Hey everyone, I'm dealing with some serious flooding issues in my basement, having had six inches of water in there twice this past year. My house is over 100 years old, in a very crowded urban area, and the basement used to be a crawl space that I raised to meet ceiling height. However, the slab is in bad shape, and the foundation walls are showing porousness and efflorescence. I reached out to four contractors for quotes, and I received some vastly different ideas on how to tackle this:
1. An exterior French drain with a waterproofing membrane and Delta-MS drainage panel.
2. An exterior French drain combined with foundation waterproofing using a sprayed membrane and a TremDrain DPI panel, as this contractor mentioned my foundation's porosity.
3. Installing an interior drain beneath the foundation since my basement slab sits lower than the footing of the foundation, which may cause flooding from rising groundwater.
4. Excavating for an exterior French drain with a waterproofing membrane, plus an interior drain on one side where water tends to come in.
All options come with a sump pump and battery backup. The first three are similarly priced, while the fourth option is about 50% more expensive. I'd really appreciate your input to figure out which option would work best for my situation. Thanks!
3 Answers
Have you checked the water flow around your property? The grading might be directing water towards you, and don’t forget to inspect your downspouts to make sure they’re moving water away from the house properly. Fixing these issues could help reduce water problems significantly. But like I said, I agree with the other poster: a living space below ground can be tricky.
Honestly, if you can swing it, option 4 sounds like your best bet to keep that basement dry. I’d even suggest considering a total foundation replacement with waterproof concrete and an exterior drain tile, though that could cost a fortune. Keep in mind that homes your age weren’t designed for livable basements, so you might always be battling moisture issues. Just a heads up!
Do you have any pictures of the area around your house? It might help in figuring things out!
Not really, it's mainly asphalt surrounding the place (we're working on that), except for the front. But the slope and gutters are in good shape.
Yeah, we’ve looked into that and it helped a bit! Most of our neighbors have finished basements, including the folks sharing a wall with us, and they don’t seem to have this issue.