Basement Waterproofing

Back in August, we had about 24 hours of steady heavy rain, totaling about 11 inches at our house. Around 18 hours into it, water started seeping into the basement storeroom, a spot that had leaked once before (when we had a clogged gutter). We couldn't blame the gutters this time, because they were brand new this summer and not clogged. It soon became apparent that our wet-vac was not going to keep up, so Mike ran to Home Depot and bought a second one. For the next seven hours, we fought a losing battle. We hauled everything movable upstairs, and moved the piano and couches away from the perimeter and into the center of the room. We sucked up the water as fast as we could, but it flowed over and under the carpet, soaked into the carpet, and left us exhausted. The next morning we bought more fans and started trying to dry out the carpet.

The carpet actually did dry, and we had it cleaned, but decided it was time to have the professionals in for a permanent waterproofing solution. So about three weeks ago, we once again hauled everything out of the basement, and then ripped out the carpeting. (It was in the house when we moved in 16 years ago, so we got our money's worth.) We also had the brick hearth in front of the fireplace removed, and Mike removed the bottom row of panelling (the insulation inside the wall was still wet), because the waterproofers needed access to the entire inside perimeter. And we had to disconnect the water heater, water softener, and iron filter, so no water for the duration of the work.

The waterproofing involved cutting a trough in the concrete floor, laying some perforated pipe to route the water to the sump, installing a new battery-backed-up sump pump and drain, and pouring new concrete. But in the process of jackhammering to cut the trough, about half of the bricks on the fireplace fell off. That's what you see in the picture. The bricks are supposed to go all the way to the floor.

So, instead of laying new carpet and being done with it, we're now waiting for some bids on the fireplace. We know what it will cost to just fix the bricks (and the waterproofers deducted that from their bill, since it was their fault). Next week we will find out what it would cost to put in a more efficient insert and/or replace the fireplace entirely. There is no gas out here, so it will still be wood-burning, but there were no doors on the old fireplace, so we likely lost more heat than we ever produced with it.

No sense replacing the carpet until the fireplace is done.

No sense hauling the furniture back downstairs until the carpet is done.

This is gonna take a while.