Ground Water Entering Basement Through Window

Wednesday, December 20th, 2023 by Travis Kellogg

Challenge

A homeowner in Manchester, New Hampshire, purchased their home in 1986. The homeowners would occasionally see water leaking through the basement windows. This problem has transformed from the water coming just from the window to coming from the floor and windows. The homeowners have become worried about the damage to their property from the water and humidity. The water that was traveling down the foundation walls was pulling up paint from the wall. The paint chips were collecting on the floor and the homeowners were tired of the constant cleanup. The homeowners called Erickson Foundation Solutions for a free inspection of their basement and basement windows. Our Design Specialist Josh Bartholomew met with the homeowners and talked about all of their concerns in the basement. After their conversation, Josh examined the basement to find a way to prevent water and moisture from entering the home. During his inspection, he found that the two egress windows at the front of the home were allowing in most of the water, while some of the other water was entering from under the slab.

Solution

Josh created a system that will collect the water from the windows and from beneath the slab so water cannot be collected on the floors.

The system Josh recommended included:

64 feet of WaterGuard
28 feet of TrenchDrain
2 IceGuards
1 TripleSafe sump pump
92 feet of CleanSpace Wall System
SaniDry Sedona
2 Sunhouse Enclosure
2 WellDuct Window Drains

Our installation team, led by Ryan Champagne, began by chipping away the concrete along the basement's perimeter to make way for the installation of the TripleSafe, WaterGuard, and TrenchDrain. After removing the concrete, the team fitted the sump pump and drainage system around the basement, ensuring everything was installed flush with the basement's slab. The team installed a three-pump system and plumbed it to the exterior of the home. They also installed IceGuards and the Exterior Drainage System to carry water away from the foundation of the home. After installing the pump, the team laid all the perimeter drainage and integrated it into the sump pump. This ensured that any water collected in the drainage would be guided into the sump pump basin and pumped out of the basement.

Next, they moved on to addressing water entering from the windows. Since a lot of water was entering the basement through the windows, they needed to install an enclosure and a drain for the window. They began by drilling a hole under the window that would go through the foundation to collect water before it leaked through the window. Then, they installed the SunHouse enclosure around the window, with the WellDuct Drain on the bottom of the SunHouse to collect any water. On the inside, the team installed the WellDuct Drain on the foundation wall, which would extend to the perimeter drainage system. Any water from either of the WellDucts would travel down the drain and into the WaterGuard, which would then guide it to the sump pump.

After dealing with the windows, the team moved on to installing CleanSpace on the foundation wall to collect any water or moisture from penetrating through the wall. They secured the thin white vapor barrier from the top of the wall to the flange of the perimeter drainage to capture any moisture from the wall and guide it into the perimeter drainage. They used strong tape to anchor the vapor barrier to the wall and make sure it couldn't move.

Once the CleanSpace was secured, they mixed concrete to pour over the perimeter drainage and around the TripleSafe Basin to lock the system into place. While the concrete was curing, the team installed the SaniDry Sedona Dehumidifier next to the TripleSafe to feed the discharge line into the basin.

Ryan and his team then cleaned up the job site before doing a final walkthrough with the homeowners. They showed them everything they installed and answered any questions they had. The homeowners were very happy with the results of the project.