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Originally posted by Brenda:
Seems my boss has retired. Her last day at a local long term care home was today and her last day at a local walk-in clinic was I think she said Wednesday.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Seems my boss has retired. Her last day at a local long term care home was today and her last day at a local walk-in clinic was I think she said Wednesday.

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How do you feel about it?

Seems a bit sudden.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

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Brenda:
Seems my boss has retired. Her last day at a local long term care home was today and her last day at a local walk-in clinic was I think she said Wednesday.

SIGNYM: How do you feel about it?
Seems a bit sudden.

BRENDA: Not sure. With the way things are right now it basically means I loose a social contact but on the flip side it does mean that my body gets more down time from lifting her heavy pots and such. So basically more time to heal.

Not really. She was tossing the idea around some last year towards the end as she is in her early 70s. Her medical license is paid up till next year, so she could pick up odd shifts here and there over the year.

So, it is basically wait and see.

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Had a nice visit with my Grandma and aunt today. I've got to get out to her house soon to fixe a few things, but I'm going to set some things up and find her egg timer so she remembers to get up and move around every hour while she's watching TV all day long.

She's never been the same since the hip surgery, but the doctors at the time said she could walk again without canes if she exercised... which she doesn't. I've got a low toilet here, and she needed my aunt's help getting out of it. After sitting down in my livingroom, it took the both of us to help her out of the big chair. I'm worried about her. She seems good otherwise though.


Mowed the lawn and watered it a few times after they left. I mowed 3 days ago, but it needed it after all that rain. But it was in the 80's today and tomorrow so it also needs more water for the new grass.. I'll water it once more tonight. I don't think I'll start any of the painting today, but maybe I get the bug. My old man isn't coming until Monday now, so I can paint all day tomorrow now that the lawn is taken care of.

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Imagine the hypocrisy of a government who will allow businesses to card people to get a job or buy groceries, but won't card people to vote in elections and gives millions of non-citizens free money from taxpayers.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
SIX you had company over! Imagine that! It's kind of a milestone, considering where your house started.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

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Brenda:
Seems my boss has retired. Her last day at a local long term care home was today and her last day at a local walk-in clinic was I think she said Wednesday.

SIGNYM: How do you feel about it?
Seems a bit sudden.

BRENDA: Not sure. With the way things are right now it basically means I loose a social contact but on the flip side it does mean that my body gets more down time from lifting her heavy pots and such. So basically more time to heal.

Not really. She was tossing the idea around some last year towards the end as she is in her early 70s. Her medical license is paid up till next year, so she could pick up odd shifts here and there over the year.

So, it is basically wait and see.

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I had no idea she was so old. I thought you had posted something about her children that made it seem like they were still living there, but I must have misunderstood.

You may be losing a social contact, but at least it doesn't sound like you need the money. And then you'll have more time to meet people who might be more compatible. So I guess overall things could be worse?

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
SIX you had company over! Imagine that! It's kind of a milestone, considering where your house started.

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Yeah... It's been a while, unless you count the unexpected drop in of my friend and his fiancee, or just when one of my buddies come alone and I don't care if they see I'm still living the bachelor life.

One of these days I'll have the whole house done.

Can't get too complacent though. I know I need to get out eventually. But if we had normal rain patterns here from now on I could see myself staying here. I just know that it's only a matter of time before we get water like we did the last 5 years though... especially last year. So much rain.

I think my sump pump has gone off less all spring this year than it did in a single day last year. It's nice going entire days without even noticing it instead of hearing it go off every 4 or 5 minutes.

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
Every 4 or 5 minutes? I didn't know you had that much problem.

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Yup. Last spring was a nightmare. We'd already had over 30" of rain compared to the 4 or 5 we've had so far this year. And the city sewers got backed up twice for long enough that half of my very large front yard was submerged in water.

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You usually ignore my advice, but do you want advice, suggestions to solve that?

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I'm all ears.

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If so, try to describe the situation. Gutters on what parts of roof,

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I didn't have gutters until very late fall last year. Now they're on the front and the back of the roof. The only part that has two levels is in the back where the porch roof is below the house roof, and that gutter goes to the wall. In the front, there is an overhang that goes perpendicular to the main roof, so there are inside miters on both sides of that with about 6' of gutter coming out perpendicular to the main gutter.

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how the tiling is incorporated in the sump well, and around the foundation (if you know),

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I don't know. The only thing I do know is that there is a very large pipe coming into the well from outside. I'd say it's 4" in diameter, but that's a guess.

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what is the land/yard contour,

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Land grades down slightly from the house to the street, and also in the backyard to my back neighbor's property. I'm the only person on my block still considered a "minor" floodplain, and everyone on the few blocks behind me are in worse shape than I am.

