Water comes in my basement window???

12 years ago

My house sits too low,(I think) my basement windows are below grade. I have window wells around the windows, but the entire window is pretty much below the ground level. I have tried EVERYTHING! When we get a very heavy rain, the window well fills up and it pours into my basement. I had to tear up carpet twice. Now I have decided to put ceramic tile on the floor, no more carpet. What kind of prep do I have to do other than a good cleaning. The concrete floor is in very good shape, no cracks, very stable. Can I just put the tile right down with regular thin set??? I have a rubber gym floor in part of the room...what is the best way to transition from tile to rubber... and from tile to bare floor?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!! Thank you

Comments (5)

worthy
12 years ago
Fix the window wells.

If you still insist on having an occasional pool, use a decoupling membrane under the tiles, such as Ditra.
marleycat25
Original Author
12 years ago
Thank you for your suggestions..I did something very similar...pipe from window well leads to a huge pit several yards away. Put a check valve on the pipe, but when the check valve failed the water backed up into the well and right into my basement again. How deep do you recommend putting that tee?? where does the pipe that runs along the foundation go???

I am all for fixing the problem, but have spent a fortune and when it comes down hard, it still comes in!!!!
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worthy
12 years ago
Nine feet away is obviously not far enough for the drywell pit.

The tee connection is beside the footings; the weepers at the bottom may drain several ways, depending on local requirements. If there's a natural slope in a large property, they can be connected to a single drain emerging eventually at grade. Or the weepers can be directed to an interior sump pump, which then redirects the water to exterior drainage pipes spreading the water over the property as far away as possible.

Unfortunately, making basement space living space in old homes can be a costly frustrating experience.
hendricus
12 years ago
How about just fixing the window.

I had an old house with the original metal window set in concrete. Removed the windows and some of the concrete and replaced with standard basement windows. The kind that opens at the top. A very heavy rain that flooded the whole yard and filled up the window well never did come in the window.

We walked by and saw water 3/4 of the way up the window, very interesting.
frugalwallflower
12 years ago
We had a very heavy rain here last night and used a submersible pump meant for our pool to pump water away from our house to the back of our yard. Pump is attached to a garden hose which carries water away and can be plugged into a 3-pronged outlet. The pump was $75 at Lowes and pumps down to 1/2" depth. I set it on a 1" thick rubber "welcome" mat that has scroll-patterned "cut-outs" so it wasn't going to get clogged on bare dirt, but could still suction down quite a bit. If you have a few inches of large gravel in the window well, it might work fine. The submersible pump is a work horse, but very quiet, and I love it!