OT. Leaky old basement=Mid-Atlantic Waterproofing, Md O...

I,ve got a rental next door built 1940 with a leaky basement. Had Mid-Atlantic Waterproofing come today and look at it.
They want to bust the concrete floor out around the walls and put 4 inch pipe around the inside wall and connect it to a pit and sump pumps. Also drill holes thru the block wall etc. There are 91 feet of inside wall.
Started with a price of $16,000 , then if I signed today reduced to $ 12,000 if signed today.
I left out a lot of details, what I want to know has anyone done business with this company and were they satisfy with there work.

Salesman said they could do the work in 2 days, I think $12,000 is over priced for 2 days work.
My son lives in this house and I know something needs to be done.

The company is Mid-Atlantic Waterproofing of Md., Columbia, Md 21046


I need advice, Thanks Robert in Md

I would have a foundation expert come and advise what he thinks. Is it leaking because the tile around the foundation is plugged or collasped - is replacing the tile and coating the outside wall and building a good run off away from the house an option? Basically , why is there a water problem? Just things I would consider. My folks had the Waterproof system like you describe done - never made sense to me to bring the water in just to pump it back out. Then there are the issues with the sump pump - what about during a storm the electrcity goes out - gotta have a generator or battery backup AND the pump will only show any problems when it is needed most! My dime store theory with my folks place was that after city water came through, there was not enough draw on the water table - (which is very high - the house is built in what the Indians used to call the Black Swamp near Lake Erie) and the whole neighborhood developed wet basement issues.

If you have a backhoe you can do the work for a fraction of that price. Just dig out around the basement and put in weeping tie and run the drain to the lowest part of the property for drainage. Back fill with about 2 ft of gravel and then dirt on top. If no low area then put in a sump and pump the excess water into the sewer line.

Leonard

When I built my house in 84, we put perforated plastic pipe down on top of the footing. The type with holes in the top half of the pipe and a solid bottom. Then covered that with several feet of big gravel, and finally put tar paper down over the gravel to keep the dirt out somewhat.

Never had leak one.

If you can back hoe around the house, or even most of it, and run the drain out to the lowest area.

Like others have said, way less money.

But you have to have the time and ability to do some of the work.

I would think digging around the outside would be better.

Also while you are diggin, scrap the basement wall good ont he outside and tar the heck out of it with basement sealer.

Sump pumps fail ( had it happen to me this spring) And the electricity can go off.

Gene

My mothers basement leaked really bad in the late 1960's and at times got a couple of feet of water in it. My dad painted the walls with a paint I believe was called Stay Dry. From them until about 1990 the basement stayed dry and developed a small leak. My dad had someone come in and just saw a 24" square hole in the concrete floor and put a pit in with a sump pump and just vented the pipe through the wall at ground level. Now the basement leaks as bad as it did in the 1960's however the sump pump is able to remove all of the water. After a hard rain there is no more water in her basement than on her front sidewalk. Of course this wouldn't be any good for anyone with a finished basement but all she has down there is the furnace, water heater and washing machine which is elevated 2" to keep out of the water.

It's a scam.
I've bought and sold a few houses in my life and was always glad to find one with a dank basement as it was a price buster when it came to buying.
Put good gutters and downspouts on the house to divert the water away from the foundation. Then buy a few yards of black dirt and berm up around the foundation so the water slopes well away.
Better to prevent the water from coming in than to pump it out afterwards.
Yes, yes there are some properties that are built in a wet area that those guys Can help control wet bsements.
But I have seen enough of their jobs where 1500 bucks worth of gutters and dirt would have done a better job so I think they are borderline dishonest.

I solved a leaky wall where water was seeping through a concrete block wall. Was "waterproofed" when built, but still leaked. This was under the north side, eaves, so probably plenty of water. Anyway, I dug a trench tapering downward away from the wall, as well as tapering away from the building. Lined the trench with a heavy plasting sheeting liner, and installed perfererated drain tube in bottom of trench - just above the plastic sheeting. Back filled trench with sand and gravel, topped with layer of sod. Seems to have solved our problem.

If it is a block wall then you can fix it for a lot less money. Maybe a few hundred dollars and some elbow grease. I have fixed three houses that had 1930-1940 build dates. They many times did not put much of a drain around the basements or if they did they back filled with dirt not gravel. This the water does not move down to the pipe as easy as it would in gravel. Putting more hydraulic pressure on the wall.

If it is a block basement. You need to get the masonry sealer/paint called "Stay Dry". Then before using it I have a long mason drill bit,3/4 x 18 inches. I go right at a seam in the blocks. I drill a hole as low as I can against the floor and out through the out side of the blocks. Most of the houses have the footer poured and then the blocks laid on that footer. Then the floor is poured. So the blocks are lower than the floor. So you can drill at a slit down angle. I usually rilled holes every 2 blocks. I then fill the inside holes with mortar. After that drys 24 hours I then wet the inside walls and paint the "Stay Dry" on the inside.

What you have done is given the water an easier path to follow. The Stay Dry sealer will make the inside more water proof. So the water that gets in to the wall can run down an out the hole on the outside of the block wall.

Also landscape so the surface water runs away. Then make sure you have eve troughs and down spouts that get the water away from the wall.

I looked on Google for Stay Dry and did not find it. It was a masonry powder that you mixed with water. It was pure white. Looked like thick white wash when you put it on.