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elevation, slope,

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Floodplain, so low elevation. Last year the ditch across the street was full to the brim, and that's about 7 feet higher than my front door threshold.

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what you have against the house/basement walls?

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Just bare dirt now. The moles have destroyed any grass that was growing up against the foundation, and I've spent the last few years caving the tunnels in. This year I started using smoke poison bombs in the tunnels. Hard to say if I've been successful or not since they're an invisible enemy, but after the second time about 3 weeks ago they haven't tried making new tunnels against the foundation.

I also put down about 10 times more Triazicide for the bugs around my foundation than the recommended amount. I haven't seen a single bug within 6 feet of my house anywhere this year, which is pretty amazing. I'm trying to kill all the food sources so they go bother my neighbors that don't do shit to protect their house instead.

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Have you checked water flowage, like during a flooding storm, or via waterhose?

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I don't have much of a slope anywhere, so you really don't see much action. At least with the gutters up that stuff isn't falling right against the house and just sitting there anymore though.

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how many feet from house to sidewalk/curb,

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It's a weird property. The shortest distance from the house to the curb is around 50 feet, with the longest being maybe 200 feet.

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and driveway,

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Driveway comes within about 12 feet from the house.

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and how many inches of elevation difference in that slope?

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Don't know, but there is a bigger difference than meets the eye, otherwise water would have been pouring into my house when the streets got so much water it was almost going into a truck cab that was parked across the street.

But I did have to turn the sump pump off that night because water was shooting out of my toilet every time it went off. A few hours after the water had started going down I still couldn't turn the pump on because the water was coming halfway up the cleanout valve next to my house, probably about a 18" to 2 feet higher than the drain pipe to the street.

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have you ever observed water seeping through your basement walls, or evidence of it?

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Yes. That's why I mopped up about 500 gallons of water last spring. Late in the year I dug around the two cracks I know about and sealed them with Watertite after cleaning the cracks with a brass wheel on my power drill.

I think I'll have to get somebody to do injection molding to fix them proper, but since we aren't getting any rain I haven't been able to tell if my gutters and my patch work fixed the problem.


I didn't get any water in the basement or the garage thoug when that 40" of snow melted after sealing all the cracks last year, so I'm probably in better shape than I was last year.

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I've helped others with this problem, and every house I've bought had similar problems at purchase which I quickly resolved.

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Come on over man.

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I think you used to have some leaking sewer pipe, which I assume poured right into your sump.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Since my neck and shouldeer are back to "normal" an my left foot isn't hurting a lot (altho it is STILL puffy) I spent the day catching up on the chores and errands that I let go for a week: cleaning, cooking, raking, watering. I suppose the one thing I should have a sense of accomplishment about is that dd and I cleaned her bathroom top to bottom. But seeing as that should have been done a long time ago, I think the only thing I can feel about finally getting it done is relief.

I don't know HOW I'm going to make up the lost time. But all I can do is what I can do, even if maintenance seems to be slipping backwards.

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
Every 4 or 5 minutes? I didn't know you had that much problem.

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Yup. Last spring was a nightmare. We'd already had over 30" of rain compared to the 4 or 5 we've had so far this year. And the city sewers got backed up twice for long enough that half of my very large front yard was submerged in water.

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I think you used to have some leaking sewer pipe, which I assume poured right into your sump.

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It was cracked, and I fixed it. It was the pipe that discharges the sump pump well as well as the kitchen sink above it. Most of the water from a pump cycle would make it out to the street, but a lot of it didn't. I only knew about it because I ended up with a gaping hole above the crack right up next to the foundation after the water had eroded the dirt above and taken it into the sewer through that pipe over time.

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Since my neck and shouldeer are back to "normal" an my left foot isn't hurting a lot (altho it is STILL puffy) I spent the day catching up on the chores and errands that I let go for a week: cleaning, cooking, raking, watering. I suppose the one thing I should have a sense of accomplishment about is that dd and I cleaned her bathroom top to bottom. But seeing as that should have been done a long time ago, I think the only thing I can feel about finally getting it done is relief.

I don't know HOW I'm going to make up the lost time. But all I can do is what I can do, even if maintenance seems to be slipping backwards.

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Falling behind on maintenance.

I recall hearing a woman explaining how she had just cleaned all her dishes, and washed them, and dried them, and mopped the floors, vacuumed the carpet, dusted the furniture, scrubbed the counters and bath and toilet, etc.
And she did all of this with the certain knowledge that she would have to do it all over again, in 6 months.

I think that was Erma Bombeck, or maybe Joan Rivers.

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
city sewers. does this mean the storm sewers, draining the streets? or sewage sewers, draining the plumbing from homes? or does your neighborhood have combined - with one sewer draining both storm water and sewage together?

