Another major issue with basement foundations is an excessive presence of groundwater below a basement floor creating hydrostatic pressure that pushes the groundwater up causing water intrusion or even in extreme cases, excessive hydrostatic pressure below the basement floor can cause it to crack and buckle making the basement floor too uneven for finishing while creating new threats of water intrusion.
The best course of action when battling hydrostatic pressure below the basement floor is to have a traditional interior drain tile system installed anywhere along the perimeter of a foundation where it is experiencing water intrusion from the floor to collect the groundwater that pushes up and mitigate it into a sump pit to be pumped outside and away from the structure.
The process of installing a traditional drain tile is to jack hammer the basement floor approximately 12" inches away from the wall. We remove the concrete and trench down to the base of the footing. All of this excavated material is carried out of the home by hand in 5 gallon buckets and placed in a dumpster/dump trailer. When installing a traditional style drain, clean C gravel is laid as a base in the trench next to the footing, then a 4 inch, socked perforated pipe is placed next to the footing to direct the water into the sump pit. More C gravel is laid around and on top of the pipe so sediment cannot clog the perforations in the pipe. We then install Poly-drain against the wall approximately 6" from the top of the footing, then over the top of the footing and ending in the trench. This allows any water that may come down the wall due to cracks, etc., to travel behind the Poly-drain and find its way to the drain tile. If there is a concern of water from the walls, we can provide a bid for wall shield to be placed on the walls and tucked into the drain tile. The demo'd concrete hauled out during the installation will be replaced with a bag mixed concrete upon completion.
Interior drain tile paired with the installation of wall shield is considered by most to be the "end all fix all" when it comes to guaranteeing 100% protection from water intrusion into your basement. Wall Shield is a flexible waterproofing membrane used to cover foundation walls that show a threat of water intrusion and mitigate any water intrusion through the foundation walls into an interior drain tile system.
If you are thinking of finishing your basement, it is highly encouraged to consider taking preventative measures in waterproofing your basement with installing interior drain tile and wall shield around the perimeter of the areas being finished even if evidence of water intrusion is not present at the time. There is no way of determining if or when a foundation will experience water intrusion in it lifetime and is due to many driving factors (e.g. the rise and drop of the water tables in the area and is dependent on the amount of precipitation an area experiences from year to year or in other cases neglect in maintaining proper exterior water mitigation).
schedule a free evaluation with us today to determine the source of water intrusion into your basement and what you should do to prevent it!
Example of Interior Drain Tile
Example of Interior Drain Tile installed with Wall Shield