so last week i finished up the exterior waterproofing job and backfilled with round stone and topped off with soil. i've been waiting for a significant rainfall to see how effective it would be and i got it last night. in NJ we had a nasty storm move in that dumped quite a bit of rain overnight. i went to the basement this morning and for the most part it was dry with the exception of half of one side where the floor meets the wall some water got in. it wasn't standing water it was damp like some seeped in. now i can't for the life of me understand how any water got in as i tarred the heck out of the wall and footings. is it possible water is sneaking in underneath the slab? i know it's hard to say just wondering. i put some pictures up before the waterproofing job. you can see the area i'm referring to in the picture labeled 'Side of bilco door extension facing outside', bottom leftmost picture. thanks.
say again, one must-DEFINE-all openings, how any/all water is entering. water can enter THROUGH a wall,from openings ABOVE the bsmt wall and/or a blockage under the floor. 'Most'...not all HO`s problems/openings are Outside.
you don`t have to wait for a rain, you can run the hose at ground level to see if YOUR waterproofing job was done correctly and was all-that-was-needed.
did you say you found a crack(s) or other openings on outside of wall,any loose parging?did you dig it all-the-way-down? did you dig all 3 sides and a lil onto-back bsmt wall? did you run the hose on the door, all over the door?
it COULD be that there is x-amount of water still left inside hollow blocks, it happens.
water can get trapped-up inside some blocks so, even after one waterproofs there may be some water in blocks that simply needs to bet let-out/drill hole(s).
highly-doubt water is getting under footings and then, somehow enters lower courses of block wall. If there was some sort of problem under footing you`d see water/dampness along most of that wall and possibly other walls, not in one isolated area. Put it this way, in 30 YEARS we`ve NEVER...ever seen this, not once. And we`ve seen some pretty crappy footings/walls built-poured.
you 'may' still have some sort of opening(s) around door or between grade & door and, through those openings is how a small amount of water entered, got into hollow blocks, fell through lower courses of blocks and caused some dampness/wetness....it`s POSSIBLE is all i`m saying. Can`t exactly zero-in on pics to help as much as we`d like, alot different looking at some pics versus being on-site!
thanks for the response. i didn't cement any cracks as there was nothing visible enough to detect so i just heavily tarred over everything. i don't believe its left over water still in the blocks as it's been dry over a week and nothing in the vicinity then this rain comes and it shows up. somehow water is getting in. either my protective barrier i built has some flaw or as you said water is somehow getting in another way and appearing at the place where the floor meets the wall. i'll take a picture later so you can see. thanks.
highly-doubt water is getting under footings and then, somehow enters lower courses of block wall.
there's no indication the water is coming from the block wall part. before the waterproofing there was a section where a couple of the lowest blocks were leaking water and it was dripping down to the floor. in this case the wetness is literally right in between where the block wall meets the floor.
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did you say you found a crack(s) or other openings on outside of wall,any loose parging?
i didn't find any cracks to patch so i tarred over everything.
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did you dig it all-the-way-down? did you dig all 3 sides and a lil onto-back bsmt wall?
yes i dug all the way down to the end of the footings. i didn't dig all 3 sides just the 2 sides that were leaking.
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did you run the hose on the door, all over the door?
i can try but i don't know how the water would get from above grade to this area since it doesn't appear to be coming from the block walls but literally seeping up through the basement floor.
many HO`s see water where wall and floor meet, doesn`t mean there is a problem under floor or with footing etc.
most see same thing, water enter onto floor at the cold joint/bttom of wall `n floor, thing is, most of their problems as to why/where water FIRST entering is on the outside. i know it may sound a lil strange to 'some'....but this is what i`ve seen for 3 decades. some just can`t understand water can first-enter from outside, get into the hollow blocks, stays inside the blocks as it falls through lower blocks until its in the last course/row, first course off the floor. This is exactly how many get bs`d by inside salespeople.
Homeowner in Novi MI just had THIS EXACT thing happen....got talked into an interior system on 3 walls, STILL LEAKS!!! Over `n over `n over `n over, year after year, decade after decade this CRAP continues.
She ONLY has 1 area of 1 wall where water enters so, THAT is where her problem is, its only area that needs to be done, outside.
Criminal salespeople/owners out here, telling ya`s.
Rikky, take yout TIME, you have to diagnose where the water is FIRST entering, i don`t mean where people see it first-enter-onto the floor, NO. Wish we could help ya better.
thanks waterproofer. i took some pictures of the area showing the 'seepage'. maybe this will give you more insight. note the seepage is occurring on both sides yet i only waterproofed the left side.
