^^^ Yes, check your grade, gutters and downspouts first.

Then start with the deep pit lined with gravel and a pump first as mentioned. I think some place the pump in five gal bucket punctured with holes. It might solve your problem without doing the full blown deal.

Zeke/Milt... not looking for apologies at all...

just adding that some posters are adding " I heard from so and so third hand solutions"..... I have a lot of BTDT experience... as I know you do..

I wonder.... what would you think of a contractor cutting 100' of concrete in the basement of your house with a two cycle saw..

Not much. In fact it's illegal according to OSHA. That's when I hire the DC electric current saw run by a trailer mounted generator outside. If people don't know these options exist, then they should not be commenting on forums.

OK......

you have not mentioned why your basement floods...

I think you mentioned you live in West Virginia... tidal influence might be small...

What type of soil? does your house have gutters and downspouts to direct run off?

Are you near waterways, streams, brooks,lakes, ponds.... etc...

you guys are right i apologize to tim for speaking my mind and i apologize to the OP for giving bad advice on using a chop saw in your basement....please dont do it

i guess i need to relearn OSHA law....guess im the only contractor not following it

I will take my 15 yr Master Plumber experience and keep my mouth shut from here on out

good luck to OP on your project

Well, plumber, for a quick cut get out your hand held saw. But this guy is talking about sawing the entire perimeter of his basement. I don't know about you, but that makes my back hurt already thinking of using a chop saw.

Oh, and don't worry about OSHA until someone dies or gets seriously injured.

OK everyone..let's not let this hurdle out of control. I do have a small stream that over swells but only when it rains a lot that could be within my property line so I have been fighting the city and they wont acknowledge the fact that they own the problem, that being said to keep my entire house from being destroyed i have studied long and hard about this solution. at this point this is probably the best way to go. I know I need to use a gasoline saw to avoid electrocution. also to evacuate the exhaust gases so what I was planning on doing was fixing this during the winter when I don't have any rain fall or over flowing creeks, I need all the help I can get so you guys red beard Zeke and tom keep it going... all opinions are welcome ...Where The F is George...he is an architect too he can help !!

Hey plumb4u2 I need your help on this, you got my attention at 15 Plub Exp.....speak up man.
I am trying to do this on a budget but these guys at 6 grand are out of my price range right now. I don't care to spend some $$ but for 6 k I can spend the winter doing it.............if you don't want to post anymore PM me or email me...I don't care this has to get fixed over the winter
thanks to everyone that posted..PLEASE keep it going..............
..I am looking for input from everyone, you might have done this before.............. we never know what other pelicans have been involved in

Wow, what a mess. Rednine, I like a smaller hammer (It ain't that small, about 40 lbs) because you have a little more control. My men had use that thing to break a 4" small driveway. it took one morning. My plumber is the same thing. He's great at getting that big jack hammer out.

red, i am by no means an expert.

but we flat out abused a skilsaw..worm drive. we put a diamond blade on that thing and scored a driveway. then we used a rental Bosch jack hammer and busted it out of there. as soon as the concrete started breaking up, it went pretty quickly. our scoreline with the saw wasnt very deep. 1/4"? but the final product..we got a pretty clean line.

i'd get fitted with a half mask respirator if i were you. this is gonna get dusty. i bet if you had a friend following with a shop vac, you could keep the dust under control.

can you farm out the saw cutting?

The saw cutting is the easiest part. Farm out the bucket carrying - that is going to suck.

Figure about a 5 gallon bucket of debris for every foot or so. You will be carrying out concrete, gravel and dirt.

I just did a similar project. During a basement finish out, I relocated a sump pump pit, trenched 50' for plumbing lines, and moved the central floor drained about 5'. That was a ton of work (by myself) and your project is bigger.

I would rent Home Depots walk behind concrete saw - it has a hose connection to keep down the dust. A 4 hr rental won't cost much. Demo hammers work fine (also at HD) as do the larger jack hammers. Worst part about the big tools is carrying them down the steps.

