I have a home circa, 1950, my first, made too many mistakes when purchasing it, so please no preaching. All my problems are issues of a leaky basement, poor grading becasue my house is the low house on tract, no matter if it is a dry day, i have water in the basement. Can never get it dry. i have two holes in the basement, "barbell" in nature, they connect under the floor. Previous owner tried to diamond cut a trowl to sump pump....okay, when I bought the house, the inspection came back to cause of water in these holes to be tied to utility sink, fixed that, the holes kept filling up with water. Then found the outside tile drain actually comes into the house and empties into SUMP, crock too small. Thougth that was the cause. Nope. Have a huge silver maple behind the house, back wall is bowing, KNOW it is becasue I have roots slamming up against the house. worried if I truim the roots will tree fall (I live on the LAKE HIGH WINDS!) Can't find anyone who wantes to take that on. Then I started scraping the drylock, which was painted all over the house before I moved in to covere up, you got it, mold. As I'm doing this, there are the stepping cracks along the foundation. I put up gutters. But the water is not coming in there, it is coming in under my furnace, which was raised onto a concrete slab. So, my question, how do I tackle floor water repair. I am planning on regrading the house, french drainage, fixing the outdoor stuff, with the exception of the tree, because I just don;t know. If my water is from the floor seeping in, how do you fix that? Raise the house and redo the foundation? Also, tons of humidity in this house, what size dehumidifier, and what brand recommendation? Finally, anyone know of a reall good foundation contractor in Central NY who can get this job done right and not sell me a bunch of bull? Thanks,

Can't help you with all your issues, but I would recommend talking to a tree expert. It is likely you can root-prune the tree without risking its life. It's a matter of which season you do it in, feeding the tree for several weeks before pruning, and pruning a similar anount from the canopy of the tree.

I suspect that living on a lake, unless you're up on a bluff, there is a high water table in your area, perhaps even higher than your basement floor. To have any hope of dealing with it, if that's the cae, I suspect you'll have to excavate around the entire foundation, install a well-designed drainage system at footing level, waterproof (not dampproof) the walls using a membrane running down over the footing tops, and backfill with gravel all around.

I'm hoping our friend LicensedWaterproofer also responds to your query, because he's in the business and consistently makes sense.

weekend at Bernie`s

imo, my couple of pennies in regards to tree/roots/falling over...i doubt that IF you hand dug along bowing wall to a) waterproof the crack(s)--the wall b) remove the Soil and roots that are against it,there`d be a prob-- depending on depth to footing, one would need to dig trench 18-24" or so. NO, i`m no 'tree expert' lol but of all the homes we`ve done with all kinds of trees etc we`ve never seen...then heard of....Any problem w/tree taking a dive BUT, like ya say, yer situation could be a tad different.

Its only way to help relieve/lessen outside pressure, to help....save the wall from having to be rebuilt, ya know.

The Drylok will not stop/prevent water-moisture from entering, as you noticed and so it`ll not stop/prevent mold/efflorescence etc etc. BUT....but....IF....you have high humidity then, that ALONE....could.....be part cause of mold/damp wall(s)/floor, need to get a handle on that.

Yup, ya have several things goin` on and it isn`t fun trying to solve em all but hang in there.

Ok.....IF....you have water coming....UP from underneath the furnace/raised slab then it MIGHT be there is an opening under that slab OR, the thickness of basement floor in that area and possibly other areas is on the....thin side, like maybe 1 or 2" thick/thin.

Another problem COULD be high water table and, you`ll need a sump or 2+ to....control the CONSTANT high water level under the floor.

alot of the mold COULD be caused from last couple things....the high humidity AND water that is constantly under the floor, up to under-side of floor. IF...you have a storm trap/cleanout then ya may want to find a good honest plumber `n have them snake it. There are quite a few homes that have a blockage Under the bsmt floor which can be freed by running a snake.

Unfortunately, you probably best off going through a....'Process of Elimination'. Snake before having any sump(s) put in....if there is a blockage and its freed you WILL see the difference right away. If NOT then, thats one thing that isn`t the problem and yer not out a chunk of money, yet.

You know whats up with the bowing/cracked wall(s) so, ya know what would be BEST there.

Don`t forget that HIGH Humidity, get that under control asap....not good.

Snake,waterproof-Outside where it`s NEEDED, control the humidity and...if it were me...then see where yer at.

If you still, ugh.....have problem under furnace-floor then its probably time for a sump(s)....but check to see if there is a crack/hole etc under the furnace-slab....radon gas can also enter Through any Opening(s) in a bsmt floor, just like through cracks in basement wall.

Wish i knew contractor there, should be....one, lol i know there are countless-Inside Co`s, so careful there.

okay, well thank you both for the assurance of what I thought was going on and how to handle it. I thought I would have to dig at least foru feet, but if two feet can do it, I can do that one, now if only the boyfriend was a handy guy!

Water table is high, but not becasue of the lake, I live across the street up on a higer level than the lake, but it is becasue my land is about 18 inches lower than the other houses in the tract.

If I just need to trim up roots on this tree, i am psyched.

Now the next question - dehumidifier....my house is only 890 square feet, what size shuld i get, and a recommendation for what brnad...

ANd did I mention that they drylocked everything...not just the basement....yeah, you get it....ceilings, walls....I am sure there is more mold than I know of...i'm about to rip the whole house down.