Concrete Sealing - help!

Divinggirl,

Solving water seepage is tough.Don't do a band-aid fix, spend the money and fix it right. First is the water rain,water pipe leak or sewage? I have found all of these issues. Next dig along the exterior side of the wall and look at the soil coming out of the hole.Is there any drain rock or drainage system? You will need to let the wall dry out.How you seal the exterior wall is important.There are many products available.Don't use some quick paint on concrete sealer.You need to use a heavy duty tar type or a rubber membrane made for this application.Next provide a way to get the water to move quickly away from the area.Drain rock, perforated pipe and filter cloth should do the job.Send the outlet of the pipe away from the building footings so you don't have soft ground under your house.This is a big job. You will need help to excavate and to place gravel back fill.A tip on the gravel back fill I have used a cement mixer truck with his chutes to place the gravel.The company like the gravel spinning in the truck to help clean out old concrete from past jobs.
Good luck

Thanks EED - it is just rain water seeping through the concrete. I have done french drains before and am familiar with installing those. I also have a backhoe connection for dirt moving. Love the idea of using the cement truck for the gravel -so much better than me with a shovel & wheelbarrow!! I've done a bit of research on the sealing and realize it will be a bigger job than I thought. Are you aware of anyone on island you could recommend to do the sealing?

Try Armando Cruz 778 0464

We had the same problem, this house was a real fixer when we got it. We had to do a french drain around the whole property. We sealed the outside with a thermaseal product, its used to seal cisterns. Its not fun and it is not at all cheap but it makes a world of difference. I still feel nervous every time it rains this hard. I don't think I'll ever feel glad when we get the rain like most do.

But you're not alone with as much clay as this island has many people have drainage issue. We never found anyone that was great at it here, we did alot of research and talking to an engineer is really a good idea before you dump alot of money into this. Get several bids before you pick your guy.

But a concrete sealer won't do any good against a real leak.

Another thing to look at is the land shapes around and near your concrete walls. Rainwater takes the line of least resistance and 8" of concrete wall is quite a bit of resistance to seep thru. Is it coming thru the wall or were the wall meets the floor or footer?
You also don't want a retaining wall(s) without drains at the base creating a dam that retains the rainwater with no where to go but down or thru your other walls.