Basement floodding questions....

amigo123

Firstly everyone merry xmas & best wishes for a very happy new year.

I've specially joined and I'm hoping someone can help me.

We've has a bit of disaster as after heavy rain, one of our basement rooms has flooded, although not a large amount.

After a lot of investigation & digging an outside trench from a local builder, we've found that there is standing water next to our home's foundation, which has over time seeped under the stones (blue clay) and entered the room.

Although not a huge amount, our builder has said that standing water outside is not good and should be somehow either diverted or drained.

Unfortunately there is no way of diverting this water away from the property as the ground level and level of drains are much higher and the standing water is approx 6 feet lower standing on hard/blue clay.

My builder has suggested that the only option is to pump the water out with a "water transfer pump".

He's gone on a family holiday and has said whilst he's away, that I look into these water pumps and decide what type/make I want to fit and hopefully when he's back, he'll attempt to fit it in.

The reason for having a pump on the inside is because the amount of water that entered the basement is not huge (no more than a few centimetres). But outside the wall, there is approx 1 foot high water.

Now I guess I could dig a hole outside and have a submersible sump pump, but if it developed a fault, then I have difficulty accessing it for maintenance.

Here is a diagram of my idea (please DELETE the red ASTERISKs):

https*:*//s10.postimg.org/xrpc5ps55/sump-pump.jpg

Thank you

Furts

How old is the basement and what is it used for?

Bear in mind principles of building. A basement should be tanked from the outside, this tanking should be protected and there should be a free draining material on the outside, which can be in conjunction with a perforated drain. Working from this the pump should be outside - it is not logical to have a leaking basement and say "OK I now have a 20mm of water so I will start trying to pump".

By throwing the decisions back to you it sounds like your builder is passing the buck to you. In turn this sounds like they are not competent. An expression like "water transfer pump" adds weight to the image of incompetence. All pumps transfer water, so the expression is meaningless. The crux is where the water is transferred to ...

I know of basements which flood, and cannot be cured. It just happens now and again when conditions are wet. The owners have to live with this. Yours may be one of this category?

bris

Pumps are ok for basements used for storage etc but if it's a room you actually use then its going to need tanked. Pretty expensive thing to do properly.

prosaver

maybe something might this will do i built one and it works

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1fjQL0SoE8

btw wheres the water coming from?

amigo123

Thanks ever so much for your help everyone. I'll try answering as many questions as I can.

Basement is as old as the house which is approx the mid 30's. It's not used as a living room. Only storage, chest freezer, tool workshop (which are rusting due to high moisture).

When the builder built the trench, he's covered the foundations outside with concrete. This was to deflect the water away into a man-made channel which goes away approx 4ft from the house. Prosaver suggested a soak pit outside, however this will not work as the ground is made of mixed blue clay and solid rubble. The water would fill up pit and just stand there, eventually backup until it comes out in the basement.

I agree that he's kind of dumped this on me (might have to get rid of him :mad:) as being honest I don't have a clue what pump to go for or whether I should setup a pump to drain water from outside or should I let it into the cellar via weep holes in the foundation mortar and then pump it away.

If water is just standing next to the foundations in a trench which is climbing approx 1ft high during heavy rain, what can I do to reduce damage and how can I drain it?

prosaver

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdCoEyMFp_I
w
cant you put lots of sand in the pit or build a french drain that flows water away from the house?

martinthebandit

Basement sump pumps are not particularly uncommon in older properties, I very much suspect your builder is giving you good advice.

amigo123

Thanks prosaver. From what I can tell, there really is no place for the water to go.

He's already dug approx 4ft more from where the house corner ends. However since there is hard blue clay which causes the water to stand, how can we drain the water away without a pump? Sand wouldn't work as it still would just sit on top of the blue clay.

Forgive my drawings, but the below example image shows possibly how the water is getting into the basement and the concrete laid over the footing stones to help reduce the amount of water.

https*:*//s10.postimg.org/csn0jpx9l/footingstones.jpg

Martin - I agree, but he's left me in a bit of a pickle as he's thrown the responsibility on me to figure out what type of pump.

amigo123

Sorry! BUMP!

Furts

Nobody on the forum has seen your home so nobody can give firm answers. Some pointers are ... you describe the ground as blue clay and rubble. This means made up ground, and when you do not have virgin ground you have a potential problem. You cannot change this, and made up ground may not be stable.

Clearly your builder has been digging, which could be a serious mistake. It means a new easy path for water ingress has been formed.

I suspect your builder is clueless, and has created you potential problems. In turn you do not know what you are doing. Bluntly, if you cannot manage the contractor that you are responsible for then give in and accept defeat. This means the logical answer is to accept the situation, create a sump pit in your basement and get a small submersible pump to use when required.

Countless basements get wet or damp - that is a reflection on how they were built and what they were meant for. Think coal storage, beer bottles, and so on.

However, if you are determined to continue digging or pumping then you need competent, professional advise.

amigo123

Thanks Furts.

Can you please explain what you mean by made up ground? If this has now been dug up, what should I replace/fill it with? Clay or concrete or something else?

Also I'm happy with going for a sump pump inside, but because the outside has been concreted, I'm getting very little amount of water into the basement. Should I make weep holes to deliberately allow the water inside to be drained away by a pump?