I live in a very high water table area...I have an interior sump and an exterior foundation pump...I also keep a spare interior sump pump in case the original fails. Too cheap to have a backup foundation pump as the replacement is around 3K (Only had to replace once in 25 years). Of course if you went with an exterior system, they would destroy all your landscaping/patios, etc.
I did have water... We dug 3 sides of the (walk-out) basement out. Pressure washed, tar coated, membrane and installed footer drains, Down spout drains. Expensive, but dry now. If the water can't come in, you don't need a pump.
Our job sites are always near creeks/rivers. We quite often put in dewatering sumps 15-20' deep and keep a pump running 24/7 till the jobs are finished. Keeps the water table down
yes it is usually fixable. Not sure your situation but I would at a minimun cut 12 inches in from the foundation wall, remove concrete, dig down to at least bottom of footer, add perforated drain tile, cover with gravel and replace concrete. the drain tile will tie into the sump pit. I just finished my basement it is a lot of work but do it once. this will also drop the water table around the whole house, eventually, and help the ground from getting saturated when it rains heavy.
I put one in my basement a few years ago. Bought the tub from Lowe’s, used a Hilti drill for the concrete floor, dug it out, etc. I ended up buying a gas powered pump as a back up in case the electric went out. Haven’t had to use it thankfully but it’s there as piece of mind. Just didn’t have the money to do all the expensive stuff talked about above.
I bought a whole house generator to keep my pumps running. The things we have to do when we buy a crappy piece of property
my street is named Basin St, it is the actual original Ohio Canal that was filled in. The entire village runs into Basin St so it would keep the canal filled.
We used to have water find its way in. We had a French drain installed on the uphill side of the house. No more water in the basement.
Buy a good quality pump! Where does the rain from the roof go? Does your lawn slope away from your foundation?
Ours has been running every 10 to 20 minutes for the last month. It has been very wet here...on line for the wettest year on record. At least our basement has stayed dry. Since we have been in the house 2o years, I have replaced it twice. First time it was because the one in the home when we bought it failed. That one lasted about 1o years before the switch went out. I keep meaning to buy a backup to have on hand, and this year and thread is another reminder for me to do so.
Over the years I have had good bad and total disaster type basements. 2 homes ago was the disaster/ nightmare unit late 80's 100 year rains ( or so they thought) that place required just about every type of remediation possible, a lot of which I did my self - to give an idea of what was - 5 feet off the floor I had 1/4"streams of water squirting through the bricks ( not the grouting) almost 14 " out ( that's a lot of pressure) I was running a 1800 gal/hr pump ( gas cause the power was off and on) plus 2- 1/2hp submersibles out of the crock and just barely keeping up and this was not backing up out of the floor drain. Home I sold 2 years ago was dry until they built a subdivision on top of the hill , That required a deflection berm and under ground piping plus french drains to remediate the surface water, the ground water was all ready taken care of when I built that place but that was back before the plastic pipe was available so was done in 6" concrete. I know that some of that had been marginalized over he years. Current place getting a bit in through the Bilko door well system - this will require raising the well sides a foot so that I can set up a proper slope away from the area as well as some piping from 3 downspouts in the immediate vicinity that will require about 60' of trenching for pipe gets a bit dicy in that area as the septic system is close by there also. Can't French drain it as trees are in way in one direction + septic field and driveway in another. I can pass piping over the septic and still maintain a down slope. Poured wall basement bone dry otherwise,sump pump I have never heard running, but did have to replace it last year as it had just plain rusted into pieces in the sealed crock- good thing I decided to check it on a whim ( same place lp hot water heater installed 1991 still going strong- really should buy another to have on hand eh? but then there are the warranty issues of having it standing bye but not connected.)
