Cellar Seepage
Q: I have leakage in my cellar where the concrete-block walls meet the cellar floor. Occasionally, water will seep through the cellar floor near the block walls. I've received several quotes on waterproofing, and they all use clay or bentonite injected into the ground around the exterior of the house. Some of these companies will guarantee the work they do. Is this a good procedure to follow? I hope to avoid excavating outside the foundation.
A: I wouldn't recommend soil injection with a "waterproofing" material as a means of coating the foundation walls to control a water-seepage condition. To the best of my knowledge, it rarely works over the long term.
Unless the foundation is exposed, you wouldn't know if there's anything in the ground preventing full coverage of the wall. For instance, there may be wood debris that was buried by the builder that's now covering a portion of the wall. This debris would keep the waterproofing material from reaching the exterior foundation surface. Over the years, the wood will rot, exposing a part of the foundation wall through which water can flow. Also, if water is seeping into the house through the floor, waterproofing the walls will not correct the condition.
Since you don't want to resolve this problem by excavating on the outside, adjacent to the foundation, you can do it from within your cellar -- provided the floor slab isn't integral with the foundation footings. It will involve cutting 1-foot-deep openings within the floor slab adjacent to the problem walls, puncturing holes in the bottom blocks, installing 4-inch-diameter perforated drainpipes and gravel, then pouring concrete to match the existing floor.
The drainpipe can discharge into the sump pit and be pumped out or, if the topography around the house is sloped, the drainpipe can be pitched and run under the foundation to a low point on the exterior, which provides a free-flowing outlet.
Source: Better Home and Gardens
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