$12,000 / 91 foot = $131 per linear foot. That sounds high. I'd get some other estimates. Do they have to carry the debris out in buckets climbing up stairs and then carry the gravel fill and new cement back down stairs in buckets? Even if they do, $12,000 still sounds high for two days work for 4 to 6 workers.

I've never worked with that company but I have seen the big discount if you buy something today scam. I got some quotes for rain guttters for a house. One salesman quoted a price three times what it was worth and then offered a "BIG" discount to only twice what it was worth if I bought that day. That salesman advertized on television.

A reputable contractor should leave a quote that is good for several weeks or a month. If a reputable contractor gets other job orders while you are thinking about it, then your completion date may move out further, but the quoted price should remain good.

As others have said, rain gutters or french drains and good landscaping can move a lot of water away from a building, especially if there is enough slope or a nearby storm drain so the water cannot return to the building.

An inside tile line is a good medium cost solution that works when the ground water table is up to the basement floor. I had a house where that had been retrofit in by the first owner, it still worked well 20 years later. Again the sump pump must move the water far enough away that it cannt return to the basement. It's usually illegal to discharge a sump pump into a sanitary sewer, but most battery/municipal water back-up pumps just don't have enough lift and capacity to avoid doing that during a power failure.

An outside tile line is the best sloution for a new home, but I would be somewhat concerned about completely digging all the ground away from the outside of an older foundation. If a basement wall bows or gets pushed in when back filling, it will be expensive to fix. I'd try gutters and re-landscaping first, and then the inside tile line second.

Good luck.

Try B-Dry, I have heard good things about them. All of these type companies will have complaints. I can't remember who we used, on my grandfather's house, but the gist of what you are saying is what we had done. Before you try any company, make sure that your gutters are good, downspouts point away, at proper slope, and that the landscaping around the foundation drains outward, at least 6" in the first 10 feet. I have had to pull out many an overgrown shrub, that was masking a settling problem, next to the foundation.

Make sure all your gutters are clean and the downspouts are carrying the water away from the foundation. Call several plumbers and get prices having a pit dug and a new sump installed along with a new Zoeller sump pump. Make sure all the water from the sump is drained away from the house. I paid $2000.00 last Fall for a new pump and sump. It took 3 men about 4 hours. Hal

The gutters and outside landscaping was tryed years ago. Outside wall treatment is not practical with the additions that have been added and several large trees. The previous owner tryed the inside wall coatings, it looks like several times .
My concern is if they remove the concrete floor around the inside to install the pipe etc , will the water just push the floor up. I have drilled the floor and my 10 inch bit didn't go thru.

I have been told that when the house was built the first basement floor had problems and they poured another floor on top of it.

Sounds like a ripoff to me,to keep a basement dry you have to ID the source of the water and turn it in another direction

Robert,
We had this done by a company in NY.
Block foundation on slab. Old house.
Water seeped on south side of house and crept across entire basement floor to sumps on North side of house. New gutters, grading did not help at all. It was ground water. the more it rained the worse it got. Read story below
Do not recall name of company but they came and jack hammer up floor, was about 4-6" thick. Made 12" deep trench below floor. Filled with crushed stone. Laid perforated 4" pipe. covered with gravel and cemented over. Left on sump in lowest corner with was the NE. Cost me $4500 in 1998.


Story:
Got tired of wet basement. Would get really bad after heavy rains and big problem when power went out which it often did and I wasn't home to fire up a generator. One day I got ------ and drilled a 3/8" hole in southeast corner of basement floor. LOL. water spouted out like a garden hose about 6" high. I jammed a hose in it and run it to sump. Floor still wet, but noticably less water flow across floor.
Went outside and dug hole right upside the foundation at that spot. Water level was 1 1/2 blocks high right outside house! Threw a submersible pump in and it ran 24/7 for days.
Told a old timer friend about my problem looking for advice. He took me to historical society and showed me a aerial picture of our town when it was just swamp and dunes. LOL. there was and still is a stream (albeit now underground) that runs right thru where that house sits.

That house pumped sooo much water, like some others in that neighborhood, I made a irrigation system for my lawn from it. It never stopped pumping water even in the dry season. Might only go off once or twice a day. When we had flooding rains, it would go off every 10 minutes.

Pete

If they actually did it in two days with all the permits and insurance I'd say the price is inline. Around here that is a common fix for basements that you can't dig up to install perimeter drain tile.

They come with a concrete saw and cut the slab back which takes the better part of a day and jack hammer out the chunks so it slopes to a sump pit.

Ask for references from the salesman, ask for a copy of their insurance certificate etc. Don't be shy.

Lots of people in Michigan use B-Dry or Bee-Dry, not sure of the actual spelling.

In my old farm house, we build a little dam all the way around the outside of the basement 3 inches in from the wall, maybe just 2 inches high. Ran it over to the sump pump that I installed. Worked great.

Originally the house was the only one on the mile. Dirt floor, no pump. It had a 4 inch clay tile in the basement corner closest to the road/ditch. Water would drain out. Well they eventually widened the road, and buried the tile. When it rained it would come rushing in the basement. Took a little while and a lot of digging with the tile spade to figure out everything that had been done in the past.

The septic was a tank that was then tiled to the creek. Doubt it would pass code today!!

Good luck,
Rick

Just had exactly the same thing done this week. About 110 feet of inside wall. We already had a sump pump and pit. Had a local masonary contrator do the work. Three guys did it in one day. About $2500.