very wet basement

[MasterPlumbersKeymaster]

About a year ago I had to have the main sewer line from my basement to the street replaced. Shortly after that I began to have water problems in the basement, that I had never had before. Whenever there is much rain, water enters the basement, mostly between the floor and the walls. This is a big problem. What can I do?

[Ken ZoellerParticipant]

You could do a list of things.
1. Call the company back that did the drain work and get them to fix it. They caused it because you did not have the problem before they did their work.
2. If they do not want to do the work, make sure the dirt that was replaced from the replaced drain line is sloping away from your house so that the water is not trapped up against the wall. You may want to add a piece of 10 mil plastic below grade to divert the water away from the house. This plastic sheets needs to be 8 to 10” below the ground with the end near the house folded up to grade at the house and the far away end needs to be down grade so that water that get to it has some place to drain away, a good distance from the basement wall —-10’+.
3. If this does not stop the water from finding its way to the wall foundation interface, you may need to dig up all the dirt that was removed down to the pipe that was replaced and under as well. Then clean the wall and seal it with a heavy tar passed sealer. Replace the dirt after it dries and make sure the dirt slopes away like in 2 above. I have seen a piece of plastic sheet 10 mil thick placed in the tar based sealer as added help. This may be an option for the folks that replaced the drain line. The leak may be at the pipe going through the wall. If it is, it needs to be addressed as well.
4. If this does not work you may need to put a sump pit and pump system in go to http://www.sspma to see what I mean. SSPMA has a video on how to do this, if you want to try it your self.

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