Leaky Basement Blues

Last summer, I had a main drain backup at my rental property in Waterloo.  The brilliant previous owner had created a bedroom in the basement and carpeted over the drain.  My ‘quick-fix’ was a backflow-preventer which rests inside the drain and has a one way valve so that water will not flow back into the room.  $10 part, $250 worth of carpet!  Problem solved!.....or so I thought…..

About 3 weeks ago, I received a call from the new tenant that I there was water on the floor in the room again!  I drove to the property that night and, sure enough, same thing as this past summer L.  I ripped up the carpet and under-cushion to see that water had pooled around the drain once again….could this be the same problem??

I decided to solve the problem once and for all by flushing the main line.  Rooter Man was called in and did a great job clearing and flushing the line at a cost of $330.  Problem solved right?  Wrong!

The next day I came back to install the carpet only to find water pooled on the floor once again, and the water source was coming from the wall!  I looked out into the window well and could see water flowing around the window well and towards the bottom of the window…and I’m not talking about a few drips of water…the water was actually flowing!  I immediately went outside to see that the sump pump was pumping the water into a big pile of snow, which was causing the water to flow back towards the house!

After ripping off the drywall, insulation and vapour barrier, my heart sank…a crack in the foundation running from top to bottom and it looked like it had been repaired before.

Disappointed and afraid that this would cost thousands, I went home to lick my wounds….and to Google basement-repair companies. 

After some searching, I settled on “Crack Doctor”, a repair company with outlets across Ontario and part of the Better Business Bureau.  Low pressure polyurethane/epoxy foam would be injected into the hole and ports would be drilled through the concrete, allowing more foam to be injected through the concrete, sealing the foundation from the OUTSIDE .  The cost of this work was $475 and comes with a lifetime warranty.  No need for expensive excavation, etc. 

After some headaches and hard work on a Friday night, everything was repaired and back to normal.  In all, this problem cost me about $1500 (plumbing, basement repair, drywall, paint, carpet, trim).  A hefty price tag, but it could have been much worse.

Lesson 1: Always investigate the source of a water problem and make sure you are 100% sure of where it is coming from before attempting a fix.

Lesson 2: Always make sure a sump pump is pumping the water AWAY from the house. 

Lesson 3:  Fixing a minor crack in a basement is cheaper than I expected!