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Seepage issue in basement: anyone have this and solve it?

linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)

4 years ago

last modified: 4 years ago

We have had a long term seepage problem in the basement right below where the front porch is (our model has an all-brick front with no roof overhanging the porch. I don’t know if this is why we have this problem). This is the ONLY part of the basement where there is a problem. The house is 32 years old and we are the original owners. It's not coming up from the floor, but from the where the foundation meets the floor.

The basement is finished with wood studs, drywall, and carpeted wall-to-wall; and has been for perhaps 25 years. In the past after heavy rains, we’ve aimed a big fan at the carpet at the base of the wall and run the dehumidifier on high. There have been no water stains on the wall until a heavy rain a few months ago (5" in a day or so), when one showed up a few inches above the floor.

The sump pump works fine. We have an alarm on it plus a battery back-up system, so we would know if it was not working. The sump pump empties into a small ditch next to the house. It is illegal to tie into the storm sewer system (I read recently in local news that the law had changed but have not checked into it yet).

Yes, I know it’s a potential mold problem. Luckily no allergies here but still not desirable.

But with the torrential rains of the past few years in the midwest, the problem is getting more serious.

We have decided we have to pull out the carpeting in this area in a certain radius (using some form of edging to secure the cut edges) and then maybe use a shop vac to suck up the water when it rains. The wall is finished too: though this gets rid of the wet carpet it does nothing for the wet wall.

I’d like to know if anyone else has had this problem and if so, how they solved it. I am very skeptical of waterproofing companies. Thanks!

Comments (2)

Nancy R z5 Chicagoland
4 years ago
the first thing I would do is inspect your gutters and downspouts and see if they are draining far enough away from the house. Also make sure your lawn in that problem area is sloping downhill away from the house. It's hard to diagnose these things at a distance. I once had a similar problem that occurred rarely in my basement front room, and a local guy felt that it would help to replace the window well. I had this done and have not had any problems there since. If you have a window well in this area, it's possible that the pipe that goes down to your underground drainage tiles may have gotten clogged up over the years. Proper lawn grading and gutters solve the majority of these problems. But the Chicagoland area is notorious for drainage problems.
linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago) thanked Nancy R z5 Chicagoland
chocolatebunny123
4 years ago
You mentioned having a front porch so it sounds like there is space between the (assuming) concrete porch and the foundation that is getting larger and allowing the water to penetrate down the foundation. But that is just my educated guess. Depending on which direction your front door faces, you may be getting the rain directly hitting that side of the house and dripping down.

An overhang for your porch may help but I wouldn't completely discount waterproofing companies. We had some water dripping down one of our basement walls and had a couple of companies come out and give us free estimates on how to fix the problem. In our case we had mulch that was covering up the weep holes. We had that fixed, along with a few foundation cracks that happened with normal house settling before we finished the basement.
linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago) thanked chocolatebunny123
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