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My sump pump/kitchen sink seems to go into the one that drains the street. It stopped draining the streets and my pump stopped working. It also shot water out of my toilet when the pump went on, so my crap probably goes out the back and ties into it too. I don't know man. Idiots built this house, and until I got here idiots "repaired" it too.

Could be everything goes into one, but I doubt it. I think my house is just built wrong.

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And I'm not getting a clear picture: is your sump pump output going outside, n your grass or driveway, or is it going into your home sewage drain (like in your deepsink, or floor drain, etc)?

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It goes into the storm sewer, which may or may not also be the waste sewer.

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Do you have a manual valve, to switch from "inside" drain to "outside" spout?

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No.

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I'm not picturing your roof. Is the main top ridge going front to back? Or the bottom edge of the roof slope is front and back?

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Bottom of the roof is in the front and the back. The main ridge spans to both sides.

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Are there sections of roof perimeter without gutter?

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Yes. The sides.

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How far away from the house wall does the roof edge/gutter extend?

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Gutters are 5" gutters. The bigger type. On the sides of the house without gutters, the soffit goes out nearly 2 feet. On the sides with gutters, the gutters extend 3" past that.

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Is the wall about in line with the basement wall, or does it overhang a bit?

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It should be in line, but I discovered last year that the vinyl siding was installed over asbestos siding, so there's a bit of an incidental overhang.

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Is front of your house facing street?

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Yes.

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Is house longer front to back, or ide to side?

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Side to side, about 2:1. Including the 3 season room, 3:1.

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On;y one? This would be the plastic tubing called tile, tiling, or drainage tile.

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Yup. It's not plastic.

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It should go all the way around the house, at the level where the basement wall meets the concrete foundation, outside the wall, buried in dirt. It has holes in it, allowing water to enter, but not stones and such, but likely some dirt in it's early days. You could go to Home Depot to look at some tile up close.

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I think it's likely very, very old... and not how it would be done today.

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The purpose of this is to give the water a place to go instead of backing up against the basement walls, where it would seep through.

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I think it is still doing that job. Last year when we were waterlogged, my pump would still be going off every 15 to 20 minutes 3 days after a rain from the water coming in that pipe.

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We can deal with that, you seem to have room to work with. Please describe your lot layout. how far from street to nearest part of house, corner lot or a neighbor each side, how far from property line with neighbor, and backside. Is garage detached, where?

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I have a relatively huge lot compared to other people. Corner lot.

At least 50 feet from the street at the closest point. Close to my next door neighbor by only about 20 feet. But probably 300 feet from my neighbor behind me. Garage is detached behind the back porch, around 15 feet away.

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I will likely tell you some secrets that you might not use, so my suggestions might be fluid, able to match various tricks for your situation.

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OK.

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Is your goal to just have grass up to the wall? bushes/scrubs? gravel, flower bins?

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Not grass. Because of that incidental overhang I mentioned above, it's a real bitch mowing it. I don't know what my end goal would be, but it needs to keep the water away and stay put. Bare dirt with occasional tunnels right up against the foundation is terrible. I can't really do anything until I know the mole problem is gone.... or maybe I can?

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what is the elevation different between basement windows (or glass blocks) and the grass/dirt level?

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Double pane up/down glass windows. Probably 5" to 8".

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We should be able to let that seal be good enough - only need more if we are not successful.

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Nice.

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Sorry, I meant helping with the understandind, description, not so much with the labor. Some problems are not the most urgent, and can be done at more liesurely pace. I firmly believe in work smarter, not harder.

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I know. Just kiddin.

I feel I did a lot to shore it up last year. I can't say that I'm unhappy that we finally got a normal rainfall spring this year and I haven't been able to test it out yet though.

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To seed your brain, I'll try to describe an overall drainage plan for your outside, which is where most wet basement causes are.

We can rearrange some of the dirt/elevation on your yard, likely without digging. This can be merely using leaf rake on wet grass.

That 200 feet area - is that open grass?

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Except for the tree, yeah. I get taxed a lot for that extra acerage and it takes forever to mow my front lawn. There's a lot of weeds. More this year than ever before. After my new grass from the divots after cutting down the trees is matured enough, I'm putting a lot of weed and feed down.

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If so, we can use that to pool the excess water - think of a very shallow retention pond, just until excess rains abate.

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You can do that with just a rake? Sounds painful...

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Except for sidewalk, driveway, stepping stones, etc, we want to have the 3 feet nearest the basement (and garage) to slope away from the structure, at least several inch drop. This can be done by adding dirt up against the wall/concrete, or raking away excess dirt from about 3 feet away from the wall.

