We are brand new homeowners and are scared out of our wits about this problem. We just purchased our first home in October. Had lots of rain with no problems in our very nice finished basement. We are in a split level home, the basement depth is about 5 feet with above grade windows and supposedly had perimeter drainage (when it was built)below the footings in 1960. During one especially heavy rain where we got 1 inch of rain in less than 20 minutes the drain in the basement stairwell began overflowing water into the home through the backdoor. We cleaned it up, figured it was just not able to handle all the water coming from the stairwell and overhead and 3 months went by with lots more rain and no issues. We covered the landing so no rain could flow in and overwhelm the drain, assumed the problem was solved. Not so much, last week after 5 conscutive days in a row of heavy rain we had another big huge rain of an inch in 15 minutes and the drain actually began to backflow into the landing, over the threshold and into the home faster than we could wet vac it out. We rigged up a sump pit for the drain running it away from the home and actually it hasn't even been kicked on due to rising water yet. We ran a hose for a long time into the drani and regular water flow didn't seem to cause an issue so we figured it was just due to inundation of the ground or something... but now we have a new issue. After the 5th day of rain we had a very heavy thunderstorm and noted water, just a small puddling in the bathroom floor along the same exterior wall of the house that the drain sit outside of. No water in the drain whatsoever so that backup had not happened this time. That area sits under a deck which it appears that the grade has flattened so there was standing water. Also we have a gazebo ontop of the deck with a canvas top that also dumps water in that area due to the slope of the canvas but until this past week no issues with leaking water ever before. Every other exterior wall on the home's perimeter is bone dry. We have people coming to look but don't want people to sell us on an expensive fix we don't need. Where should we begin? Outside landscaping to regrade the area? Could that drain be hooked to the perimeter drainage and so much water that is began pooling up in the soil that it jut forced it to go the easiest route ie: backing up? We just had the main sewer line fixed so we know its not connected to that, no other interior drains were having any issues while that one poured water into landing and then the home, and it appeared to be rain water.
This is just very frustrating, since the basement was finished by the former owners who took excellent care of the home and were well extablished we are hoping they did things correctly before finishing the basement but we can't see the walls to know if any cracks exist. Could this simply be a matter of rainwater drainage?
Any ideas or suggestions are more than appreciated, neither my husband or I have slept in 3 days from the worry. We took an FHA loan and cannot sell for 3 years even if we desired and we love this home but due to the sewer work our savings is very low so we cannot afford some $10,000 project.


Also, the water was clearly coming from behind the baseboard and drywall and then running along the tile so we don't know exactly where it came from wall versus floor but we have pulled back carpet in all other rooms along the perimeter and no water.


One additional note, the drain runs straight down for about 3 feet, making it well below the slab level but appears to have a trap so when the plumbers who did our sewer tried to investigate it they couldn't go further than that. Ideally we would like to cap it off and cover the landing with a permanent door but don't want to force more water into the home if it is connected to the perimeter drainage. We are just at a complete loss. One plumber suggested we spend $4200 and put in a sump pump inside the home with holes connecting the sump pit under the slab and through to the perimeter drainage area which seems contraindicated, if you are trying to keep water out why let it in only to pump it back out? We just want to go with whatever sounds like it will be the best solution without breaking the bank and obviously if getting surface water out of the way is the issue we want to try that first but don't want to try that while risking damage inside the finished basement.

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Originally Posted by ;

another big huge rain of an inch in 15 minutes and the drain actually began to backflow into the landing, over the threshold and into the home

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And the plumber couldn't locate a connection between your drainage system and the rain water runoff. That's interesting because the floor drain couldn't overflow during a rain storm unless it was coinnected to the gutters in some way. Double check it and reroute the rain water if you find the connection.
In the meantime install a Flood Guard, (see image) in the floor drain to prevent backups. Flood Guards may be purchased from; Flood guards for floor drains - check valve to prevent flooding from FAMOUS PLUMBING SUPPLY
As for the "perimeter drainage" it sounds like they installed a french drain. (see image) I would dig down and locate then drain and then install a do it yourself dry well, (see image) to disperse of the rain water run off. Good luck, Tom

