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Silt coming through in basement/ Wet basement

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Posted by bobomama (My Page) on
Wed, Sep 20, 06 at 17:22

We are looking at a house to buy, but it has several issues I thought I'd check into before we go much further.

Of course we will have all the inspections done, I just thought I'd see what y'all think.

The basement of this house has some H2O issues.

Issue 1:

There is silt seeping in from the base of the wall (where the wall meets the floor)...This is happening in just one spot. It is in the LOWEST part of the basement.
The area that is affected with the silt used to be the old garage (drive around back & park under the house).
The owners built up the door with concrete & made the old garage area part of the basement.

Issue 2:
The window wells leak when it rains & the water trickles down the walls. I think this has been happening for some time, because the concrete is starting to crumble a little where the water has been trickling down for so long.
(P.S. The window wells are FULL of mulch from outside gardening endeavors)

Issue3:

The drain spouts empty out right next to the house !!!
so obviously this is not helping the situation.

A basement guy quoted approx. $3900 for a perimeter drain system, sump & crock & repairing the window wells....this is an 1100 sq. ft. basement.

Is a perimeter drain necessary?

What are the benefits vs. drawbacks of a french drain system?

Would clearing the window wells, applying a "Dry-Loc" type product, diverting the drain spouts & adjusting some of the soil for better grading be of much help ?

Is this a lost cause.....I don't want to go any further in the house negotiations if it is too much trouble.

Thanks for any help

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RE: Silt coming through in basement/ Wet basement

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You can accomplish a lot by cleaning out the window wells, fixing the grade and redirecting the downspouts.
When I wanted to raise the level of the soil around the house (for improved grading and to put in gardens), I put in a plain galvanized window well and capped it with a plastic window well cover. In spite of heavy rains lately, it's dry as a bone in there (the floor of the window well is about 3-4 inches below the outside window sill). See the link below for pics. Of course, if any of the property slopes toward the house, these things might not be enough.

However, the silt coming into your basement would have me running away into the night. Must be quite the crack to allow silt to come in. Or a lot of water behind there, to even get the silt flowing! This doesn't seem like something that can be fixed from the inside.

Here is a link that might be useful: back yard pics, new house

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