Hello all - last week, we had an insane rain storm and it caused one side of my basement to flood with about 1” water. Luckily I caught it early and didn’t let it sit. I did call a mitigation company as a precaution and avoided any mold or major issue. We do have a relativity new sump, and I did call a few basement companies all pitching 8k-9k French drain fixes plus all the cost and hassle to put back my carpet, dry wall and paint, etc. question is, this only happened once but would you wait and see if it happens again or bite the bullet and get the work done? Would it be bad to wait and if it happens again, do the work? We’ve had a lot of rain before and this was the first time.

my basement keeps flooding. it is finished but water keeps coming from the sides. I am assuming it is coming from the crawl space which is in the utility closet which is the only unfinished part of the basement (shown in picture) and then the water fills that room and overwhelms the sides of the walls lead it to leak out to the finished sides of the basement. I saw on my camera that water was coming in from cracks on the left wall of the crawl space. I hired waterproofers and they put concrete already on it but it didn't even last a year. does anyone else know what else I can do to prevent water from coming in from the crawlspace? I can't do much on the outside because I live in a row house and my neighbor is a real douche about his yard.

More context this bed was placed in the corner of a room, near a radiator and had under storage so not much ventilation there.

It’s unfortunate cause i’m pretty sick cause of it and we had an air exchanger.

This seemed to have happened with the change of weather from fall into the winter so i figured the cold wall and floor paired with the hot radiator next to the bed created enough condensation to grow this quickly with no circulation.

I’m curious if some one has a better idea of how this happened and how to prevent such a thing happening again. Oh and I’m in the NE incase that helps.

I have an old house in Montreal, close to an old quarry. Back then, building code did not require putting gravel under the slab. There is not sump pit or french drain.

I have a finished basement with an equipment room (that wasn,t renovated and that I don't care aboutthe looks of) where I'd like to install a sump pit + sump pump. It's right next to my fron yard. On the opposite side of the basement, next to my backyard, is a bathroom where I had a tiny bit of water coming from the floor after torrential rains. I also have access to a trap in the middle of the basement that alloes me to see the concrete slab, there was some water there too after heavy rain, not much, but still some water, it wasn't just humid.

The house is pretty small, it's a victory house/ post ww2 house. Thanks to the proximity to the quarry, they may have put a small but rather unequal amount of gravel under the slab, but nowhere near enough to allow good draining like a modern house (4-6'' thick). The soil is most likely made of glacial till (aka clay that doesn't drain) on top of a bedrock of limestone. I am hoping we can reach the limestone as we dig the clay. It'll be done by basement professionnals, I am terrible at DIY.

Would that sump pit+pump help or be mostly usless? Would water drain between the clay/gacial till it reaches the sump pit?

6k$ was quoted for a sealed sump pit+battery backup pumps which seems somewhat reasonable, 15-20k for a french drain system or interior drain one is out of our budget even though that would solve the problem for sure.

Some things I read say it's pointless, others that it might work, or it may not, including our new AI overlords, finally, some posts of homeowners with similar basements on reddit suggest it may help and be worth it. I am at a lost.

Hey all,

My basement will receive interior waterproofing and I’d like advice about the hvac system.

My basement was finished by the previous owner who ignored the moisture on the walls. Mold has since developed on the insulations, studs and drywall. On top of that, there is lead paint on the wall.

The team coming to do the waterproofing will also be removing all mold affected material. They plan to hang plastic, have a vortex blower, and hepa air scrubber. They are not a mold abatement company. After removing the material, they will dig a trench and sump pump and install the system to deal with water.

I am currently not staying in my house as the mold has created many health complications.

Should I leave the HVAC system running while the work is being done or turn it off?

We just closed on a house and the basement had about an inch of water in due to some bad storms we had. The house doesn’t have a sump pump. There’s a drain down there, that splits into two directions, but not sure what it’s connected to under the flooring. We had to different places come out to give estimates.

The first quoted was 13k for a full basement waterproofing on 4 walls, installing a sump pump and pit.

The second was a sump pump and pit, connecting the existing drainage to it, and fixing the drainage to take it to the street. It was quoted at 5k.

Looking for some input on sump pump vs full waterproofing. Should we go with just the sump pump and drainage to the street to see if that helps out when there are bad storms, or go straight in for the full waterproofing?

The basement is unfinished, is an old stone foundation that was recently repointed. We have no plans to finish it, will just be using it as storage.

Thanks!

I’m looking for info on staining/dying basement concrete walls. Looking for simple modern look. The first 2 images are my wall type and the other 3 are what we like. Just looking for advice on how to achieve any of those looks for basement walls. Thanks

https://imgur.com/a/OIyUiga

Edit: also is there harm in leaving the basement walls bare? We are working on the basement and trying to save where we can. We both like the look at nice concrete so that's why were looking at options.