We had 3 "basement waterproofers" over to check the basement (due to the history of small leaks during heavy rains and once when the hose leaked and there was a small trench full of water about 2 feet from the wall we had a small leak then as well at the floor of the basement). This leaking show up at the base of the wall under the above-grade window. All waterproofers had the same opinion, surface water pooling outside the exterior basement wall getting pulled through the concrete block into the home. All suggested very expensive drainage tile be placed at the level of the footer and pumped away. This involves digging up the yard and it seems like if it was due to the surface rainwater there could be other solutions. My father feels that if we start to slope the ground away from the wall, then put thick plastic down over the slope all the way up to the wall itself, then place more soil over the plastic to re-grade the land to slope away from the house and plant grass seed and also upgrade to bigger gutters (we have 4 inch gutters which seem to spill over) we will divert the surface water away and may be able to solve this ourselves and save the money. Any suggestions on how to do this properly or any tips we should take into advisement?

I'm doing an EXTENSIVE drainage project right now. Water in the basement during a very heavy rain due to neighbor's new landscaping. A, once or twice a year event.

The idea of relying on an active solution (pumps) doesn't appeal to me at all.

Best, is to start with pictures of the effects. Go out in the rain and take some pictures.

The gutters should not spill over. Work on that first. Two possible reasons here, slope and clogged. A third reason is still related to clogs, but they clog at the seams.

Check for leaks at the downspouts and make sure they drain away from the foundation. Go out there when it's raining and feel under the seams. Make sure they drain at least 3' from the house. 10' if your making drastic changes such as a pop-up emitter.

Grading. Make sure the ground slopes away from the house.

Take some pics and post here (Use go advanced/manage attachments) and describe what you think is happening remembering that water flows downhill.

Look at the possibility of using swales with or without an underdrain. Look at the neighbor's proberty and nearby driveways.

The clacs I did for possible water that I will eventually be collecting using the 100 year event approaches 50 gal/min and this assumes I'm collecting all of the water.

While I agree a sloped yard away from the houseis a great idea I'd listen to the 3 pros. Most homes have those drain tiles called curtain drains and if you don't have one you are going to keep coming up short, and wet.

Great advice from KISS.
We have had good luck with french drains, (see image) run at then foundation directing rain water away from the house.
Also you might want to consider a do it yourself dry well, see image) the pick up your gutters. Good luck, Tom

Remember that "basement waterproofers" generally quote using their technology.

Real life example: The "basement waterproofers" wanted to cut away 1.5" around the inside perimeter of a finished basement. Jack hammer the cement and cut the studs and install two pumps and a UPS system for $12K for a once or twice a year event that just started because of the neighbors landscaping. In 49 years, we only had 3 events with water an that was a hurricane, the other was a sump pump failure and the other neighbor's downspout which he corrected.

Once he re-landscaped, that event is now 1 or 2x a year.
Two clear events:

1) Window well fills with water.
Immediate solution: Bilge pump in window well.
Intermediate solution: Swale+berm+bilge pump and some re-routing of surface water.
Permanent solution: Swale will empty into a catch basin. Berm will channel water away from the window well.

2. Water enters into the middle of the side of the house. Pictures show this. Water fills up french drain and it overflows.

Immediate solution: Wireless water alarm. Wet Vac can be used to empty water out of the french drain. Sump pump is a possibility, but rather a no-power aproach.
Interum solution: Swale + the above. (you can see the difference)
Semi-permanent solution: Swale will empty into a catch basin.

Final solution:
Swale and berm will channel water from the neighbors back yard into a catch basin. The basin will also collect downspout water from about 1/4 of the roof.

A swale will run between the neighbors driveway and the side of the house, picking up his driveway water. It will be equipped with an underdrain. It also has the ability to run into a catch basin. This is about a 30' length.

At the end of 30' length, it will pick up a gutter for about 1/2 the roof.

That mess will run 40' and under a sidewalk to near the curb for discharge.

Order has been so far:
1) Swale+berm in the back of the yard, but not the final version.
2) Swale along side of the house. Will eventually be totally destroyed and re-made
3) Now digging the trench from the front of the house to the curb. I'll install two catch basins and pick up one downspout and probably take a break after it's installed and graded. Today, I passed a milestone: A 2" hole totally under the sidewalk. Most of the trench is dug. One catch basin is close to dug and one isn't.