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I always do my best to grade the dirt away from the house after collapsing the mole tunnels.

One of the first things I'm doing this year once I start working outside is to trench out the dirt from the foundation that is above grade, clean it all good, and paint it with the black tar a few inches below grade, then fill it all back in.

I'm definatley open to any low-maintenance ideas you have for putting a border around the foundation that will keep water away. Like I said before, I don't want grass there for easy mowing, and if something can be put down there that would block the moles from coming close even better.

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Depending on how your layout, slope, relative elevations, obstructions, we will look to create a visually non-obvious drainage slope, think invisible ditch, which will direct your yard water mostly to the street, and then a low spot as backup "retention pond" if street cannot take the water. But we should be able to keep the water at least 3 feet away from basement wall.

Do you have trees? they can soak up water. is one part of curb significantly lower than the rest?

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I have one tree left. It's at least 50 feet from the house.

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How far below the dirt on the outside is your basement floor on the inside? you can measure from a window, how far below is dirt on outside, and floor on inside.

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

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I will likely tell you some secrets that you might not use, so my suggestions might be fluid, able to match various tricks for your situation.

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OK.

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Is your goal to just have grass up to the wall? bushes/scrubs? gravel, flower bins?

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Not grass. Because of that incidental overhang I mentioned above, it's a real bitch mowing it. I don't know what my end goal would be, but it needs to keep the water away and stay put. Bare dirt with occasional tunnels right up against the foundation is terrible. I can't really do anything until I know the mole problem is gone.... or maybe I can?

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what is the elevation different between basement windows (or glass blocks) and the grass/dirt level?

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Double pane up/down glass windows. Probably 5" to 8".

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To seed your brain, I'll try to describe an overall drainage plan for your outside, which is where most wet basement causes are.

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Except for sidewalk, driveway, stepping stones, etc, we want to have the 3 feet nearest the basement (and garage) to slope away from the structure, at least several inch drop. This can be done by adding dirt up against the wall/concrete, or raking away excess dirt from about 3 feet away from the wall.

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I always do my best to grade the dirt away from the house after collapsing the mole tunnels.

One of the first things I'm doing this year once I start working outside is to trench out the dirt from the foundation that is above grade, clean it all good, and paint it with the black tar a few inches below grade, then fill it all back in.

I'm definatley open to any low-maintenance ideas you have for putting a border around the foundation that will keep water away. Like I said before, I don't want grass there for easy mowing, and if something can be put down there that would block the moles from coming close even better.

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How far below the dirt on the outside is your basement floor on the inside? you can measure from a window, how far below is dirt on outside, and floor on inside.

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I measured it this morning while I was down there. About 44" to the window on the inside.

So probably in the mid to high 30's for the dirt level. I'd guess around 3 feet.

It occurs to me that I never mentioned the sump pump is in a crawl space and only has to push the water up about maybe 3 1/2 feet before it goes out the drain. The drain pipe is low compared to the windows on the livable side (the pipe goes through the foundation), but the dirt in the crawl grades down to the pump and then there's the extra depth of the well.

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Consider next to your basement wall, say that surface water cannot get closer than 48 inches to your wall.

water
source,,,,48" of grass,,,,|
xxxxxx\xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx|
xxxxxxx\xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx| 4
xxxxxxxx\xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx| 8
xxxxxxxxx\xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx| "
xxxxxxxxxx\xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx|
4xxxxxxxxxx\xxxxxxxxxxxxxx| b
8xxxxxxxxxxx\xxxxxxxxxxxxx| a
"xxxxxxxxxxxx\xxxxxxxxxxxx| s
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx\xxxxxxxxxxx| e
oxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\xxxxxxxxxx| m
fxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\xxxxxxxxx| e
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\xxxxxxxx| n
gxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\xxxxxxx| t
rxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\xxxxxx|
axxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\xxxxx| w
sxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\xxxx| a
sxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\xxx| l
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\xx| l
water drainage patternxx\x|
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\|

Then that drainage pattern would not get to your wall until the bottom, where it meets your foundation, and your drainage tile takes in the water.
Imagine that is a 45 degree slope in the above image.

So one trick is to install a diversion/protector below the surface. Again, imagine this is a 45 degree slope of the diversion.


xx|,,,,,grass surface,,,,,,,
xx|
xx|\
xx|x\
b |xx\
a |xxx\
s |xxxx\
e |xxxxx\ ---diversion material
m |xxxxxx\
e |xxxxxxx\
n |
t |
xx|
w |
a |
l |
l |
----- <-- foundation

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Went through some stuff that I pulled out of an accordian file folder a few days ago. One thing I found was my dad's death certificate. How it got there, no idea. A map book of all the clans of Scotland. No idea on that either. Must have been something I bought years ago then forgot about. Also found a great old black and white photo of my parents. Taken long before I came along. They were goofing around in the backyard of house where they were renting a basement suite. They looked so happy.

