How is a home with a basement built?
- Your basement starts as a hole in the ground, which wants to fill with water.
- Seams between concrete components – the footing, the wall and the floor – are never a perfect seal, and they separate further over time.
- Products applied on the outside of the basement walls to keep water out also break down over time.
- A 4” drain tile is typically required by code – which is good. However, it eventually becomes clogged, and there’s no practical way to unclog it.
- Backfilled soil around the house is never as dense as the virgin soil, creating a “path of least resistance” for water to accumulate around your foundation.
6 ways water can enter your basement
When your house was built, it started with a hole in the ground.
Once your exterior drain system inevitably clogs, or becomes submerged, water builds up around your foundation walls and hydrostatic pressure builds. This is called the clay bowl effect.
Hydrostatic pressure forces water into your basement through joints and small cracks
- Water enters from the sides, over the foundation footer
- Water enters from the bottom, under the foundation footer
- Water enters from the bottom through floor cracks
- Water enters from the sides through wall cracks and mortar joints
- Water bleeds in through the porous walls
- High humidity builds up in the basement
4 approaches to stopping water from entering your basement
- Negative Side Waterproofing Sealants
- Consists of waterproof paints and hydraulic cement applied to the inside basement wall.
- Limited effectiveness as hydrostatic pressure can push these coatings off the wall.
- Extending Downspouts
- Good practice to keep downspouts clear and draining water away from the foundation.
- May not handle the full water volume, often insufficient.
- Replacing the Exterior Drain System
- Involves excavating all around your foundation, disrupting your property.
- Expensive and may not prevent future failures.
- Exterior systems normally come with a limited one-year warranty.
- Interior Footing Drain
- Usually the best solution – addresses water issues at the source, reducing or eliminating hydrostatic pressure, which stops water from forcing its way through cracks and joints.
- Directs water away from the foundation and prevents soil saturation – essential for a comprehensive, long-term waterproofing solution
- Prevents water infiltration into the basement, mitigating issues like dampness and mold.
- Most footing drain systems include a sump well and sump pump to expel water that accumulates, especially during heavy rain weather events.
How does a footing drain system work?
Here’s the big picture:
- Inside your basement, small strips of concrete are removed and narrow trenches are dug around the perimeter, exposing your home’s footer.
- Pipes (or in our case, proprietary channels) are laid in the trenches, which are graded to drain all water, whether coming from above or below, into the lowest corner.
- There, a small sump well is created to collect the water.
- A sump pump is installed, which regularly expels the collected water away from your basement through a discreetly positioned drain pipe outside your home.
- The trenches and channels are covered with gravel and new concrete is poured over them so your basement looks as good as ever – only dry!
Footing drains are not all created equal
When installing footing drains, many companies use multipurpose plastic pipes, readily available at the big box stores. These generic solutions fall short when it comes to effectively draining water and remaining unclogged.
At ’58 Foundations & Waterproofing, we designed our own drainage channels to address the limitations of multipurpose pipes. There are a few other companies that also offer their own versions; however, what sets our channels apart is their unique ability to drain water rising from beneath the basement floor – something that no other custom drain channel does.
It’s also important to note that our competitors’ custom drain channels introduce a significant flaw. By design, they leave a quarter- to half-inch gap around the basement wall, which allows moisture, odors, radon gas, and insects to infiltrate your basement. These are called “open” systems and are an older technology that has been proven to be ineffective in promoting a healthy environment in your basement.
Channel ‘58 drain channels – engineered to be the best solution
With simple installation and purposeful engineering, our drain channels – Channel ’58 Essential and Channel ’58 Elite – expertly handle all basement water entry points without complications.
Comparing Footer Drain Options
“Open” solutions provided by competitors leave intentional quarter- to half-inch gaps. These gaps serve to facilitate drainage of incidental water leakage from your wall into the channel beneath the floor. However, these openings also allow radon gas, musty odors, dampness and insects up into your basement through the drainage system.
‘58 Foundations & Waterproofing Closed Solutions
Our closed system – so called because it doesn’t leave a gap on your concrete floor where it meets the concrete wall – prevents radon gas, musty odors, dampness and insects from entering your basement. We use a corrugated, capped footer shield – like flashing that goes over the footer – to protect and drain the below-ground part of your basement walls. The ½-inch gap, and all the trouble that comes with it, is eliminated.
Channel ’58 Essential drains nearly twice as much water as the other leading on-the-footer drain pipe.
Channel ’58 Elite drains three times more water than any other drainage channel on the market. This is the most protection you can get!
A Sump Pump System With Built-In Safeguards
There are two main reasons a basement with a waterproofing system can get flooded again.
- The system gets overwhelmed with the amount of water it needs to drain. This happens in those fast, heavy rainstorms.
- The sump pump fails. This happens due to mechanical failure, too much water volume for the pump to handle, and power outages.
Our systems are designed to maximum drainage capacity while guarding against failure due to power outage.
Our Workhorse OT – A Sump Pump You Can Depend On
For most applications, we recommend inclusion of our premium, dual-pump Workhorse OT system, with built-in battery backup. The Workhorse OT combines a primary pump, backup pump and battery backup for the ultimate protection.
- Both pumps feature a powerful ½-hp motor that drains more water (up to 2-times more than ¼-hp pumps)
- Remote Wi-Fi monitoring sends real-time alerts to your phone.
- Runs directly on AC power and on battery power when AC power fails.
- The battery automatically recharges when AC power is connected.
- Accommodates up to two (2) batteries for 100 hours of pumping
- Comes with an air-tight lid and plastic liner to protect the pumps
- Limited 3-year warranty
Three Levels of Protection
- Protection from power failure during a storm or circuit breaker failure.
Power outages usually come during storms – when it’s raining the hardest! With a battery-backup system in place, you can rest assured that your basement will remain dry. - Protects when your primary pump can’t keep up with the amount of water from fast, heavy rains.
These are the rains when water is rushing down your street or sidewalk, or when your catch basin is backing up because of the amount of water pouring into it. - Protects against failure of the primary pump for mechanical or other reasons.
Safeguards against primary pump failure due to mechanical issues, offering a reliable backup when mechanical devices, like sump pumps, face malfunctions.
Basement Wall Protection
We offer extra protection for your basement walls – especially those that are below ground. As part of our Channel ’58 waterproofing system, we can install our Footer Shield cove protector. Footer Shield drains water from the wall without leaving a gap for radon, odors and critters to enter through.
Footer Shield cove protector is installed at the bottom of the wall. Slipped behind is our ThermaSeal wall moisture barrier. Providing complete wall protection, ThermaSeal is a good option for damp or leaking walls.
Preparing for a Basement Waterproofing solution
Your Repair Plan Is Customized for Your Situation
Hopefully the information provided here gives you a better understanding of why basements leak or flood, and what may be going on with yours. Rest assured, however, that our experts carefully analyze and honestly assess your situation to recommend the very best solution for you, including any customization needed. With ‘58 Foundations & Waterproofing, you get the right solution, expertly installed using the best, most dependable equipment available – all at a fair price. We’ve been doing this for 65+ years, and our reputation depends on it.
Installing your solution – what you can expect
Should you decide to proceed with our proposed solution, installation is fast with minimal disruption to your home. Most installations take only two days, and your basement is fully usable upon completion of the work.
We look forward to your upcoming Virtual Consultation
You probably still have questions, and our basement waterproofing system specialist will be glad to answer them during your 15-minute Virtual Consultation. If you haven’t already, you will receive a text and email to schedule this online appointment. We look forward to discussing all your SnapEstimates information, including what we found in our inspection along with our repair plan and estimate. See you soon!