We had a gutter person come look to see if our gutters were big enough and he found that our downspouts were completely clogged (Mind you we had just cleaned the gutters a month ago but we are newbies and didn't actually check the downpouts.. oops!) This had led to thousands of gallons of water pouring right into the ground next to the wall where the leak occurred. We had 8 inches of rain in 3 days all of which was spilling over. He seems to think that this will solve our problem once the ground can dry out. Does this seem feasible? Should we still regrade under the deck where that water was pooling or wait and see what happens?

We had 3 "basement waterproofers" over to check the basement (due to the history of small leaks during heavy rains and once when the hose leaked and there was a small trench full of water about 2 feet from the wall we had a small leak then as well at the floor of the basement). This leaking show up at the base of the wall under the above-grade window. All waterproofers had the same opinion, surface water pooling outside the exterior basement wall getting pulled through the concrete block into the home. All suggested very expensive drainage tile be placed at the level of the footer and pumped away. This involves digging up the yard and it seems like if it was due to the surface rainwater there could be other solutions.
After further investigation we realized our gutter downspouts were completely clogged! We have had 8 inches of rain and the gutter person said that means thousands of gallons of rain had been pooling at our basement wall definitely could be our problem. Could it really be this simple??

We have cleared the gutters and downspouts and are crossing our fingers but we thought maybe others with experience would have insight we could use!

Why all of the duplications. You do not need to open a new post each time you say something. Start putting all questions and comments only in the blank box below.

Since the amount of info we have and the question I am asking is not the same as the one before I wanted to start fresh.
After I put in the question I went to pull it up in "my questions" and there was nothing there, then I went to unanswered questions and found my question only to click on it and have a message that said "message deleted" so I reasked which apparently has now created duplicates.

We had 3 "basement waterproofers" over to check the basement (due to the history of small leaks during heavy rains and once when the hose leaked and there was a small trench full of water about 2 feet from the wall we had a small leak then as well at the floor of the basement). This leaking show up at the base of the wall under the above-grade window. All waterproofers had the same opinion, surface water pooling outside the exterior basement wall getting pulled through the concrete block into the home.
After further investigation we realized our gutter downspouts were completely clogged! We have had 8 inches of rain and the gutter person said that means thousands of gallons of rain had been pooling at our basement wall definitely could be our problem. Could it really be this simple?? Should we still regrade or just wait and see what happens now that the downspouts and gutters are clear?

The gutters and down spouts are the first line of defense. They basically collect water off the roof and channel it away from the foundation. It's a simple system, but things do go wrong.

The gutter being clogged and the downspout being blocked are two. Seams needing to be fixed is another and the down spout discharge is not far enough away from the house or there are other problems.

Guttergards are expensive and MUST be selected based on the type of trees and debris. Take pine needles, oak leaves vs. a monkeyball tree. I had a set with holes and I took them all off. Too much trouble. I use the wedge and thing with regular cleaning have worked out really well.

One gutter guard technology looks good to try, but I haven't. This stuff looks like an AC filter for a window unit in the shape of your gutter and fills the gutter.

You have an order 1 problem identified. Keep the downspouts and gutter clean. I used to use a hose for the downspounts. I don't have to anymore. I use these: Wedge Downspout Screen - Improvements Catalog

This isn't the exact product I use, but it's close. Mine is a single pole that telescopes, but with the same end. I use a bucket, a garbage bag and a either neoprene gloves or vinyl gloves.

With the extensions, you don't need to use the ladder much and I quit using the ladder stabilizer.

Cleaning goes very quickly.

iRobot makes an automated gutter cleaning robot, but it's not my style.

When it's raining, so out and feel the down spout seams and make sure they are not leaking. Seal them. Make sure they discharge at least 3' away from the foundation. 6 to 10' is even better.

Your downspouts and gutters are the biggest contributor. The 100 year event might contribute between 10-15 gal/min from 1/2 of the roof.

Don't neglect down spout seams and the end caps on the gutters themselves.

This is one of those things where if you can't do it right the first time, when are you going to find time to do it over.

You initially design using principles you know and it works.