Yeah, I could pay someone else to cut it. I can do it I have 6 windows in the basement that can be opened if need be. I have 3 or 4 shop vacs and whatever fans I might need.
How big of a J. hammer should I look for something around 40 pounds or more like 90? I'd rather have too much than not enough

Thanks again to everyone that replies.

Any size will do the job, the bigger one will do it faster but is harder on the back. You have to lift it (or drag it) to move it to the next spot. They get real heavy, real fast. I used both on my project. Once you get the first chunk removed, the next pieces break off fairly easily.

It depends on how thick the slab is. At 2" the demo hammer is fine. 4" you may want the big one.

ok stream over flows is a source of water problem

why not divert the water away from the site

build up the stream bank on you property's side ?
clean or clear the stream bed for better flow [the fill can come from the stream bed]
if local reg's forbid that
can you make a hump [dam] back from the stream and call it a landscape feature fully on your property ?
dry wells to move the overflow down ?
or even a ditch filled with sand or pea-rock to hide it but allow the water to be channeled away
under ground out of sight

reinforce the basement walls with drylock type concrete/as plaster ?
even use a ferro-cement style reinforcement [like they build concrete boats]
with mesh tied to the wall to anchor the new concrete
water seal the walls and floor too
to try and limit the amounts of water coming in

and why all 4 walls french drains
if the water is coming from one side only ?

The stream never completely over flows. it does rise but never over the banks.
The water is mostly coming up through cracks in the concrete floor. luckily there is some slope to the floor so it flows to the 2 long walls. I was going to drain all 4 walls but I could probably get away with just doing the 2....plus I need to run it back to a sump pump basin to evacuate the water that gets collected.

stream is up hill from the basement floor level ?

little or no thru wall seepage ?

how deep does the water get inside over time ?

I am not an engineer or plumber
but I did spend over 25 years in water and sewer jobs

that happens a lot around here - people pay to have a trench dug all the way around the house - fill with gravel & it diverts the ground water flow around the house and downhill to the next guy's house

they also seal the outside of the basement concrete

bottom line Rednine11 I have done this work many times over the yrs and is a very straight forward yet labor intensive job

I don't know the age of your house but if it is somewhat modern the slab should be about 4" thick, if the house has a lot of age to it it may be much thinner

I do not agree the using a circular saw with diamond blade is the way to go, it will take you a month to cut around your basement.

I would rent a hand held gas powered saw with diamond blade and cut a line approx 12-14" away from the wall
Yes it will stink and yes there will be dust, obviously do this with lots of ventilation and have a helper spraying water as you cut to knock down dust

take the saw back to rental store and pick up an electric jackhammer Yes the big one with the cart, if you mess around with a small hand held jackhammer it will take forever

You will need to excavate the trench about 10'' then lay the drain tile and cover the piping with gravel

obviously you want one continuous pipe running around the basement and both ends will dump into a sump pit

I may not be a well educated engineer but the plumbing business is something I know pretty well


Please feel free to pm me if needed and I can give you my cell if you would like


Guys Im not looking at making anymore trouble just trying to help a fellow Pelican

I do apologize for the other posts maybe I had one to many beers in me

good luck Rednine11 on you project

I guess someone ought to ask what kind of access this basement has. If only stairs down from the house, I guess a walk behind saw is out. Maybe that's why plumber is suggesting a hand held. They do have a lot of power.

You want to see a neat saw, watch a wall saw climb the tracks and cut by itself. I have hired wall saws a few times. They are DC electric.

I am recommending hand held saw due to the fact that it is a basement and I am assuming that access may be tight in some areas

A large hand held chop saw is a wonderful tool and easy to use and maneuver....I own both hand held and walk behind

A walk behind is an awesome tool however he is going to be cutting close to the wall and into corners, a walk behind may be too cumbersome in this application

I typically only use the walk behind when Im cutting customers driveways in order to replace sewer or water service