Badly Leaking Basement

TJGer

We have a basement which is leaking very badly. It was tanked using bituthene on the outside but obviously not very well. Excavating on the outside is not an option. Is there any way possible to attempt to seal/retank the basement from the inside. Not all walls are damp with one being particularly bad. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Johnniep

What grade of Bituthene (4000, 8000......)
Can you give us a few more details on the basement wall construction? Concrete thickness, linings etc?
Where exactly is the wall leaking? Is it at the kickers/day joints? A pic would be great!

muffler

In fairness its one of those situations that a visual inspection is necessary to properly advise. I suppose very basement with problems needs an inspection but what I would suggest to the OP is to get an engineer/technician locally to look at this for you.

Remedial works will of course be required but the nature and extent can only be determined on site.

Slig

If its blockwork then sealing the area that is leaking from the inside will only force the water to another location. Unfortunately I think that digging down will probably be the best option.
Was there drinage pipes laid around the basement? Its a standard detail I always put in which means that if there is a leak or a buildup of ground water you can create a sump, connect the pipes and fit a submersible pump, even if its just an interim measure.

con1982

You could do with getting an engineer to inspect. I know professional fees can seem quite high for inspections but it is better to get the problem fix right the first time.

Conor

unclebill98

My basement was leaky for a good few months. Is the water coming in from the top? Have you got the heating turned on cause alot of the water could be condensation. From reading your post its not clear if its in the middle of being built or if your in a finished house. I am not as qualified as most on the forum but I paniced when I seen the amount of water coming in to my basment. Its stopped now and we've had alot of rain.

Ask your engineer to have a look. Digging up the front is not easy but may solve your problem, but then again its more than likely going to ruin any tanking you've done so you may never find the problem at all. was the tanking protected as you back filled? Can you contact the company that installed the tanking, cause they should be the 1st to inspect it.

TJGer

Hi All, thanks for the replies. The house is completed and is a self build. Father in Law (FiL) built the house and the basement was his idea due to the nature of the site. No engineer was consulted and this along with the basement construction was totally against my wishes....I was over ruled!! I now have to deal with the problems tho. The basement is built with blocks on the flat. I did the bituthene myself as I had done it before through work. The main leak is near the top of a wall below where FiL drilled through the wall, and my bituthene, to put in a pipe for a washing machine. Up to this point the wall was bone dry...I went ballistic. Herself did'nt talk to me for a week.....Daddy can do no wrong!!! Land drain was put the whole way round the slab and the sides were protected with polystyrene before being back filled. It should have been back filled with clean stone but again I was over ruled..."waste of money"!! There also seems to be some water entering at the bottom of the walls although very little. Also could this weaken the walls? Anyway any advice is greatly appreciated and it was nice to have a bit of a rant!!! Thanks

unclebill98

Wow, well I found that with a basement you can not cut corners. At least with a something above the ground you can get at it if problems happen. Sounds like the hole in the tanking is the cause.

Someone will correct me, but I was told for basements your much better off using shuttered walls and not blocks.

Was the tanking over lapped on the top of the basement walls at any point?

I personnaly made sure I was there for the tanking/protection and back fill. I doubled the protection to avoid having to mend a problem later.

Maybe dig up where he drilled and re seal it. I've got strips of Tanking in a4 size to patch up holes caused by damage, rather than calling the company out for every little hole here and there.

Slig

TJGer wrote: »

Hi All, thanks for the replies. The house is completed and is a self build. Father in Law (FiL) built the house and the basement was his idea due to the nature of the site. No engineer was consulted and this along with the basement construction was totally against my wishes....I was over ruled!! I now have to deal with the problems tho. The basement is built with blocks on the flat. I did the bituthene myself as I had done it before through work. The main leak is near the top of a wall below where FiL drilled through the wall, and my bituthene, to put in a pipe for a washing machine. Up to this point the wall was bone dry...I went ballistic. Herself did'nt talk to me for a week.....Daddy can do no wrong!!! Land drain was put the whole way round the slab and the sides were protected with polystyrene before being back filled. It should have been back filled with clean stone but again I was over ruled..."waste of money"!! There also seems to be some water entering at the bottom of the walls although very little. Also could this weaken the walls? Anyway any advice is greatly appreciated and it was nice to have a bit of a rant!!! Thanks

Wow that clean stone backfil waste of money could really have saved you a lot of effort:D. Have to say you had the right approach to the basement tanking and the way it was carried out, unfortunately with basements all it takes is a small hole in the membrane for a leak. I think youll have to bite the bullet and dig down to the outlet pipe and seal it.