When you have a high water table, you can only address it from the inside. We've waterproofed plenty of houses where homeowners spent the big money and did exterior French drains and they still got water. We did interior French drains and they never got a drop again.
Would you feel confident if the homeowner then finished the wall with drywall on furring strips after the drain was put in? What if water is seaping through the walk about 3 feet up from the ground?
I would feel confident. We bled the blocks so there wouldn't be any build up from the water table in the cavities. One issue though that people do have with water coming in from up top is that homeowners neglect to pitch their grade away from the house and keep their leaders and gutters clear. Water accumulating up against the outside of the house is usually the culprit of water coming down the wall from up top, post French drain installation.
Totally wrong. No pvc, use corrugated pipe, need to come out at least 12-15 in. You have no uncoupling membrane so the water can channel from the wall into the drain. You never hard pipe the discharge into a gutter drain as this can freeze and expand- possibly destroying the entire drain
Sorry Doug, going to have to disagree with you on the PVC/corrugated pipe decision. I have to rely on our 40+ years of using PVC pipe and having hardly any issues. I've replaced a lot of corrugated systems in my decades of doing this and I get it, cheaper and easier to use. Two big problems, it's flexible and VERY difficult to pitch. We certainly put membrane when the bleeder holes are near the floor level or above but if you see, the holes are below the floor level, no need for membrane. As for the d/c line hard piped, if it's all pitched and no way water can sit, it cannot freeze.
We just got this done to our basement and the installer put this plastic thing that sticks up like a wall but it’s in between the cement and the foundation wall. Can anyone explain to me what this is ? And also can we put up walls to cover everything , including the sump pump ? ( but still have a way to access to the pump of course)
That is the dimple board that allows the concrete floor slab to make contact with the block wall while maintaining a path for water to run down the wall and get into the system. I think this installation should of did dimple board a and not left a 1 inch gap. That dimple board is designed to make contact with that block wall and give it support. Great video otherwise.
Certain soils propose different problems...Most are not a problem and we use the fabric. Some houses we do not. Every house and condition is not the same so you have to be able to pivot when it calls for it.
We've been in business for for over 60 years doing French drains and using PVC since mid 80's and have 5 star reviews....how long have you been doing French drains? I don't want to sound like a jerk but if you were in my shoes, I think you'd stick with PVC. The biggest franchised company in our country uses the corrugated PE pipe and they gave a 10 year warranty! What does tell you??!!!
Great video- very informative! We are starting our project this weekend. Is there a brand of filter fabric you would recommend and also how many weep holes do you recommend drilling into the block? Thank you!!
Seen a lot of information on the installation of these systems. My question is: is there an advantage to leaving the cove gap versus a plastic or flexible diverter? Almost everyone else I look at uses a diverter "flashing" rather than leaving the open gap.
The difference is that if water comes through the wall up high (even if you have weep holes drilled) or from a window (that has a well) and down the wall, and you have the flashing in place, the water will most likely roll on to the floor. If the gap is there, good chance the water makes its way into the French drain. That's the whole purpose of the 1" gap/floating floor/cove gap.
Good work but it is CRUCIAL to add some sort of access to the pipe on EVERY side of the wall so if there is a clog you are able to access the perforated pipe and flush it clean to the sump. Otherwise when it does clog because its not a matter of time when it will, you will have to crack into that floor again.
By far one of the most informative short videos on this subject. I have a question though. How can I know if my french drain (outside the house as it’s a new house) is connected to my sump pit or if it’s connected to the old city sewer lines (even though it’s a new house, the street is very old with old sewer lines). I’m asking as my sump pump works almost every minute when it rains and I’m not sure this is normal? Did my contractor not connect the french drain to the old city sewer lines? Thanks!
There would be a pipe coming in perpendicular from the wall. In my video, at 2:05-ish, you see the PVC pipe entering on the left side of the pit and that’s the little run of about 5’ that went down that wall. When I see footing drains from the exterior enter sumps, you’d see it entering at 12 O’clock (if you’re looking at a clock) if that makes sense. Hope that helps.
@@AridWaterproofing one of my walls is poured and one is block. Are you saying for the poured wall do not drill holes, just install the French drain. On the block wall drill holes and French drain?
