My basement floor, along the length of our driveway is seeping water. We own a house that is about 60 years old (poured concrete floor with a cement block wall). October we had an interlocking brick sidewalk installed along the length of the now leaking wall. The driveway was graded and topped with pea gravel. The landscapers don't feel responsible but are willing to share in the cost by removing and returning the sidewalk once digging is complete. Primarily my questions are; have you ever come across tamping causing damage to weeping tiles, problems with eaves troughs drain directly to sewers and then are removed? I have been contemplating putting one of the downspouts back into the sewer and seeing if that helps, but ultimately I am afraid that the water seepage will somehow come back to haunt us.
Answer:
With a 60-yr. old concrete block wall, no matter how you do the rain gutters, you should not be surprised if there are leaks. I very much doubt that the compacting had much to do with it but the fact that the down spout was dumping water there for some decades and is now gone, might make a difference because where water flows, there has to be a certain amount of undermining and when that stops, things tend to collapse. I would have the whole perimeter excavated, the walls repaired where necessary, introduce an impermeable sheet all around, install new drainage tile complete with sock, a foot and a half of gravel over the drainage tile and backfill.
