 feet to the north of my house..

To prevent water from entering your basement will cost some serious money.....

You should excavate and expose the foundation (one wall at a time). and assure the waterproofing is in good condition... or if the outside of the foundation has no waterproofing... have it applied...

Also install french drain around the perimeter of the foundation.. I would need see the property and eleveation of the house/land, because there is a ryhme and reason to draining water away from a house..

If the water is coming up through the floor you have a very difficult situation... since you cant waterproof the underside of the foundation... you have to provide collection and removal methods..ie cutting open thebasement floor, instaslling perforated pipe, directing it to a collection chamber, and removing it via sump pump..

Find out how the water is entering your house, then take the appropriate tack..

You mentioned clay on your property.. since clay doesnt really absorb water.. it can at as a barrier... you could have an underground stream directed right at your basement...or you basement slab may have penetrated a layer of clay and allowed upward water pressure....

FWIW Im an engineer..

Good luck !!

[joehahn]

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[motion]

Move to SoCal... we have no basements and no rain

[Zeke]

Sue the PO.

As a SoCal contractor, I don't have much first hand info on this. I have read a bit. The system you have does not make sense to me. A French drain is a good thing. If you can install the thing below the grade of the basement floor, you should also be able to stop water intrusion from below the slab.

In the meantime, a new pump should should be reliable. If electrcity goes off, you need a back up generator, or a gas driven pump with a battery powered auto start if you are not home.

That water does not look like it did your washer and dryer any good.

BTW, I had a house here in SoCal that had a small basement that flooded a few times during the El Nino rains of '96. The house was higher than the street, but the soil drain pipes were rooted solid and broken. I spent a couple of nights in your exact mooning position.

[joehahn]

The wife and I laughed about the mooning position. Why was she taking a pic of that in the midst of disaster? In any of event, it is better that she took that position as opposed to a full frontal shot which would have demonstrated my "ex-athlete pear shape figure" as I like to call it.

joe 68 L

[n8marx]

The house next door to mine has the same thing going on. The builder "nicked" the clay that contained an underground stream when digging the foundation. The builder is now using the home as his office. Seems no one wants to buy a house with a swimming pool in the basement.

Actually he ended up having the yard regraded and perforated pipe installed around the foundation. Dry as a bone now, though the sump pump does still run nearly constantly. The pisser is that since it's a new, never been occupied, house he can sell it as new construction without disclosing the water problem. Doesn't seem right. The last buyer found out by accident and backed out when the builder's lawyer slipped up and spilled the beans. I believe the quote, according to the buyer, was "Oh, you're the guy buying the aquifer house."

If he can keep this house dry it seems there's hope for your situation. Good luck!