Waterproofing a basement? (Hauppauge, Bellmore, Nassau: to rent, how much, houses)

[mambwe]

How much would it cost to waterproof a basement in a ranch style house? I hear it is quite common in these basements and my house also seems to have some water damage. I was just curious on what the expense would be to have it sealed and waterproofed.

[Modification Specialist]

My wife and I finished our basement last spring. Have a three bedroom ranch, built in 1962.

We had two cracks on the rear basement wall, and one long crack on the floor. Everywhere I looked, contractor prices were over a $1000 just to seal the basement from the interior.

I brought a book and decided to do it myself, and attacked our leaks from the inside as well as the outside.

Went to Home depot and brought some epoxy-cement. Used a neighbor's electric jack-hammer.

Also rented a Black-hoe and dug out a trench on the exterior rear wall and placed tar and tar-paper.

Took one weekend. Total cost $100 in materials, $300 to rent backhoe.

Now seven months later, no leaks...............

[franaissance]

People in our neighborhood had great success with Corey's (waterproofing). Companies do not guarantee success and not all are capable. I'm sure the estimates are free. I think french drains are what they did...Basements don't flood but they have an area leak in 2500 sq. ft basement of 80 foot ranch.

[JimnSue]

I have a Colonial.....originally a cape so my bsmt is the size of a cape.....anyways....it was partially finished when we bought the house but had a horrible musty odor.......the walls were never sealed properly.....We tore down everything......then we purchased from Home Depot a waterproofing sealant called UGL......

This stuff smells REALLY bad........but you roll it on as if you were painting and it covers great....

I dont remember having any cracks/or atleast any major ones but I'm sure you can put some type of caulking/sealer in there prior to coating the bsmt walls.......I'm pretty sure we did more than one coat (we did whatever was recommended) but we haven't had any issues ever since....and we finished 3/4's of the bsmt with drywall, carpeting and all that good stuff and used it as a family/play room.......we still run a dehumidifier because it is a bsmt but there's no moisture on the walls where the drywall isnt......and no signs of any moisture on the drywall......

Its worth looking into.....I think the big 5 gal drums were around $100 or something like that....(dont quote me on it though)......but alot less than having a pro come in.......

Suzanne

[TheImportersWife]

We had 3 sump pumps that were constantly running b/c of our water problems (that doesn't include the times we had to get rid of the water that wasn't in the wells), but we were able eliminate them with something as simple as regrading our property and making sure the water from the gutters drained further away from the house.

[Kbinspections]

Addressing moisture penetration fron the inside of the basement is a very bad idea. The only way to address water penetration is from the outside of the foundation.

Or let the water in and pump it out with a french drain system.

Many of the water penetration issues have nothing to do with the foundation and everything to do with grade, placement of trees/shrubs and gutter systems.

[kicksave]

I agree with KB...fixing a leak from the inside is actually doing more harm than good. Check gutters and pitch of your soil next to house..water must drain away.

[mambwe]

I will definitely check all gutters and also change the pitch of the ground to change the direction of water flow. Aside from changing the grade of the surrounding area what else can I do?

Does anyone have any idea to have the outside waterproofed if it needed it?

[totallyfrazzled]

My last house (block cement-floored crawlspace foundation) had water intrustion (seepage) in the northeast corner of the crawlspace. I called Harbor Waterproofing (they're in Nassau, I think Bellmore? somewhere around there) to come over and do an estimate. Their two suggestions were (a) digging out the outside of the foundation and sealing it with Sodium Bentonite, and (b) doing that plus putting a French drain and pump on the inside. The cost differential between (a) and (b) was considerable, so I decided to just have them do the Sodium Bentonite and see if that solved the problem. If not, I'd then go to (b) although they said it would be cheaper if I had both done at once. However, the first option did solve the problem.

Of course that was combined with what others have suggested, most important being proper grading, and to get all raingutter runoff as far away from the foundation as possible. The normal 12" long splashblocks don't do nearly enough. You need to get it about 3 or 4 feet away from your foundation before it goes into the ground. You can find long downspout extensions at Lowe's, Home Depot, and online. What I did in my corner was to have my landscaper tie the downspout into an underground pipe that ran out 4 ft from the house and then into a small drywell. It cost about $250 to have that done.

That said... if a high water table is the root cause of the problem, none of the above will really solve it. If water is coming in from the foundation floor, you can regrade and divert downspouts until the cows come home and not stop that intrusion. We've seen a few houses in Hauppauge (which in many many areas has a high water table and underground springs) that have French drain/pump setups in the basement.

[mambwe]

Does anyone know of any reputable waterproofing companies that I can call?