If you live in the NY NJ area, this is the company you should consider to install this type of system. They are not cheapest, but put in a stellar system.
I think he mentioned it in the video, but the hydrostatic pressure not only pushes water into your basement, but will also push the wall itself inward (unless your home is one of very few that use rebar to reinforce the cmu blocks), causing cracks and eventually foundation issues that if left untreated can cause complete failure.
After doing this for three decades now, I've never seen the water pressure from the water table push the wall inward. The only time i've seen anything like that was with Ida in this video. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pjR9b6cKQDM.html But this was due to pure flooding, not the water table.
@@AridWaterproofing Give me an email to send you pictures of the huge cracks on the long sides of my rancher's foundation. I had JES out to inspect and that's exactly what their rep told me. Perhaps you don't work on the east coast?
You have to put it to the inside of the gap. Don't cover it! and yes you can use liquid nails and maybe some masonry screws at each end of the sill plate and one in the middle.
EXCELLENT video. I live on clay so my basement doesn't have much head room so lowering the floor a couple inches and installing French drain was well worth the trouble. Keeping the new poured concrete an inch away from the wall to catch all water if any is a brilliant idea. 👏
My house sits in a clay bowl as well. The previous owners did a partial French drain in the worst moisture ridden corner, but it was not nearly enough. I'm having a foundation company come out and do the entire basement, as well as the crawlspace. The price tag is hefty but it will be so worth having any water sitting around my house pumped out to the city drain
Looks like not enough weep holes. Everyone else does 3 per block plus every joint. This video is old, it's not done anything like this these days. Lots wrong here.
Wouldn't it be ideal to divert the water from the outside of the basement wall? instead of ripping up a good foundation? Just asking because I have the same water issues in my basement and need to do something soon. I'd just rather dig around the outside of the basement wall and install drainage at the footer if possible.
When you're dealing with a high water table area, like we are in the greater NYC area, the only permanent way of relieving that hydrostatic pressure is with an interior French drain. We've done plenty of houses where the homeowner spent the big $$, had their yard ripped up, to only still have the water enter the floor/wall joint.
We use a plastic sheeting that serves the same purpose when the holes are above the floor level. You can see the ones drilled in this video are below the floor surface.
I do like the dimple pad as well as it helps make contact with the block wall and the floor. Your weep holes are in the gravel layer so no problem there I just like the support for the wall that the dimple board provides instead of just a 1 inch gap. Great job. @@AridWaterproofing
@@AridWaterproofing hey guys about how far was your discharge pipe travel before the up turn to go up grade. I'm finish my system and go back and forth on if I should put my discharge pipe under ground? Also is that a little gaint sump pump you are using ?
@@Followmyleadk9 we usually keep the underground d/c pipe to about 20-25' with a 1/3HP. If it's more than that, jump up to the 1/2HP pump. Yes, we use Little Giant pumps.
Bugs don't hibernate 6-7 feet under the ground and come up through the gap. Only time where a smell might occur is when the homeowner has iron bacteria present in the ground, but that is not common.
@@AridWaterproofing Thanks for your response.. I just had my basement french drains covered, and added a second sump pump. It's a month now and notice a big difference now from before. I should have done this when I moved in a couple of years ago.. Thanks again..
Well, we had a wall done 15+ years ago and that 1 inch gap allows many spiders to be coming in and out of from behind the plastic sheeting and the holes drilled into the cinder blocks. I am highly suspect that those who did our French drain system did not do it correctly. Those holes should be below the floor not above the floor hidden by 5 inch high plastic! All these years later, it's just me and my mother and we have no paperwork on who did this job.
@@ariesmars29 i could assure you that spiders are not coming in from that 1" gap. Think of how deep your basement is. Average is 5-6 feet from grade level. Spiders and bugs do not live that deep into the ground. They are, however, attracted to the opening and are coming in elsewhere and making their way to it. As for the bleeder holes, if your first course of cinder block is filled with cement (a lot of them are!), you have to then drill the next course up, hence, the plastic flashing is needed. If you're in my area, give me a buzz and i can see what i can do.
