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bpond
June 8th, 2006, 12:02 PM
I have a 10ish year old colonial in Coventry RI situated on a relatively high point in town. Never had water in ten years until last fall with the torrents that were unleashed at that time. I ended up lugging out 90+ full 12 gallon wet vacs. Finally determined that the water was coming in at the floor wall seam and the bulkhead stairs to floor seam. Making matters worse was that the front half of the basement was finished a few months prior. This means subfloor, carpeting and pad all had to be ripped up and lugged out. I also had to cut away the bottom 8" or so of the paneling as mold was developing and I needed to kill mold on the studs also.

Anyway. It has been fine until this week. This morning I checked and water is coming in at the same points. Luckily I never put up new baseboard and put down only throw rugs that I was able to move away. The amount is not huge but I am sure it will grow tomorrow if we get more rain.

I have read other threads where you mention the drain at the bottom of the stairs, makes sense. But what can be done to fix the issue of the floor/wall seam. It appears to be confined to one wall but who knows what will happen in another bad scenario. I assume that at the very least the studded and paneled wall on the side with the issue would need to come down?

P.s. the house has no sump system and I do not think there are French drains. I believe the perk testing before construction showed no problems but I know that has alot to do with exactly where the pipe goes.

THanks in advance for the advice.

Bob

craig@pioneer
June 8th, 2006, 06:51 PM
Bob:

The problem you have is called floor wall joint seepage. It is caused by an innundation of water on the outer side of the wall, not from below the floor.

We have several types of drainage systems that can be installed inside of the basement and can direct the water to a sump unit.

Finished basements should have full perimeter drain systems installed with battery powered backup pumps. Also, vapor barrier on the walls is highly recommended. Partial systems only office partial coverage.

We'd be happy to look at it for you. You can call our office or make an appointment on line.

craig@pioneerbasement

minigini
June 11th, 2006, 09:45 AM
I had a pump installed several months ago. It is a water pressure actuating type which requires the water to completely submerge the pump before turning on. By the time it turned on, water had already begun to seep into the walls adjacent to the pump. The pump turns on when the water is about 3 inches over the top. Can I simply lower the pump to prevent the seeping? It appears the pump is a bucket length deep with a space below it filled with crushed stones. Help!