Leaky Basement (long)

I have a poured concret wall basement and one wall has a couple of cracks that leak a bit when it raines more than a half inch or so. The cracks were treated by the builder (no longer in business) with a system that uses an epoxy sealer in which they embedded straws every foot or so along the crack. Once the epoxy set they injected expanding foam through the straws. This worked for a while but some leaks have developed. My question is have any of you used or have experience with Sta-Dri Hydraulic waterproofing concrete patch? I was thinking of chisiling the epoxy off and applying this stuff so it extended a foot or so on either side of the crack. Thoughts, Ideas? If I can avoid digging around the foundation that is my preference.

You may be able to try Dry Lock. It dries under pressure, and when its wet.

If it is still cracking are there other issues that this is just a symptom of? I am afraid I don't know anything about sealing them. Good luck

I think you have a reasonable chance of that working. It may be some trial and error until you have it sealed up 100%.

Does the ground slope away from your house? It helps alot. Does your house have gutters on it?

I doug a trench out about 6' away from my building, at about a 45 degree angle away from building. Lined it with a heavy plastic sheet, installed a perforated drain tile around the outside edge. Backfilled with course sand. Drains water away from foundation very well - leaking (sepage) throught the concrete block wall gone.

I worked for a company that dug up and repaired basement walls.

The first thing you must do is have the house snaked out all the way to the main or to the tank.

There is a "Y" in the system between the gray water and the crap pipe.

This "Y" sometimes catches things and forms a block that drains slow.

Ok your asking what the hell does this have to do with my leaking wall.

With this blockage it causes the drain tyle to back up and guess ware it's going to come in , the first crack it can find.

There could also be tree roots etc etc. We have seen this several times and a simple drain cleaning can save you alot of grief and money.

We always suggested this first. But we had people who knew more and upon digging up the wall just to find standing water above the drain tyle. At this point no inspector will pass this with out a plumber snaking out the drains and guess what " thats all it was " .


Now if this doesn't work then a wall replacment might be in the picture or heavy duty water proofing.


I hope a plumber with a good snake and a camera solves your problem...

for a permanent 100% fix excavate areas of cracked wall apply foundation sealer then cover with 6mil visqueen well beyond crack.when backfilling repair area compact dirt in 12inch lifts or use #4 stone up to 16 inches of grade stone allows water to fall to perimeter drain with lttle resistence.if I use dirt I compact it by saturating with water but I typically use the stone.Iknow this fix is a little pricey and a mess but it is a FIX

You can't stop water from flowing through a wall. You can however keep the water from getting to your wall.

A leak like that should always be treated from the outside. If it gets in, but can't get out is no better. You should try to figure out what is causing it in the first place. Greg

Thanks for the replies so far. One thing I forgot to mention is the house has a daylight basement (entire back wall is open at grade level with a door and patio. To answer a few questions:
1. yes the house has gutters.
2. the land could slope away better as now it is kindof flat but running down a slight grade toward the back of the house.
3. The builder sprayed a tar like substance to the burried section of the walls.
4. It may be possible that the crack is not 100% stable but as it is covered with epoxy at the moment i can't tell if it has gotten any wider. It is kindof leaking behind the epoxy though.

I hate to excavate it becaues there is a ton of landscaping and sprinkler pipe, phone line power line, etc. If i have to excavate it i think i will dig down to the perimeter drain and then put a plastic barrier from behind the drian to above grade level and hold it in place with some tar or other sticky substance.

Hydraulic cement will indeed stop water from flowing through a wall.

I have done it professionally.

Water against the wall will wait for another opening then flow through a new opening.
Working to control a problem doesn't work as well as eliminating the problem.
Surround the foundation walls with drainage stone down to the base of the foundation with drainage tile below the stone.
Water can't flow through the house wall when the water can't get to the wall.

Like others have said keep the water running downhill away from the house. Landscaping is one of the most neglected issues when building.

I'm a old man who has repaired lots of cisterns. Not complicated or even difficult at all, and very inexpensive.

Dig the dirt away from the crack, power wash, dry, and remove any loose material. Paint with pure mason cement and water, working it with a brush. This mixture does not have any sand in it. This gives a perfect contact surface with this very strong mix at the contact point. Now just mud it up with mason cement (mason cement powder. sand and water. Use a one on one mix and then forget it.

The only issue you may have is if you are in a frost area, most likely some of the wall is below the frost line, and a sidewalk or something else--steps, etc are hanging onto the wall without expansion joints.

Old age helps understand the frost ordeal, often a old rain water cisterns has been cemented over in our area, a perfect example of part being below frost, and the rest of the sidewalk sitting on top of the frost line. Something has to give.

There are allot of issues that I'm unaware of with your post, but if frost is a issue (movement)it will move and crack again regardless of all the expensive miracle products that you can buy.

And believe it or not everyone will try to sell you the expensive stuff. Cisterns have held water for hundreds of years with only mason cement and stone. Most are 14 ft deep, almost twice the dept and water pressure of your basement wall.

I think the stuff I was thinking of was called Dry lock Water Plug. But most likeley you will have to dig it up. I had to do that to mine, remove all plants, watch for phone line, well pipe into house ect, it is a pain, but its worth it. I tared the blocks, put plastic on the wall, and ran drain tile out away from the foundation. I back filled with #2 crushed stone all the way to the surface. For this I used a sheet of plywood, stone on one side, clay on the other, all the way up. No problems since. Good luck

That is true, the cement will hold the water for awhile, then find another spot to get in, BTDT, so I brought in the CAT. Just couldent take it anymore. Got the water away from the foundation and its good now.

Looks like I will be doing some digging, i definatly like the gravel idea to let it drain easier. Thanks for all of the comments and suggestions. anyone want to help dig? Just kidding.

You probably need a drain system like this. I had this installed in 1993 with 4 catch boxes and the water is drained out to the street. Hal

I forgot to tell you my downspouts were piped into this drain pipe too. There's a lot of water coming off a house roof during a rain storm. They used a trencher for the piping. They set up a transit to get enough fall so the water would drain to the street. Only took about 4 hours and I helped. I bought and layed sod over the areas where the pipe was laid. Hal

You're right. Better to spend 10 grand and rip the property apart as opposed to a one hour fix that may work for many years.

Great advice.

Pay me now or pay me later.Some people don't seem to care about wet moldy basements and ruined lungs.
Lets talk flood damage and the cost of carpets,drywall and anything set upon the floor etc.
Makes that lazy cheap fix look pretty good.

Before spending thousands of dollars on a drainage system and tearing up your yard you may try spending a couple of hundred dollars and put a sump pump in your basement. Geologists and well drillers discuss the Cone of depression, it is under the drawdown curve. If you can get the ground water level below the level of your basement floor it will stay dry. I have installed drainage systems, pipes, gravel and fabric ect only to have them quickly sediment in with fine dirt and roots. The sump pump runs for pennies a day.