aspenphoto
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- Sep 11, 2009
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I am approaching my wits end about water entering our "waterproofed" basement. We have about a 50 year old two story house. It is a twin - common to our section of Philly. the previous owners had issues with water entering the basement on the front (west) facing wall - so they had an interior drain installed along the perimeter leading to a sump pump (which pumps into the utility sink which seems quite odd to me). They said no problems after that -and finished the basement with carpet and wood paneling. About two years in - we noticed the carpet was wet on one corner - the corner that is shared with the other half of our twin. Sadly, this only subjected our cat to a vet visit as we were convinced HE was the cause of the 'wetness'. As the problem would not go away I finally ripped the carpet up to discover the water seeping from behind the paneling. Off comes that section of paneling. The cement wall had a vertical crack - not more than a 1/16 f an inch wide that would lead to a small stream of water when it rained - no need for a heavy rain. I tried to patch it with hydrostatic (?) cement - no dice. As I pondered I heard dripping near our water main shutoff at the OTHER corner - opened the access panel and boom - more dripping water. Outside I go - I plugged all visible cracks on the exterior along the soil line/stairs. Still water. I dug around the far corner about 3 feet down, no cracks visible - still put up a rubberized covering and sloped the soil away - rain this morning - more water in the basement.
The only other possiblity I can think is this...and want to know if others think I may on the right track. We have a mini-steeple over the bedroom window on the side that leeks. This effectively channels water down each side - and there is no gutter on the front of the house. SO, the water then runs down over a stone exterior (not sure if brick is behind it). Where the water is running down the house there are several small'ish holes in the mortar between the stones. I'm thinking maybe the problem was never in the ground but rather a result of the runoff from the roof - made worse now by it getting behind the stones and then channeling into the basement??
My question..and sorry for the rambling...is it a plausible cause? AND if so, would installation of gutters on the front and patching the mortar be effective in stopping the leaks??
Any help is GREATLY appreciated!
The only other possiblity I can think is this...and want to know if others think I may on the right track. We have a mini-steeple over the bedroom window on the side that leeks. This effectively channels water down each side - and there is no gutter on the front of the house. SO, the water then runs down over a stone exterior (not sure if brick is behind it). Where the water is running down the house there are several small'ish holes in the mortar between the stones. I'm thinking maybe the problem was never in the ground but rather a result of the runoff from the roof - made worse now by it getting behind the stones and then channeling into the basement??
My question..and sorry for the rambling...is it a plausible cause? AND if so, would installation of gutters on the front and patching the mortar be effective in stopping the leaks??
Any help is GREATLY appreciated!