concrete problem

I realize this question does not belong here, but, I can't tell where it belongs!
So, since I like the plumbing one best, I stuck it here, and Terry will not be mad at me, lol.

I came home to a huge problem. My garage is flooded. Not all the way, but good enough. Good enough that the water is running under its wall into the basement and under the hot water tank. I heard we had some pretty severe rains here while I was gone. I don't think it was running under the garage door, although that rubber strip does need replaced; but, looks like the water is or has been coming up through a crack inside the garage, right pretty much where the garage door closes. Now, what do I do?

If the water is coming up through a crack in the floor, it will be impossible to seal it. If you could seal it, the water pressure would break the floor.

The solution to your problem is to get rid of the water before it gets as high as the floor. It usually means one or more of the following.

1. Drain the water away from the house before it soaks into the ground.
2. Collect the water with drains around the outside of the foundation and drain it away if there is a place to drain it, or pump it away.
3. Put in a sump pump, with or without the drains, or with internal drains if necessary.

If it's just the garage and is doing no real damage, you may decide to live with it.

If any gas appliance gets submerged, it needs major repairs or replacement. If it is not reaching any of the gas valve or electronics, it should be okay after it dries out.

My parents house sits about a 1/4-mile from the town's spring fed water supply. Talk about ground water in the basement! If the sump pump fails, you are talking about 6" of water in a couple of hours...now that is some bailing!

Grading the land around the house helps with rainwater, but if it is groundwater, that is another factor altogether. You may need a good French drain around the house,and a place to drain it to to solve this problem, or another technique in combination. You have to relieve the water pressure so it flows where you want it to rather than into the house, or you have to collect it and pump it away far enough so it doesn't come back.

I never installed one, so I don't know. It would very much depend on how deep they have to dig and where they could drain the water. Basically, you need to dig up the soil around the house to the bottom of the wall (maybe a little deeper). Lay down some crushed stone, lay in a perforated pipe, cover it with something to keep sand, etc from accumulating in it, more rock, then backfill the rest. These get connected underground and flow downhill somewhere away from the house. So, depends very much on the lay of the land, the depth of the foundation, and the soil content.

Yes, regarding the slope of the land away from the house, use soil and make sure any runoff from the eves and drainspouts does not puddle next to the foundation where it will percolate down and in by any crack, etc. in the foundation. Route the downspouts away from the house (or into your french drain).

Where do the gutters drain? The further away from the house the better, include new gutters that channel the water near the house with the grading that may allow it to puddle there, and that may be the crux of the problem. Extend the spouts a little if possible. Somebody makes one that uncoils when it rains to channel it further from the house so it doesn't look so weird.

A lot of people have sump pumps to remove water that comes in under the floor. Since this is a garage, it is probably near ground level. Is the wet basement area the same level as the garage?

You must have had the problem before to have gotten an estimate for a French drain. There are things you can try that might work, or might not, that could cost a lot less than a $20,000 French drain system.

You could test a solution by breaking a hole in the floor near the wall where the water comes in and digging a hole about 18" deep, and dropping a sump pump in it. You could get a workable sump pump at a Big Box store and plug it into an extension cord. You could use a hose or a length of black polyethylene pipe to get rid of the water as far away from the house as possible. Effectiveness will depend to some degree on how much sand or gravel is under the floor. Pick the area that seems the worst and try the pump. You could try two holes and see which area is most effective in solving the problem. If the wet places are far apart you might need two sump pumps, but you can move one around for a test.

I know that you will get lots of reasons to not shop at Big Orange or whatever, but you want the water gone NOW. Maybe it will work and maybe it won't, and it probably isn't the finished solution. Get your son's strong friends to break some concrete and dig a hole or two for you and see if you can get rid of the water.

Cookie, I'm going to take a wild guess but cost should be between $35-65.00 per running foot. If it did run from the garage to the basement you just need the garage floor done. I'll give you a deal and do it for $19,000.00 and save you $1,000.00

Try the recomendations everyone has made and it should tak care of the problem.