Foundation

[MsFixit]

So yesterday we got a heck of a downpour, and we were waiting for this to check our foundation. We had suspected a problem at one particular end of the house and knew that a good rain would show up. It did.
We are pretty sure that this is due to the fact that there is a pipe that goes underground to the sewage line and it is clogged. The pipe is there for gutter run off into it. Since we live in a brownstone, yard space is minimal and water coming off of roof lines all lead into a pipe that exits to the city underground lines. The water cannot go down properly and ends up backing up into the backyard near the spot where we visibly saw water coming into the basement.

My husband thinks that we can simply snake this out. I honestly think it will be a bigger job to do this. We then need to address the fact that water has passed through our foundation in that area and into our basement I have no idea what that will entail.

I need lots of advise on this. Our home is brick but the foundation is stone. There are also a window near the leak that we plan on completely redo-ing. The wood is all rotted out and the husband broke the glass last week accidentally. He boarded it up and it actually held up during the downpour.

Ok, guys...give it to me.

[LazyPup]

If your downspout line is in fact connected to the sewer you have a much bigger problem. The codes strictly prohibit discharging storm runoff into sanitary sewers.

In some localities they do have storm sewers that run parallel to the sanitary sewer. In that case you may connect the gutter & downspout to the storm sewers.

[MsFixit]

quote:Originally posted by LazyPup

If your downspout line is in fact connected to the sewer you have a much bigger problem. The codes strictly prohibit discharging storm runoff into sanitary sewers.

In some localities they do have storm sewers that run parallel to the sanitary sewer. In that case you may connect the gutter & downspout to the storm sewers.

Yes LazyPup, it is a storm sewer. The drain pipe is there but again, the storm sewer pipe is clogged since debris has slowly filled it. I should clarify that this is my family home since the early 30's, so I have a bit more past info on it than most people know when purchasing a new (old) home. My brother had attached an extention to the drain down spout for water to exit farther from the house and foundation, but this had proved to be a poor decision, and it only left the storm sewer drain open completely to more debris in. With the extention, it only worked somewhat when there was a good rainfall, due to pressure...otherwise the rain would back up in the extention and end up right back near the foundation again.

When my grandfather owned this home, it was his honor to maintain and inprove on it. My father purchased it from him and was in the position of not having to do many major things other than maintenance. My older sister and her husband took it over in the 80's, and my bro-inlaw did quite a good job getting qualified people to redo all the plaster walls and perform other various needs. My father made the mistake of renting out the house for several years and unfortunately, he chose renters who had no disregard for the property. Since my brother in law loved to work on older homes, he had gotten pretty far on improvements. After his death though, my sister had done nothing and the house fell into disrepair.
I am like my grandfather and brother in law and want to see this house properly honored. I have tons of projects ahead and will be posting alot since my husband admits he knows nothing about old homes.