Natural spring=problem!!

18 years ago

I recently bought a "fixer-upper" property and renovated about 95% of it. The house is built on pilings because of the slope of the property. The previous owner built a basement type room under the lower side of the house. The major problem is that there is a natral spring on the high side of the property and it runs right underneath the front porch and against the wall of this lower room. Naturally, everything underneath my house is like a swamp! All of the walls of this room were mostly rotten so i removed them and now i am left with a concrete slab and small creek! I woud like to rebuild this area into a game room/basement but i dont know how to fix this water problem. I ned to know how to somehow contain and divert this natural spring and dry out the underside of my house!!

Please Help!

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Comments (6)

schreibdave
18 years ago
I have zero expertise here, but it seems to me the best thing to do would be to try to divert that flow of water on the high side of the house. Is it practical to dig a trench parrallel to the house and lay drain tile to divert the water around the foundation? Or, do the same thing along the interior of the uphill wall? That would involve (I think) breaking up the concrete along the wall, excavating a little, laying crushed stone and installing drain tile to divert the water.

Or, stock the creek with fish and build your gameroom above grade rather than below. :-) Good luck
captain
18 years ago
Install a curtain drain to divert and capture as much water before it hits the house. Also, strategically add a sump pump below concrete slab. Remember to divert and discharge water as far away as possible from house. Which state are you in, because I give free estimates!-) Good luck
sierra05
Original Author
18 years ago
I live in lower Alabama, near Mobile. Can you explain what a curtain drain is and how it works? How much would something like that system cost?
Thanks for the input!
formulaross
18 years ago
I found this description of a curtain drain (or French drain):

They consist of a narrow trench, a four inch perforated pipe, and massive quantities of large rounded gravel.

Basically, you just want to intercept the water ASAP and divert it away from the living area.
Pipersville_Carol
18 years ago
Pipe it into a pond, if you've got the room. The previous owner of our house hit a natural spring when he dug the basement. He piped the water away from the house and built a pond. Result = dry basement, big beautiful water feature.
jingle_arlington
18 years ago
Hi- I may be too late for this forum, but we had a stream running thru the partially dug out cellar of our 1902 house. We spent lots of money digging french drains around the upslope part of the house, to no avail because it really was a stream. The solution? We paid about 5000 U.S. to dig trenches inside the basement that emptied into the lower part of the cellar. A sump pump helps. So far, years later (with hurricanes and heavy rains), we have had so flooding at all.

The thin concrete on the floor where water flowed is a nasty mess, but it is dry.