Is this water going to be problematic?

[mound]

I've just bought a new house built in 1960 and renovated with additions once in 1971, again in 1993 and again in 2013.

The attached pictures are in a crawlspace under the the 1993 addition. The drawings submitted to the town for this addition list this crawlspace as "unexcavated space" - the floor is just dirt and is ~4' higher than the floor of the rest of the basement.   The basement doesn't appear to have ever had water problems.  

I took these pictures yesterday after a very heavy rain. (I was standing on the basement floor peering into this crawlspace with a flashlight and that dirt floor is about chest level for me)

I'm wondering if I should be concerned at all that water is coming through some of those cinder blocks.  Behind that wall is the garage.

Thanks!

[Willyou]

Without knowing more, I would say Yes. It should be a concern. The best way to fix it, if you can, is to find a way to adjust the surface grade outside the wall so that you get positive drainage away from the foundation. Otherwise, it might be necessary to install subsurface drain pipe to carry the water away from the wall.

[mound]

Without knowing more, I would say Yes. It should be a concern. The best way to fix it, if you can, is to find a way to adjust the surface grade outside the wall so that you get positive drainage away from the foundation. Otherwise, it might be necessary to install subsurface drain pipe to carry the water away from the wall.

It's a concrete pad at ground level outside the house in that area, might make it tricky, but I understand what you're saying

[Willyou]

Yes. That certainly makes it more tricky and potentially costly. Before doing anything, determine if the concrete slab is sloping toward the foundation causing the water problem. Or, is the water due to wet subsurface conditions. Or, both. Different solutions required.

[jteneyck]

I had water seeping through a poured concrete basement wall, also directly abutting the garage.  The water wasn't coming from the garage, so where was it coming from?  After I had drainage lines installed in my back yard, on the opposite side of the house from the garage, the problem stopped, so it must have been coming from back there.  Which is a way of saying keep an open mind.  The solution might not be obvious at first.  

Good luck.  

John

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Seal the block wall with a tar substance.

[Willyou]

Seal the block wall with a tar substance.

The area adjacent to the exterior wall is covered with a concrete slab. So, that is more easily said than done. But, yes. That may be part of the solution along with possible footing sub-drains and re-sloping the slab.

[mound]

Here's a picture of the exterior.  The wet area in the first pictures is roughly 4' behind the right most door (those 3 doors open to a narrow "room" holding pool equipment)

Interestingly as well, after the heavy rain, the area I drew the red circle around was puddling water, but no puddles near the cedar doors nor did it seem wet inside the pool equipment area.

[joe1086]

Doesn't look like more than a couple inches drop in grade from the inside corner extending towards the left. What is that distance, 16'? How does the grading look over the whole concreted area?

That layout looks very like what my BIL had at his house. Some of his concrete sections against the house settled over time and he battled occasional, but significant, basement leaks for 20 years.

[mound]

Doesn't look like more than a couple inches drop in grade from the inside corner extending towards the left. What is that distance, 16'? How does the grading look over the whole concreted area?

That layout looks very like what my BIL had at his house. Some of his concrete sections against the house settled over time and he battled occasional, but significant, basement leaks for 20 years.

It's tough to say exactly.. From the position the photo was taken, if you spun around 180* you'd be looking at an inground pool with the concrete leading up to it.. It slops away slightly from the pool coping..  I'm not actually living there yet so I've not had much chance yet to observe how heavy rain behaves other than having noted yesterday that it was puddling as described in the previous post.