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Went through some stuff that I pulled out of an accordian file folder a few days ago. One thing I found was my dad's death certificate. How it got there, no idea. A map book of all the clans of Scotland. No idea on that either. Must have been something I bought years ago then forgot about. Also found a great old black and white photo of my parents. Taken long before I came along. They were goofing around in the backyard of house where they were renting a basement suite. They looked so happy.

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That's a nice memory. I'm glad you found that Brenda.



--------------------------------------------------

Give me liberty or just come shoot me in my house. I'm so over this ridiculous reality.

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Anybody ever try learning a foreign language before?

I've tried several programs over the years and quit within the first few weeks. Spanish every time. I think it was Rosetta Stone and hmmmmmm... the other name isn't coming to me now.

Saw a video on youtube about it the other day that made sense to me. Learn the most commonly used words first, then worry about proper grammatical use.

I'm frustrated today with it. I felt I was doing so well yesterday but today the answers just weren't coming to me. I think I've taken on too many words at once.

I'm going to keep trying it for a while. It seems like a good way to learn a language.

--------------------------------------------------

Give me liberty or just come shoot me in my house. I'm so over this ridiculous reality.

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
city sewers. does this mean the storm sewers, draining the streets? or sewage sewers, draining the plumbing from homes? or does your neighborhood have combined - with one sewer draining both storm water and sewage together?

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My sump pump/kitchen sink seems to go into the one that drains the street. It stopped draining the streets and my pump stopped working. It also shot water out of my toilet when the pump went on, so my crap probably goes out the back and ties into it too. I don't know man. Idiots built this house, and until I got here idiots "repaired" it too.

Could be everything goes into one, but I doubt it. I think my house is just built wrong.

Quote:

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And I'm not getting a clear picture: is your sump pump output going outside, n your grass or driveway, or is it going into your home sewage drain (like in your deepsink, or floor drain, etc)?

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It goes into the storm sewer, which may or may not also be the waste sewer.

Quote:

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Do you have a manual valve, to switch from "inside" drain to "outside" spout?

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No.

Quote:

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I'm not picturing your roof. Is the main top ridge going front to back? Or the bottom edge of the roof slope is front and back?

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Bottom of the roof is in the front and the back. The main ridge spans to both sides.

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Is front of your house facing street?

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Yes.

Quote:

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Is house longer front to back, or ide to side?

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Side to side, about 2:1. Including the 3 season room, 3:1.

Quote:

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On;y one? This would be the plastic tubing called tile, tiling, or drainage tile.

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Yup. It's not plastic.

Quote:

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It should go all the way around the house, at the level where the basement wall meets the concrete foundation, outside the wall, buried in dirt. It has holes in it, allowing water to enter, but not stones and such, but likely some dirt in it's early days. You could go to Home Depot to look at some tile up close.

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I think it's likely very, very old... and not how it would be done today.

Quote:

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The purpose of this is to give the water a place to go instead of backing up against the basement walls, where it would seep through.

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I think it is still doing that job. Last year when we were waterlogged, my pump would still be going off every 15 to 20 minutes 3 days after a rain from the water coming in that pipe.

Quote:

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We can deal with that, you seem to have room to work with. Please describe your lot layout. how far from street to nearest part of house, corner lot or a neighbor each side, how far from property line with neighbor, and backside. Is garage detached, where?

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I have a relatively huge lot compared to other people. Corner lot.

At least 50 feet from the street at the closest point. Close to my next door neighbor by only about 20 feet. But probably 300 feet from my neighbor behind me. Garage is detached behind the back porch, around 15 feet away.

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I will likely tell you some secrets that you might not use, so my suggestions might be fluid, able to match various tricks for your situation.

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OK.

Quote:

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Is your goal to just have grass up to the wall? bushes/scrubs? gravel, flower bins?

---

Not grass. Because of that incidental overhang I mentioned above, it's a real bitch mowing it. I don't know what my end goal would be, but it needs to keep the water away and stay put. Bare dirt with occasional tunnels right up against the foundation is terrible. I can't really do anything until I know the mole problem is gone.... or maybe I can?

Quote:

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what is the elevation different between basement windows (or glass blocks) and the grass/dirt level?

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Double pane up/down glass windows. Probably 5" to 8".

Quote:

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We should be able to let that seal be good enough - only need more if we are not successful.

---

Nice.

Quote:

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Sorry, I meant helping with the understandind, description, not so much with the labor. Some problems are not the most urgent, and can be done at more liesurely pace. I firmly believe in work smarter, not harder.

