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jonw9_gw

Another Seepage Question

jonw9
10 years ago

I just moved into this house. What I thought was an issue with the previous water softener system may in fact be a seepage issue along the floor/wall seam. This is based on the water up the wall, which doesn't seem plausible as leakage from the new system (which has been in 2 weeks and showed no sign of water until heavy rains this weekend)/

Attached is a picture of what I am seeing. The complication to this issue is that this is the wall that is shared with my garage, meaning it isn't a grading issue outside. This is the uphill side of my property, with the downhill side being a walkout. There is no water flowing into/across the back of the garage.

About 10' to the right of this is the sump pump.
Would my only recourse to be have an edge drain installed along the inside edge of the wall here? It doesn't seem plausible or practical to excavate the back of the garage to repair from the outside.

Comments (4)

  • worthy
    10 years ago

    I'm not clear which way is "up" in this photo.

    this is the wall that is shared with my garage, meaning it isn't a grading issue outside.

    It may well be a grading issue on the uphill side of the garage.

    Inside water handling does nothing to stop the ingress of water and the damage it may be causing to the foundation and the soil beneath the footings.

    But without a lot more information it's hard to give any opinion in this situation.

  • jonw9
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I tried to get a good picture. The blue think is my softener brine tank, sitting on the floor (completely dark grey).

    The upper left portion is the vertical wall (partial dark grey/ wet area).

    The driveway has a slight uphill slope from the street.

    ascii diagram (Side view)

    ```````````````````````___Main_Floor_________:
    ``````````````````````:
    ___GARAGE___:
    wwwwwwwwwwww:
    wwwwwwwwwwww:
    wwwwwwwwwwww:X___Basement floor_____:

    X is where the seepage is.

    Picture in the first post is the damp area on the left of the picture below.

  • worthy
    10 years ago

    If that's the worst you get after heavy rains I wouldn't be in a hurry to start breaking up concrete for interior drains.

    Keep a dehumidifier running to dry out that wall. Virtually every basement in all but desert climates requires mechanical dehumidification to keep relative humidity below 50%.

    When it's raining, go outside to check on how the downspouts, gutters and grading are working. That moisture on the foundation wall could well be from a broken or clogged downspout, reverse grading or overflowing eaves.

    In other words, work from the simplest things to the most complicated (and expensive).

    This post was edited by worthy on Tue, Oct 8, 13 at 15:20

  • jonw9
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks. I was hoping it wasn't a huge deal. I will check the down spouts to make sure.

    My concern was that it is on a non-gutter edge of the house (perpendicular to the roof peak).

    I will fire up the dehumidifier as well.

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