Correct what's easiest and what will give you the most bang for the buck.

In order:
1. Gutter wedge (prevents downspout clog)
2. Gutter cleaning wand (reduces cleaning time)
3. Inspect and fix gutter seams


4. evaluate downspout discharge locations
5. evaluate downspout seems
6. evaluate downspout hangers

4,5 & 6 may be part of a more comprehensive plan. e.g grading might change lengths of downsout. Underground pop-ups might totally change the gutter system.

Yesterday we had a mini downpoor, so I did dome inspections.

Rear gutter (driveway)
1. take down and re-paint/replace
2. End plate seam leaking
3. Leaks at bottom elbow seam
4. Fix gutter attachments

Causes pooling in yard. Sump pump will get excess water. Priority is low. It will take a while to complete repair.

Earlier repair dumped gutter at a 45 deg angle on the driveway away from the door. This can cause ice in the winter. Re-routing definitely helped.

Back rear gutter:
Leak at seams for temporary above ground 40' corrogated tubing. Major changes planned. Tube will eventually be removed. Swale, berm and bilge pump are working. Not optimum.

Front Gutter
Dumps 1/2 the roof. No significant internal issues except efforvescence on the interior block surface in the basement. Downspount needs to be anchored. Empties currently into a 3' x 10" slab with a small PVC extension. Pools water near the house.

Work currently in progress to move discharge into a catch basin and eventually 40' to near the street. Downspout must be extended.

The berms and swales are doing what they are supposed to do, but not in an optimal configuration.

The dug ditches, in progress, filled with 150 gal of water. Unfortunately, this is a pre-requisite.

When complete as a phase:
1. One gutter will drain into a catch basin (not a problematic one)
2. Output of swale #2 will drain into a catch basin
3. The above will drain to near the street via a pop-up emitter.

System then will consist of swale + catch #1 + 30' sdr-35 sewer pipe, 10' ez-flow, 7' schedule 40 PVC under sidewalk), no-hub coupling, about 24" of schedule 40 with 1/2 holes in the bottom, fabric and 6" of rock with a 90 deg, no-hum and pop-up emitter. Line will be run with 14 AWG copper clad steel tracer wire.

So, I don't get much bang for the buck here. It's just a pre-requisite.

So, when that's complete. The back-yard berm and swale are not in an optimal configuration, but look like they work with erosion possible in the long term. Water is being kept away from the window well.

The above ground corrogated pipe will still divert the back gutter discharge. This time it will be to the catch basin and out to the street, but on top of the ground.

Then might be a good time to work on some other projects after the grading is done and to fix the driveway gutter.

Later, 30' of underdrain will be added to another catch basin upstream and the swale destroyed and re-built. The back gutter will dump into this basin and continue through the underdrain, picking up the front down spout and out to the street.

Then the entry of water into the side of the house will be solved. Plant grass and use an erosion fabric.

Final cleanup would then concentrate on the back yard swale. Having it output into the beginning of the underground portion. Graded properly such that water that's coming from uphill will be intercepted by the swale and output to the street with some sections being used for absorption and some collection.

Until that point in time, I won't know if I'll still have a soggy lawn in places.

Some possibilites:
1. Consider the solution adequate
2. The shed could empty into an underground rain barrel or connect to a popup further out into the yard.
4. The driveway gutter could go to a rain barrel and the excess to a pop-up.

So, you can see how incrementally you can solve a problem.

>MULTIPLE Threads Merged<

Waterproofing "guys" always try to sell you their package which is thousands of dollars. My wife and I had 2 "foundation" cracks in our townhouse basement. We weren't going to pay $6k to $12k, I called some guy from the "crack team" and he filled the holes with some expanding liquid stuff. It fixed the problem. Cost about $400.

Now, we recently moved to a new single family home (built in 2004), and this house has a french drain. Problem is, water is seeping "up" from below the slab, over the plastic apron/tile thing and onto the floor. So this is proof that installing a french drain is not always a perfect solution. Rule #1: direct downspouts away from the house as far as possible; Rule #2: grade the soil around the problem area.

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Originally Posted by Curlyben

>MULTIPLE Threads Merged<

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And I just merged 5 more posts on the same thread. Got to speak to KISS about this.