Basement Leak

[boblink]

Hi, we moved into a 40+ year old house a few years ago and had no water problems until a couple of weeks ago when Atlanta had lots of rain and severe flood in some areas. We had a roof leak, which has since been taken care of and also noticed water in the basement (fyi, we have a finished basement area, a utility /tool room and a crawl space...the water was in the utility/tool room where we also have the HVAC units and water pump).
The water was scattered in several areas of the utility/tool room, it was not deep, may be 1/4" at the deepest portion (where the concrete floor sloped down) and we were able to clean up the area with brooms and mops.
We had a rain again yesterday, no where as much as the major storm of a few weeks ago but about 2" over 24 hours and found water in the utility/tool room again and not in exactly the same places.
So my questions are, first what do we need to get the water out of the basement since we found that mopping is only a temporary solution.
I did a little research and found sump pump but we do not have a hole and or an outlet for the water to be pumped into. Wet/dry vacs might work but I am looking for something a little sturdier.
The second questions is I assume that we need to (better) waterproof the house and probably build a French Drain around the perimeter where the water appears to be coming in from. Are we going down the right path?
Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you

[JacquesBouchard]

Originally Posted by boblink

Hi, we moved into a 40+ year old house a few years ago and had no water problems until a couple of weeks ago when Atlanta had lots of rain and severe flood in some areas. We had a roof leak, which has since been taken care of and also noticed water in the basement (fyi, we have a finished basement area, a utility /tool room and a crawl space...the water was in the utility/tool room where we also have the HVAC units and water pump).
The water was scattered in several areas of the utility/tool room, it was not deep, may be 1/4" at the deepest portion (where the concrete floor sloped down) and we were able to clean up the area with brooms and mops.
We had a rain again yesterday, no where as much as the major storm of a few weeks ago but about 2" over 24 hours and found water in the utility/tool room again and not in exactly the same places.
So my questions are, first what do we need to get the water out of the basement since we found that mopping is only a temporary solution.
I did a little research and found sump pump but we do not have a hole and or an outlet for the water to be pumped into. Wet/dry vacs might work but I am looking for something a little sturdier.
The second questions is I assume that we need to (better) waterproof the house and probably build a French Drain around the perimeter where the water appears to be coming in from. Are we going down the right path?
Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you

Hey Bob,

It's fortunate that your finished are didn't leak- finished basements can easily be ruined by basement water, especially if you have drywall and organic carpeting.

You're going to want to continue to keep water away from your finished basement with a good system- mops and shop vacs can only protect if you're home (and awake) when the flood occurs. Of course, you can't always do that, and if the flood gets bad enough, it can easily make its way into the finished area and ruin it.

When we waterproof basements, there's often no hole in the floor for a drain or sump pump. Provided that the floor isn't monolithic, our contractors will usually jackhammer a section of the floor around the perimeter for our patented WaterGuard system, and we create a sump pit in the low spot on the floor for the drain. All this is done inside the basement, as exterior excavation is expensive, time-consuming, and disruptive to steps, gardens, porches, and other objects located around the home's perimeter. Further, the excavated soil settles within a year, creating a grading issue, and the only way to service the system is to excavate it again.

So yes, absolutely. A French Drain (ideally this should be the WaterGuard system, as it has a lifetime warranty and leaves no gap on the floor for debris to collect and clog the system) and sump pump is the first step. It's also very important to install a battery backup system in case the system fails in the future.

Please bear in mind that Basement Systems contractors offer free, no-obligation waterproofing estimates. We'd love to stop by and give you a firsthand inspection and advise you on where to go from here.