has anyone had the unfortunate problem of a leaking basement? this has got to be on my top 3 list of absolute worst things that could happen to a home owner. i've been having problems with the cold room in my home. i found out from neighbours that the previous owner added the room himself.... and what a disastrous job he did.

i had a crew come in and try to seal the thing from the outside. absolutely tore apart my landscaping but was hoping that this was the best course of action. as they dug in... i found out that an outer retaining wall wasn't completed at all!! the guy started one side and then just gave up. u can actually see it in one of the pics. other findings showed that nothing was properly sealed... and the surrounding weeping tile (where it was actually found and in place!) was installed above the footing... instead of below it!

needless to say... these things are stressful, expensive and a royal pita overall! if anyone has ever had to go through this... my sympathies to u! i also gotta say.. that if i see another drop of water coming in through that cold room... i'm throwing up a for sale sign and

 

OUCH - that's got to hurt; cha ching.

You really wonder why people tackle jobs that they have no clue how to do properly.

 

Yikes, I can't even imagine what a huge PITA that is for you. The best of luck to you getting everything back to normal.

 

Sorry to hear about your problems. I cannot believe the previous owner attempted to build the cold cellar, and didn't do it correctly.

Hopefully the crew you have right now can rectify the issue.

Good Luck!

 

Damn bro that sucks. The crew that you hired, are they going to fix this for you? By the way how old is the house?

 

I've got a similar issue. I get a leak when it's raining hard, but usually only after freeze-up (around Christmas) - the water seems to dissipate away from the foundation in summer.
I finished my basement years ago, so I can't tell whether it's coming in through a crack in the wall or floor, or between the slab and wall. Luckily it leaks into a storage room so it hasn't ruined the carpet. During a hard winter rain I can get a couple gallons in a 24 hour period.

I'm thinking I should hire a consultant to try and diagnose the problem rather than just pay someone to excavate/seal and hope we get it.
What approach did you take? Did your contractor provide any sort of guarantee that it's fixed?

Gotta do something - I can't order my pool table till I fix this.

 

In my last home, I did have two basement leaks one spring. Fortunately, the basement was unfinished and the repair was still under builder warranty. I recall there was a major mess when they fixed it outside. I heard from my old neighbors that there was another leak after we moved and this time it was under the deck which had to be torn apart to get into fix.

Sounds like your situation is a perfect job for Holmes on Homes.

 

Sorry to hear about that Giddyup. I haven't had that experience ever so can't offer personal advice. I do agree with GForce about Holmes. I've seen tons of those issues on his show.

 

yeah... it's all fixed now. they repaired the wall... sealed it with sealer (black tar looking stuff)... put a plastic membrane.. and installed new weeping tile. the house is about 45 years old. the rest of the house is fine... no problems... just this addition that the previous owner had put in.

the work itself is guaranteed for 20 years. but unless they get the true cause of the leak... obviously nothing is 100%. i would get at least 3 waterproofing guys to come in and diagnose the problem. the more reputable companies will have snake cameras, thermal imaging scanners, etc... to help find the problem. i found though... that a lot of companies would rather do a simple fix then get to the root of the problem.

the first 2 guys i had come over... wanted to fix the leak from the inside. i think they call it a french drain. it's basically them ripping your floor apart... putting some weeping tile down and a membrane on the wall. water still leaks into your place but u never see it. to me... this is one of the stupidest things i have heard of. seems more like a band-aid fix then a proper repair. the scary part is a lot of people get this done. i have no idea how the walls of the home hold up in the long run. i would think they would crumble and build mold.

my problem sounds similar to yours. i've had this leak for about a year now. worst was always at the end of winter as everything would melt. we had a pretty bad storm in toronto about 2-3 weeks ago.. and i ended up with about 3 buckets worth of water in the cold room. i finally said enough is enough and got to digging. hopefully it's fully repaired now. honestly, the worst part is the cost and the landscaping disaster. took 3 full days for them to fix everything.. which i think is amazing considering the amount of work performed.