Saturday, August 9, 2008

Landscaping and Waterproofing

While landscaping can help with waterproofing your wet basement several steps need to done to insure water is running away from the foundation and not into the basement. This house had the entire yard landscaped with rocks, plants, mulch and a multi-tiered rock wall.

Above the basement wall is a board called the sill plate. The sill plate is a horizontal wooden board attached to the concrete basement wall and supporting the above ground walls. This board should be at least 6"-8" above the finished grade.

This photo shows new landscaping that's been graded as high as the sill plate. Although you can't see it, the bottom of the sill plate is even with the bottom of the rock siding. The area in the center of the photo also has a small slope towards the home and rock wall.

During a rain storm, water would build up in the center area and enter the house between the sill plate and basement wall. While the house had a drain tile system none of this water was captured and ended up on the floor creating a very wet basement.


Some of the signs that the water is coming in from above ground include stains on the wall as in the case of this window. In this case heavy rains would spill over the window frame into the basement area. Once again a drain tile system would not work with this wet basement.

http://www.tcwaterproof.com/ http://www.greatlakeswaterproofing.com/

7 comments:

Adolph Paul said...

This blog is really very informative. I like to see some posts on basement waterproofing.

Garden Tool User said...

Great blog post! I love learning about this online as gardening/landscaping are not only hobbies of mine but I actually do a little bit of work like that during the summer months as a second job. I appreciate your content in your blog and wish that you would keep up the good work :)

Denver CO said...

Thanks for the info! I will be sure to make a not of it in my work.

Work in
Colorado Landscaping

Unknown said...

I have been looking for help with nj waterproofing. If you can suggest a contractor please let me know. thanks.

Alvano Richie said...

Nice sharing.

Unknown said...

Great information. I have a very leaky basement that looks like a waterfall every time it rains, and i live in nj so thats a lot. I called alleva basement waterproofing nj and they invest in a sub mercible pump. Some people in NJ can never get rid of the water and simply have a three foot home dug in their foundation and the pump sits in this hole. When water fills the hole it immediately begins pumping the water out a hose to a place you decide.

Anna Schafer said...

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