Hello, I guarenty that when they start digging to do any part of this job; this is what will begin to take shape, Claudia. I hadn't this whole thing in mind as it looked different shortly after I started with this in mind. But even though the project appeared to be vering away from this plan; this is exactly where it wound up. You can dig a big hole, where they find the water is coming in, and hope. Because either the water caused the cracks or is taking advantage of them after running along the house a while. If it is the first, you're lucky. You have found the greatest amount of water and you can make a small french drain into a sump basin and get it distributed less expensively. But as Dale said, "seal it and you get a boat". I feel ya, I'm still paying the last bit owed to the back hoe operator.
On Tue, 10 Mar 2009, Dale Leavens wrote: > One more time! > > You cannot stop water from entering a basement by patching cracks or holes. > If you could you would be creating a boat. > > To keep water out of a basement you must keep the basement out of the water. > You do this by draining the water away from the basement with a good weeping > tile system and clean sand drainage or you deliberately give the water a > place to go like a sump where you pump it away. Either method requires > excellent drainage. This is done by excavating to the level of the bottom of > the footings all around the exterior of the basement, laying weeping tile and > connecting it either to a reliable drain or into a sump then while there you > might like to cover the exterior of the basement walls with water proofing. > If the climate is cold I suggest wrapping it to ground level with extruded > Styrofoam insulation with the seams sealed to help keep some of the cold out > then fill over the tile with clean crushed rock or river run snone to about > six inch depth then to near grade with clean sand. Then grade the ground to > slope away from the building, a top cap of clay will work well or a cement bri m > like a sidewalk running around the house. > > If there is no water it can't get through the cracks. > > Your first decision though might be to determine the quality of the basement. > if the concrete isn't structurally sound you may need a new basement poured > while the ground is excavated. > > You certainly can have the cracks filled but not for the primary purpose of > keeping water out. > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Claudia > To: [email protected] > Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2009 7:21 AM > Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Cracks in Cement Floor! > > > Hi All, > > When we had this problem of water in our basement back in September of last > year, we had several companies come out and give us estimates for repairs. > None of them really touched the issue of cracks in the cement floor and how > to repair these! > What causes these cracks, and what can be done to permanently seal them? > Or, does this go back to having to repair foundation damage? > > This time around, the water is coming in through cracks in the cement floor! > My guess is that, with every subsequent rainfall, these cracks probably get > bigger, thus increasing our damage potential? > > We're really at a loss here, as to what to do! > My dad could probably loan us the money to get work done on this basement, > but he doesn't feel we should put more money into this house, especially on > such a large scale, as some of the estimates we received, so I'm hesitant to > ask! > > Claudia > > Join either of my groups; the first is for visually-impaired women, while > the other is for people wishing to discuss homemaking issues. > [email protected] > [email protected] > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > >
