# Basement leaks in brick wall



## Nick (Jul 17, 2006)

I live in a 100+ year old house. We have a basement under the house with brick walls. The mortar has started to rot or erode in some places so when it rains I literally have jets of water spraying into my basement. It looks like someone at one time tried to build a second brick wall in front of the first but gave up as some of the walls bow in a little (of course that's just speculation on my part). It'd like to try to fill these holes in but I'm not sure what would be the best solution. I had thought about getting some of that Portland cement and using it to fill the holes but worried that would just cause new ones to form. I also considered getting a cement mixer and covering the whole wall with portland and using some of that water sealant once it dries. I don't want to destroy my basement; is there a good/better way to do this? The basement drains via sump pumps but all that moisture is starting to damage the insulation under my house. Thanks for any advice you may have. Nick


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## KUIPORNG (Jan 11, 2006)

You probably need to work on from the outside rather than from inside the wall with severe leaks like that as well as old walls like that, it would be a risk and hope try to fix the leak by just putting cement on the wall from inside... It would be very hard to tell the condition of the wall when it is that old... You probably need to do a major leak proof from outside using modern technology and probably need to pay for a reputation company to fix the problem once and for all... Well, I am not the expect though, some other expect may give you more advice ...


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## Nick (Jul 17, 2006)

The wall having problems is underground with a really narrow space between me and the retaining wall of the house next door so I don't know if it's workable from the outside. Or, I'd have to dig it up using a shovel, which would be a long and painful dig. Hopefully it won't come to that.


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## KUIPORNG (Jan 11, 2006)

there must be mimimum distance between house allow work for outside for digging / working etc. no matter how narrow it is... you probably still look for solution from outside, for more reliable fix... In our city, it no longer cost too much to hire company to fix from outside, thanks to the resourceful labours from immigration, I have to say.... I can't believe what I read from the web, saying cost only $350 Canadian to have someone to come to dig a 8 foot deep and 4 foot wide hole to fix from outside .... hope you can get deals like that in your city...


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## Nick (Jul 17, 2006)

The problem is it would be a somewhere closer to 50ft long and 8ft deep to expose the wall from the outside. Plus, my gas line and air conditioning unit are both on that side of the house.


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## Brickie (Jun 16, 2006)

Where are you located?


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## redline (Mar 5, 2006)

Try and get all the rain water as far away from the house (foundation) as possible. A rainfall of 1" on the avarge sized roof will dispense about 2,000 gallons of rain water of of the roof. All this water is what has caused the joints to fail in the current foundation. Your downspouts should extend to the street if possible with a pvc drin pipe connected to them. Have the neighbor extend his downspouts away from your/his house as well. Then tackle the loose mortar in the foundation. You may want to try hydraulic cement to stop water flow thru the joints.


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## Nick (Jul 17, 2006)

Brickie, I live in Birmingham, AL. Redline, I have gutters on the roof over that side of the house. I don't have a house right next door where some of the worst of the leaking is but I do have a parking lot for an apartment complex and a small hill. I didn't think about that as a source for some of the volumes of water coming in. I could probably get a drain to run alongside it and into a storm drain towards the back of my property. Thanks for the advice! Can the hydraulic cement be applied from inside the house? I had heard that there's a type of cement that you pour outside a wall and when it rains it seeps through and fills cracks to stop leaks. Same thing?


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## redline (Mar 5, 2006)

Nick said:


> I don't have a house right next door where some of the worst of the leaking is but I do have a parking lot for an apartment complex and a small hill.
> 
> Does the small hill direct the water towards your house?
> If the water from the parking lot is directed towards your house then you may be able to contact the apartment owner and have them install drains to direct water away from your house. If you can prove that their water is causing the problem you may be able to get them to pay to repair your foundation. You would have to get more legal advice due to the fact that I cannot see your situation. If businesses around here want to build a new building with a large parking lot then they have to build a retention pond to contain the water from the parking lots. A parking lot that is bigger than the average sized house roof would dispense more rain water because the rain water cannot soak into the asphalt(parking lot) and will flow to the low point. If your house is the low point in the area then the water is coming towards you. I would watch to see where the rain water flows the next time that you get a good rain fall. I bet that you are getting a large amount from the parking lot if it flows towards you. I must also remember that all the rain water that is coming off the roof(s) of the apartment complex is probably being directed to the parking lot and is adding to the amount of water coiming towards your house.
> ...


Some that I know had a problem with his foundation walls. He erected wooden forms about 2-3 inches away from his foundation walls. He inserted wire mesh to reinforce the new wall. He then had a cement truck pump the wooden forms with high strength cement. Let the cement dry for a few days then removed the wooden forms.

Not sure if his method is too extenisive for your needs.


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