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I know. Just kiddin.

I feel I did a lot to shore it up last year. I can't say that I'm unhappy that we finally got a normal rainfall spring this year and I haven't been able to test it out yet though.

Quote:

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To seed your brain, I'll try to describe an overall drainage plan for your outside, which is where most wet basement causes are.

We can rearrange some of the dirt/elevation on your yard, likely without digging. This can be merely using leaf rake on wet grass.

That 200 feet area - is that open grass?

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Except for the tree, yeah. I get taxed a lot for that extra acerage and it takes forever to mow my front lawn. There's a lot of weeds. More this year than ever before. After my new grass from the divots after cutting down the trees is matured enough, I'm putting a lot of weed and feed down.

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If so, we can use that to pool the excess water - think of a very shallow retention pond, just until excess rains abate.

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You can do that with just a rake? Sounds painful...

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Except for sidewalk, driveway, stepping stones, etc, we want to have the 3 feet nearest the basement (and garage) to slope away from the structure, at least several inch drop. This can be done by adding dirt up against the wall/concrete, or raking away excess dirt from about 3 feet away from the wall.

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I always do my best to grade the dirt away from the house after collapsing the mole tunnels.

One of the first things I'm doing this year once I start working outside is to trench out the dirt from the foundation that is above grade, clean it all good, and paint it with the black tar a few inches below grade, then fill it all back in.

I'm definatley open to any low-maintenance ideas you have for putting a border around the foundation that will keep water away. Like I said before, I don't want grass there for easy mowing, and if something can be put down there that would block the moles from coming close even better.

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Depending on how your layout, slope, relative elevations, obstructions, we will look to create a visually non-obvious drainage slope, think invisible ditch, which will direct your yard water mostly to the street, and then a low spot as backup "retention pond" if street cannot take the water. But we should be able to keep the water at least 3 feet away from basement wall.

Do you have trees? they can soak up water. is one part of curb significantly lower than the rest?

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I have one tree left. It's at least 50 feet from the house.

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How far below the dirt on the outside is your basement floor on the inside? you can measure from a window, how far below is dirt on outside, and floor on inside.

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I measured it this morning while I was down there. About 44" to the window on the inside.

So probably in the mid to high 30's for the dirt level. I'd guess around 3 feet.

It occurs to me that I never mentioned the sump pump is in a crawl space and only has to push the water up about maybe 3 1/2 feet before it goes out the drain. The drain pipe is low compared to the windows on the livable side (the pipe goes through the foundation), but the dirt in the crawl grades down to the pump and then there's the extra depth of the well.

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
I forgot to ask. Your gutter downpipe(s), which way does the discharge face/point to? How far away from the basement does the farthest tip of the pipe hit the ground?

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If you have questions about the basement wall protection I posted above, let me know.
I'll edit this post to list the different topics I think we should/could address.

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
I forgot to ask. Your gutter downpipe(s), which way does the discharge face/point to? How far away from the basement does the farthest tip of the pipe hit the ground?

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They point all over man. And temporarily I have them super long. It makes mowing a bitch, but in the front they drain out beyond the hasta bed, and in the back they drain feet away from the house.

Everything is angled crazy and in the back of the house I have what I call the "Bermuda Triangle" where the house, back porch and my garage all form a triangle that is filled with sand. The sand is from when the idiots who put the patio pavers down dug out dirt, filled it with sand, and didn't put the sand on top of plastic before putting the pavers in... it really sucks.

So in seriously heavy rains, or in times where we're getting an inch or two every day, that whole area can be flooded, even with the gutters up.

I just bought a few gutter extenders that pop out to 50 feet. I'm going to put that on the spout on the garage close to the porch, and on the porch, and extend them onto the driveway where it does slope down and away.

Eventually, when I do something with that sand pit, I'm going to have to have a good plan in place to get that water out and away in that area, but for now I don't care because it's all on top of sand.


I wish I could send you pictures, but the PM function is broke, and I don't want to post anything here these days that unfriendlies can use to identify me.

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If you have questions about the basement wall protection I posted above, let me know.
I'll edit this post to list the different topics I think we should/could address.

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I'm not sure how this would work, so if you have more info or could explain it better, I'm all ears.

My house is angled, and the downspout in the back couldn't even get to the street at all. I'm thinking for the roof water the best I can do is using more of those plastic gutter extenders. I'm going to try the first two out and see how that goes. At least I can get as much water as possible out of the Bermuda Triangle with them now.

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
JSF.... let me know when you've got this and I'll remove it.

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Give me liberty or just come shoot me in my house. I'm so over this ridiculous reality.

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
That's about as far as I got before too. These "revolutionary" programs I tried didn't work for me. I think this one will, but it's very apparent that I'm going to have to do it every single day like flashcards.