I’m in the process of finishing my basement. For reference, my basement is cinderblock walls with a double sill plate.

I’ve started attaching 5/8 in USG Sheetrock brand mold x firecode gypsum boards for vertical fire blocking, attached to floor joists back to the top sill plate (first picture few pictures). Went fine so far with notching holes for electric, pipes, even dryer vent. However, on this wall there is a hot water pipe running directly parallel the top sill plate, and about even with the top of the cinder block wall. There isnt enough clearance to shim between the pipe and the top sill plate.

Any ideas on what I can do? Do I split the gypsum in two, attach one from sill plate out to pipe, then one in front of pipe to where top plate will be, and then firefoam any small gap between pipe and gypsum? Assuming I can even get back there to screw the gypsum on in the back. Or Is this just a scenario where I fill in with rock wool?

Hi,

My cats love to go in my basement so I’m thinking about remodeling it. I live in eu, so there’s the sort of holes in front of my home and when it rains water go in. I’m thinking about putting polycarbonate stuff to block it.

For the floor I was thinking about this ? My cat happens to have some urinal issues that we are working on with the behavioral vet but I think it’s better to make it waterproof.

My house is also super humid..

I would love to pay some professional but it’s not the right time right now and I am broke so I’m trying to do it so it’s cheaper !! (I live with my parents / student)

What do you think / recommend ? Thank you !!

Hi all, I have an older home (mid 60s) with a cinderblock (not CMUs) foundation that has substantial pitting including a few small holes to the hollow core. A few weeks ago, we had a contractor out to install a french drain and sump pump as a first step.

We haven't had water intrusion in a few years but we've had condensation on the block at some points (I believe due to a grading and cavitation issue that's now been resolved). We don't have any horizontal or staircase cracking and there are no parts of the wall that are noticeably caving.

The basement walls were all covered with DryLok, but that's degraded substantially as the underlying block degraded.

I'm now looking for next steps. We installed the french drain with weep holes, I removed any loose and degraded material first with a sanding disc then with a wire cup brush and now I'm looking to do some repair work before finishing the basement.

Since the end goal will be finishing it out, I'm not concerned with the appearance of the wall, I'm mostly concerned with handling any water the french drain doesn't catch and making sure the wall remains sound.
Looking for any next steps or advise.

This week kicked my butt. We got a lot of progress. Finished all the digging body of the floor. Trenches for drainage. Footings for the new columns. Installed 14 new columns today. Hung the vapor barrier on the walls. Made sure the floor was level. Sump pit and pump is in. As an added bonus found a few old bottles buried in the dirt.

Sump Pump Woes

I'm trying to figure out if I have an issue that needs to be corrected or not.

I live on a high water table that is clay soil based. My house is approximately 20 years old.

When I moved in the basement was musty and had signs of efflorescence in a number of areas on the concrete slab floor. This house has a sump pump connected to drain tile. At this time I had a water proofer come in and install a brand new pump with a battery backup.

While doing this my pit was perforated, all the holes are below the drain tile inlet pipe, the lowest being 2 inches from the bottom of the pit.

Since then only during any kind of thaw does water come through the drain tile inlet pipe otherwise water comes through these perforations.

The pump isn't active during February until thaw and July.

Currently we got a huge dumping of rain Saturday and 48 hours later it's still running every 10 minutes for a duration of 15 seconds.

During thaw it runs almost continuously for days (1-2 minutes between cycles)

What I'm trying to figure out is if the perforations were a mistake and I need to go back to a non perforated pit where the drain tile is the only inlet source or what was done is correct and it's just a symptom of living on clay with a high water table.

Moved in in may. During heavy rains, water seeps in the basement. Not flooding. I think the water is going to the well and sump pump is doing its job. Can this be fixed and will it cause further damage?

Had heavy rains yesterday and toured it today. I unfortunately only took pictures of one corner (I didn't even know the house had a basement and didn't research what to look at beforehand). This house is about 90 years old. Any knowledge that anyone could share would be greatly appreciated. Mainly just want to know is this relatively expected and manageable or run for the hills? This is below the living area and does have some hvac stuff down there.

I have an unfinished basement. The house is 100 years old. Had some water intrusion and moisture problems that have been remediated to some extend. I haven’t seen water in my basement for a few weeks now but still have efflorescence on lower walls at a few places. I am running dehumidifier three times a day for 2 hours. It’s not a musty or stinky smell. It’s a sweet smell almost like a perfume. Can’t smell it upstairs but can smell it as soon as we open the door leading to the basement. Wondering what it could be?