Water and basement

[Anonymous]

In my old farmhouse, I get water all along the wall of the foundation. The foundation walls are 3.5ft thick and made of field stone. The basement floor is cement. In one section of the floor, someone poured a rectangular slab an additional 2in on top of the cement floor. Two sides of the slab sit about 3in from two of the foundation walls forming an open channel that water sits in and flows toward the sump pump. The top of this slab stays nice and dry while the rest of the floor gets wet depending on the weather.

I’m wondering if I should pour this type of slab over the whole floor to form an open channel around the full perimeter of the room for the water to stay in/flow through to the sump pump. I’ve got enough ceiling room to raise the floor about 2in to match the existing slab but how will this affect the foundation walls?? Will the seeping water eventually rot the foundation? If I break up the floor against the walls and put in drain tile, isn’t it serving the same purpose as raising the floor to channel the water to the sump?

[SylvanLMPParticipant]

I would look for the lowest point where the water shows up and install a sump pump
Another school of thought is to find the highest point the water comes from and install a sump pump (DEEP) trying to catch all the water before it can flow under the slab

Or dig outside of the foundation and install drains to catch the water prior to it even getting close to the foundation walls by looking at the pitch of the land.

Or call a water proofing expert who knows the area and the water tables and they can write up some specifications for a local drainage guy to install.

Decisions, decisions is what makes plumbing interesting huh?

[Author]

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