Anyone know of a good 'post-construction' solution

[StonerStuart]

Hey hey...

So my basement is that has recently been built in loose rock is flooding with water.

It is seeping in through the "poorly compacted" soil through the external waterproofing - must be gaps - between the bricks and along the spaces left by the conduit then out the plug sockets.

It is not running in the conduit, its just following the easiest pathway down.

So besides for digging up the entire garden 4m down to redo the waterproofing and lay a water trap what can I do?

Right now i have plugged the sockets with a 22mm copper pipe which leads into a bucket and i'm busy pumping it out with a high pressure water pump. Thats after emptying the entire basement which was at about 30-40cm in water depth.

This rain in not stopping and the waters just flowing in at such a volume, it must be about 15L a minute!


Please any suggestions?

Besides the obvious kicking the contractors ass!

 

[mintydroid]

You need to tank the basement. Which is basically waterproofing it. It's supposed to be done before it was built.

 

[upup]

Even the Bible says, build your house on a rock.

waterproof it.

build a drainhole next to it, put a pump in there for future rain. Go green and pump that for in a tank for later re use.

 

[StonerStuart]

The basement has been waterproofed in the following way:

30 cm of concrete sits on top of the bedrock, then there is a really thick membrane between the surface of the lowest layer and it runs up the walls. painted on, heated with some flame torch like it was melted to the concrete. the external walling walling has had the same treatment, then there is the floor which is a screed of about 15 cm. it has been painted with that waterproofing pain stuff. the stuff that gets absorbed into the concrete. the same has been done to the interior walling and the ceiling.

the only thing i can think of is that during blasting of the second basement about 30 meters away the set concrete developed cracks, but I'm not sure that's it though because that melted plastic stuff had not been applied yet.

It may be due to the ground settling after the house was built on top since the substrate consists of mainly quarts and clay!

 

[HavocXphere]

tbh I doubt anyone here has the necessary experience to retro-fit a solution. Flooded basements aren't exactly common in SA. 15L per minute does seem to suggest that something is very wrong though.

 

[StonerStuart]

tbh I doubt anyone here has the necessary experience to retro-fit a solution. Flooded basements aren't exactly common in SA. 15L per minute does seem to suggest that something is very wrong though.

We are +/- 100m from the dam on a slope. Its known that the water table is pretty high that's why we went through such a harcore waterproofing process. Luckily the pump is able to handle that volume p/m or right now id have a second pool, but indoor and very "shocking"

All i can think of is decking out the entire basement and having a permanent pump in place. But how to get it to turn on and off? and surely the water will stagnate and then what should of been a cinema room will smell bad, rot and eventually become uninhabitable!

I am stressing out now because its a dream that has yet come to fruition and its already almost fscked!

If this had happened after everything was installed, in place and in use id be screwed!


so you think no one can help?

 

[HavocXphere]

so you think no one can help?

Oh I'm sure there is a solution - all I'm saying is that in my opinion you're well beyond casual forum advice here. You've got hardcore waterproofing and a pump...that means you've got more experience at this than 99.9% of the forumites here in this game.

A better question would be who to ask for assistance.

From what I hear from my EU friends it seems that this is a case of mostly "dealing with it" rather than "fix it". e.g. Family in Germany uses their basement for storage (in racks off the ground), recreation (table tennis) and laundry...so nothing that can't take a hit. You mention pumps on/off...I think the pumps in most EU installations are manual too.

As pointed out above...I'm kinda guessing here too...just like most SA ppl will imo.

Do explain the dam part though...as in an actual dam (in the SA sense) or a dam as in water barrier?

 

[StonerStuart]

Oh I'm sure there is a solution - all I'm saying is that in my opinion you're well beyond casual forum advice here. You've got hardcore waterproofing and a pump...that means you've got more experience at this than 99.9% of the forumites here in this game.

A better question would be who to ask for assistance.

From what I hear from my EU friends it seems that this is a case of mostly "dealing with it" rather than "fix it". e.g. Family in Germany uses their basement for storage (in racks off the ground), recreation (table tennis) and laundry...so nothing that can't take a hit. You mention pumps on/off...I think the pumps in most EU installations are manual too.

As pointed out above...I'm kinda guessing here too...just like most SA ppl will imo.

Do explain the dam part though...as in an actual dam (in the SA sense) or a dam as in water barrier?

The dam as in a Man made dam, fishing, boats, all that stuff... that dam!

I dont want to just deal with it, that was supposed to be my 'man cave'!

But yeah i hear you, I think some professional advice is needed regarding my indoor pool!

 

[HavocXphere]

The dam as in a Man made dam, fishing, boats, all that stuff... that dam!

jikes. How sure are you that the basement isn't *below* the (local) waterline?

I dont want to just deal with it, that was supposed to be my 'man cave'!

I meant deal with it in the sense of "improvise as necessary" not in the "get over it" sense. Besides...man cave just need a good beer supply, a dart board and a TV mounted well off the ground...seems pretty water resistant to me.

But yeah i hear you, I think some professional advice is needed regarding my indoor pool!

Yeah - as bad as it sounds, there is always a way around this. Friends of mine built their house on a spring...as in the real fresh water out of the ground spring thing. Not sure what they did but they stayed in the house.