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Thread: Wet Basement - Dehumidifiers?

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  1. #1
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    West Central Michigan
    Posts
    796

    Re: Wet Basement - Dehumidifiers?

    Tim

    What's your soil like? Last time I was down that way, I remember a lot of clay and rock.

    Steve

  2. #2
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    QC, Canada
    Posts
    198

    Re: Wet Basement - Dehumidifiers?

    Same problem in our house. It's over a hundred years old with a stone foundation. We have a veritable river running down there as long as the temps are above freezing.

    I don't like the idea of sealing from the inside. This means that water is allowed to infiltrate the foundation walls right up to the interior surface. I'm thinking that the water would then want to flow vertically through the wall, weakening it further. Also, freezing and thawing would be a problem.

    The ultimate for our situation (besides having gutters in good condition) would be to dig around the walls right down to the foundation. Seal the exterior with something (there's quite an array of products to choose from); backfill with a little gravel; lay down drain tile; landscape cloth on top; more gravel; and finally backfill. There are several additions (front porch, rear deck, and lean-to) that would have to removed to accomplish this. I don't have the resources (read cash) for this type of fix right now.

    My plan, as I've seen down in many farm houses in the area, is to control the water that does get in. I'll be chipping a small trench in the floor around the foundation walls eventually leading to the sump pit. Having a thinner, deeper channel of water would seem to evaporate less readily than having it spread out in a thin layer across the whole floor.

  3. #3
    Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Southwest PA
    Posts
    50

    Re: Wet Basement - Dehumidifiers?

    I've seen basement "gutters" used with sumps and sump pumps to good effect. There are even commercial moldings that can be used. For now for us doing something like that - along with a strong dehumidifier may be all that's practical. I'd look into renting some type of diamond/wet power saw to cut the groove. Has to be something out there well suited for this type of cut.

    Of course I'm not even sure if some of the water isn't coming up straight through the floor via various cracks - and not just from the walls or wall/floor joint.

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