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jennisgarden

The mysterious basement leak

Jenni06
8 years ago

We have a finished basement room that sits directly beneath our living room on the front side of our home, and discovered a massive leak under the carpet after a recent semi-heavy rainfall. I know it's hard to describe in words, but basically, the wall that leaked is under our porch, and about three feet out from the porch above we have a raised stone planter. Whenever it rains heavily, the water overflows the gutters (even when they are clean) and pummels down into the planter. The porch itself stays dry, but now we are wondering if the water is somehow going over the other edge of the planter and filtering down to the basement.


The reason I am confused is that from the layout, the edge of the porch/planter is about three feet away from what I think is the basement wall downstairs that is leaking.


I am wondering:

1) In the basement, do we need to rip out the drywall there to see if there's a crack? We ripped out the padding where the leak was (it was sopping wet, 10x3 feet), and trying to air dry the carpet, but I am worried about mold. And, of course, figuring out how the water is getting in. There is a 1/2 inch gap at the bottom between the drywall and the floor. There is no insulation behind the drywall. Or is ripping out the drywall at this point too extreme?

2) Has anyone else dealt with something like this (i.e. gutter overflowing leading to basement leakage)?

3) Should we just focus on the gutters first?


Thanks for anyone's thoughts!

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