Water

The joy of homeownership…I feel like some kind of idiot scientist…performing experiments to see what works, or doesn’t to keep water out or the basement. And my only testing method is waiting for the rains to come.

Our driveway, which was re-poured a couple of years before we bought the house, is evidently sloped ever so slightly towards the house. This must be a fairly recent development, as we never had water issues in the area of the basement until last year – that’s now where the majority of the problem is.

I learned this by standing out there during a downpour to see where the hell the water was coming from. The water ran off the driveway’s edge and formed a pool by the base of the chimney that quickly disappeared once the rain stopped. It was sneaky.

Another smaller issue was the runoff from the car shelter is now directed right into the bed between the driveway and the house at the upper end. I’ve drylocked the interior walls, so the water is less of an issue there, but I had to deal with that as well, as the water will pool there alarmingly just a couple feet from the house in heavy rain.

So anyway, onto the fix(es)…

I called 2 companies that do concrete leveling. But apparently they have all the business they can handle right now, as 2 calls with promised call backs and nothing else is as far as I’ve gotten. So until I find another reputable company, it’s up to me.

I figured that the water by the chimney, while a large volume, isn’t under any pressure. If I can stop the runoff at the edge, that low spot will fill to a point and then the water will either run off the other side or down the steep slope which begins just a few feet away.

So, my temporary fix…composite fiberglass edging, which is water and rot resistant. I bought one section (16 feet) and installed it so that it was flush with the edge of the concrete slab. For the seam between the two surfaces, I used a butyl rubber caulk intended for gutters and flashing. I put a nice thick bead along the whole thing, so it would expand outward forming a raised edge as it dried for a waterproof seal. I’ll have to keep an eye on it to see how long it lasts, but even if I have to replace the caulk once or twice a year, that’s definitely preferable to having water in the basement.

For the shelter, I bought a few sections of open channel gutter, and placed it so that the edge of the shelter falls directly into it when water runs off the lower lip. I angled it slightly so that the water will run off at the far end of the driveway. It looks better than I thought. I trimmed a couple of inches off the bottom edge of the tarp so that when the wind blows, it can move freely, but won’t get caught on the outer lip when it ‘flops’ back to vertical. I want to secure it to the shelter’s legs with plastic ties, but it hasn’t budged over the last couple of breezy days, so maybe I should leave well enough alone for now.

So far, so good…the rain we had Monday morning stayed where I wanted it to, and the surrounding ground was dry to the touch afterward – bone dry. I’ll have to see how these do in a heavy rain before I can declare a temporary victory.