Do you have a wet basement?
Interior Drainage Channel above the Concrete Slab
In most cases when water is entering the basement, an interior drainage system is installed. The simplest and least costly approach is a drainage channel adhered at the base of the wall and the floor slab. Water is collected and drained into a sump using another channel placed on top of the slab, then through a trap to the sump basin. The sump should have an airtight, childproof cover. This system is best suited to a concrete wall with cracks. It does not solve the problem in masonry walls because water remains in the block cores at floor level and the water level is only lowered to the top of the slab. With this approach, the water is not completely removed from the space. The result is that humidity, mold, and mildew can still be a problem. This system cannot drain groundwater from under the floor slab.
Most of our article ideas come from repairs people are making to their own homes.
When it comes to getting water out of the basement, this one hits closer to home, since I am in the middle of fixing our longtime wet basement.
If you decide to go with a contractor, the first thing you should know is that they are not cheap. The work involved in keeping water out of your basement is labor intensive.
We chose to go around the outside of the house and look for spots where the soil is leaning in towards the house. We bought yards of topsoil to create slopes that will push rain water away from the house. Another thing we did was slope the soil, then place a plastic seal on top, then cover that plastic with more soil and seed. Another idea, might be to make that area a flower bed, so it appears to serve a greater purpose.
In the basement, we went with the technique above. We rented a jackhammer and jacked out a 6 inch perimeter along the basement floor and wall. We cleaned it out all the way down to the footer. When we went to pour new cement for the floor, put anything between a 1-2inch board up against the wall, then cement in front of it. This will create a channel once the board is removed — which should lead all the way to your sump.
