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Ten inches of rain, and a few leaks ...

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Sad to learn you've lost books, Tom.

Down here the rain comes at 4PM every day for weeks at a time. The roof on th' hovel needs replacing, several areas with leaks. That's our rain issue now. But it can't be done until the rains go away. A catch-22!

And a basement would have to be called an indoor swimming pool.
 
Our monsoon season has been a bit lighter than usual. We do get afternoon showers but most of them have been on the lighter side with only a few being real torrential downpours.
 
Sorry to hear about your basement troubles. If you live in a low lying area this probably wont make a difference but a simple and cheap thing to do if necessary is to make sure your eaves trough downspouts drain a good distance (5-10’ if necessary) which will carry the rain collected over the area of your roof away from your foundation rather than concentrating it right next to it. HTH!
 
Thanks Charlie. Our big problem here is that after 15" inches rain in a week, the ground is saturated. Water seeps into whatever crack it can find. The soil surround the house (and most houses here) is wet all the way down to bedrock. Sump pumps are useless.
Thanks.
Tom M.
 
David - that is a great idea. Build *up* the channel around the perimeter, instead of chiseling it out of the floor itself.

Going to do some thinking and maybe give that a try. thanks!
Tom M.
Pm sent!
 
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NutmegCT said:
David - that is a great idea. Build *up* the channel around the perimeter, instead of chiseling it out of the floor itself.

Going to do some thinking and maybe give that a try. thanks!
Tom M.
Pm sent!
Click to expand...
00C45633-9161-4CEC-8527-0AB95520569C.png
 
The suggestion I made above might be the answer for a once in a while fix. We usually don’t get this much rain.
 
Our house in SoCal is unusual in that it has a partial basement. We do get water into it when it rains, mostly through cracks in the 90-year-old foundation. In the past, it has been badly flooded.

I installed a sump pump in a well, and cut shallow grooves in the floor leading from all corners to the sump. This gets around the fact that the floor isn't flat--the water follows the channels. I used an angle grinder with a masonry disk to cut the grooves.

The pump outlet is in the driveway, in a location where it channels the water into the street, so it doesn't flow right back into the basement. The pump has a float switch that turns it on automatically when the sump fills. It all works pretty well.
 
Thanks Steve. The issue I'm having is that water seeps through the cove joint (where concrete wall and concrete floor come together).

Seems that a "dike" is more what I need; a dike at each entry point would retain the water, so a vacuum could remove it. As water is coming through all four sides of the cove joint, grooves would have to lead all over the basement floor to get to a central "sink" (sump) - or I'd need at least four sumps and pumps.

Or maybe I'm not following you?
Thanks.
Tom M.
 
Rhodyspit75 said:
The suggestion I made above might be the answer for a once in a while fix. We usually don’t get this much rain.
Click to expand...
Thanks - I've posted a few questions about it on the Amazon item page. I see it swells up and acts as a barrier, if placed in front of a door, etc. But what keeps water from just going around it? The ends are tapered.

A similar item:

https://www.amazon.com/New-Pig-Basement-Water-Absorber/dp/B07JJGBC2V

Also swells up and absorbs water - but I can't tell if it becomes a "barrier", or it's just for absorbing a limited amount of water.
 
Update on the "water woes". Following an idea from David App, I've built a "dam" across the basement floor, to channel water from the leaking cove joint, to a drain hole I chiseled through the cement floor. This seemed quicker to me than chiseling a drain channel all across the basement floor. Also ran a drain pipe from the hole, downslope to the street. The cove joint leaks start behind the water heater and furnace (wouldn't you know ...) What a merry circus this adventure turned out to be.

Basement 1.JPG


Basement 2.JPG


The bricks aren't fastened in place, in case this doesn't work out. But I've used a water seal along the entire length of the dam.

Time will tell ...
Tom M.
 
Wishing you good luck with it.
 
That would seem to be the best answer for the unusual amount of rain you're seeing now.
 
or ... basement water polo!
 
We haven't had rain in over a month, actually about 6 weeks! Everything is burning up! Today it's 99 in the shade! :rolleyes2:
 
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