My normal memory tricks don't help with this. I got a few books from my Uncle years back called Memory Makes Money and How to Develop a Super Power Memory. I never mastered the concepts in either of them, but I can have somebody give me a list of 20 words to look at for about 90 seconds and 5 hours later they could ask me to read the list to them backwards, or ask me what a word on the list was by its number and I could tell them. I've also become very good with names when there was a time that I couldn't remember somebody's name to save my life.

That all relies on mental images and little mental games that you can do with things that are already familiar to you.

But I'd say out of the 60 or so words I've been learning so far, the few that look familiar because they're spelled exactly like English words are spelled only make it more confusing since they're pronounced differently and have different meanings.

I'm hoping it stays fun the way I'm doing it. It's a good way to keep the mind sharp if I make an effort to do it a little bit everyday.

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
I wonder if you mean actual downspout tube as "extenders" - or the simple tile hose with the fancy end spout tucked inside, and flexible snake-like tube, which leaks out any extra water afterwards, which I see many people use.

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than the bottom of your basement window?

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
I wonder if you mean actual downspout tube as "extenders" - or the simple tile hose with the fancy end spout tucked inside, and flexible snake-like tube, which leaks out any extra water afterwards, which I see many people use.

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Yeah. I mean those flexible snake-like tubes. I picked two up for $18 yesterday. I'll put them on the most worrysome parts and figure out if I want a different solution anywhere else. It's a real pain to mow my lawn in the back with the actual metal downspout going out 8 feet from my house, but at least I'm not worried about the roof water back there anymore.

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That short discharge tube, slap a tube extender on the end of that, snake it around what you need, and get the discharge farther away from the house.

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I don't have any short discharge tubes. I had a ton of extra downspouts and had them make very long ones everywhere. I figured I have plenty leftover to cut and move as I see fit later, but I just wanted the water away from the house now. But the two in the "Bermuda Triangle" still let all the water into the sand pit, so I'm going to extend them to the driveway where they will go out to the street.

I've made a mock up picture of the layout so you have a better idea of wha I've been talking about. I just don't really want it up here is all. I can't even just put it on a password encoded link or anything since the PM function here doesn't work anymore.

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Once we get the near-house surface situation better, we should get away with 10" or less extenders.


More Q: you said across street was a ditch with water sometimes 7 feet higher that your front door threshold.

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Yeah. It's not this year, but it was last year.

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Is your street curb/gutter higher than your front threshold?

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No. If it were, I would have had massive flooding last year when the streets were flooded so high that it almost got into the cab of a pickup truck down the street.

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than your grass abutting basement wall?

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No. See above.

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than the bottom of your basement window?

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Possibly? I don't think so though.

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:
Well, that sounds great, makes things much easier.

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Or it is solid tube from eaves to grass? I just fold mine up to mow, and drop them down as I pass by the next round of mowing.

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Originally posted by JEWELSTAITEFAN:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

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I will likely tell you some secrets that you might not use, so my suggestions might be fluid, able to match various tricks for your situation.

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OK.

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Is your goal to just have grass up to the wall? bushes/scrubs? gravel, flower bins?

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Not grass. Because of that incidental overhang I mentioned above, it's a real bitch mowing it. I don't know what my end goal would be, but it needs to keep the water away and stay put. Bare dirt with occasional tunnels right up against the foundation is terrible. I can't really do anything until I know the mole problem is gone.... or maybe I can?

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what is the elevation different between basement windows (or glass blocks) and the grass/dirt level?

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Double pane up/down glass windows. Probably 5" to 8".

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To seed your brain, I'll try to describe an overall drainage plan for your outside, which is where most wet basement causes are.

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Except for sidewalk, driveway, stepping stones, etc, we want to have the 3 feet nearest the basement (and garage) to slope away from the structure, at least several inch drop. This can be done by adding dirt up against the wall/concrete, or raking away excess dirt from about 3 feet away from the wall.

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I always do my best to grade the dirt away from the house after collapsing the mole tunnels.

One of the first things I'm doing this year once I start working outside is to trench out the dirt from the foundation that is above grade, clean it all good, and paint it with the black tar a few inches below grade, then fill it all back in.

I'm definatley open to any low-maintenance ideas you have for putting a border around the foundation that will keep water away. Like I said before, I don't want grass there for easy mowing, and if something can be put down there that would block the moles from coming close even better.

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How far below the dirt on the outside is your basement floor on the inside? you can measure from a window, how far below is dirt on outside, and floor on inside.

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I measured it this morning while I was down there. About 44" to the window on the inside.

So probably in the mid to high 30's for the dirt level. I'd guess around 3 feet.

It occurs to me that I never mentioned the sump pump is in a crawl space and only has to push the water up about maybe 3 1/2 feet before it goes out the drain. The drain pipe is low compared to the windows on the livable side (the pipe goes through the foundation), but the dirt in the crawl grades down to the pump and then there's the extra depth of the well.

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Hoo boy, it looks like you are running ahead of me on this facet, so I'll start on this one. Seems you have a number of issues we can resolve in varying ways, but I'll focus on this first, since you plan to dig at it soon.

One of the secrets is subterranean water control, channeling, sloping. This means just below the surface. I plan to tell you about 2 for lawns/dirt, since it doesn't sound like you have a lot of gravel drive/park area. If I forget to tell you about sub-surface gravel channel, be sure to remind me.

For now, the sub-surface control against the basement wall and the top treatment against the basement wall are not exactly the same thing, but they can be planned together and done at the same time.


To start, you might already know some of these things, but I'll explain in case you don't.
If you were to drop your garden water hose in the middle of your grass, the ground underneath normally becomes waterlogged in the shape of a cone, spreading wider the lower it goes. If the surface does not allow the surface water to spread, then the waterlogged subsurface dirt does not normally transition horizontally. We can use this to control things, and also later to divert water.

Consider next to your basement wall, say that surface water cannot get closer than 48 inches to your wall.

water
source,,,,48" of grass,,,,|
xxxxxx\xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx|
xxxxxxx\xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx| 4
xxxxxxxx\xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx| 8
xxxxxxxxx\xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx| "
xxxxxxxxxx\xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx|
4xxxxxxxxxx\xxxxxxxxxxxxxx| b
8xxxxxxxxxxx\xxxxxxxxxxxxx| a
"xxxxxxxxxxxx\xxxxxxxxxxxx| s
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx\xxxxxxxxxxx| e
oxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\xxxxxxxxxx| m
fxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\xxxxxxxxx| e
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\xxxxxxxx| n
gxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\xxxxxxx| t
rxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\xxxxxx|
axxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\xxxxx| w
sxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\xxxx| a
sxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\xxx| l
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\xx| l
water drainage patternxx\x|
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\|

Then that drainage pattern would not get to your wall until the bottom, where it meets your foundation, and your drainage tile takes in the water.
Imagine that is a 45 degree slope in the above image.

So one trick is to install a diversion/protector below the surface. Again, imagine this is a 45 degree slope of the diversion.


xx|,,,,,grass surface,,,,,,,
xx|
xx|\
xx|x\
b |xx\
a |xxx\
s |xxxx\
e |xxxxx\ ---diversion material
m |xxxxxx\
e |xxxxxxx\
n |
t |
xx|
w |
a |
l |
l |
----- <-- foundation

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In this way, if your distance from foundation up to grass surface is only 36", then a diversion material of about 24" size would extend about 18" from the wall, and protect your whole wall from most waterlogged dirt or water settling pattern. The top of the material rests against the wall (like against your tar), either flush with or usually below the surface a bit.
Now your water will find/make new channels to take the water away, not against your basement.
One material I've cheaply used was garbage bags, the leaf kind, cut open and laid flat single thickness. Having holes in it is mot a tragic problem, because the vast majority of the water is being diverted away from the wall.
But you might be concerned with moles. I really like cheap plastic or rubber sheets or runners. I go to Farm & Fleet, to the flooring section, and look for the stair runners, or carpet protector runner. Used to be less than a $ per foot, and in 2 foot width on the roll. This I would conjure to be adequate deterant to your moles - but no guarantee.

I hope that is explained well enough, the under surface part.

For the surface, conjure if you added about an inch or 2 of dirt (with grass on top) to all of the 3-foot border nearest your basement wall. For the vast majority of waterfall, this would keep surface water at bay, until the surface water flowed to someplace else, or soaked into the dirt.

One or both of those could give you thoughts on your upcoming digging.

For the surface treatment against the wall. Bushes, scrub, that mulch type stuff, big flat rocks, 1-2" stones, etc...
I understand you are planning to sell your house. This is something that contributes to "curb appeal" often. Remember that the new owner will have their own ideas about what they want - so just having something easy to convert could be good enough - like a blank slate. I think Signym may have ideas of these things, even though her water situation is about the opposite of ours.
Just grass is the least sturdy against unguttered roofs, which is what you had, and there was likely a line of bare dirt where the rain water dropped straight from the roof edge. Other plants absorb some water, while resisting weathering from dropping water.
Really, just keeping the abutment to the wall a higher elevation than a few feet from the wall will do you good. Having downslope area for water to run away is the goal.
I assume you were planning to use that garden divider stuff tp keep the grass away, makes mowing easy.

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