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[Guest]

A friend has two sump pumps in his basement: one in the concrete crawl space and one in the Laundry/Boiler room. The pumps seem to be doing their job. But when his area gets heavy rain for a few days or when snow starts to melt the pumps can't keep up; water seeps in from where the wall and the floor meet in several different places through the space. He had two different companies come over to give estimates. One said that they could do the entire space, but because of the size (approx 133 sq ft) he would need two pumps. The other said that they do not do crawl spaces because it cannot be done properly. The difference in the prices that they quoted were pretty significant as well. This is his first house and. he's not sure who is giving him honest, accurate information. Would it be better to do the waterproofing from the outside, around the perimeter of the house? Although the friend had an inspection done prior to purchasing this house his inspector, who was obviously incompetent, didn't mention anything about any signs of water seepage or leaking of any kind. The previous owners did have a drainage ditch installed with the sump pump in the crawl space. But told him nothing about the wet basement, except for one incident after a major hurricane several years ago. Of course every time he came to see the house prior to closing, the pump was disconnected and looked as if it was not in use. The second pump was hidden and he didn't discover it until he had his first flood with 4 inches of water in the basement, two weeks after moving in.



Answer:

Having two sump pumps is not uncommon; some homes much smaller could have two or three and larger ones may only have one. It's all based on need -- such as the location (a house built on the flood plain of a river may need extra basement waterproofing). There are solutions for crawlspaces; it just depends on accessibility and what is trying to be accomplished. Water coming in the floor wall joint is also very common and normally a sub floor drain around the perimeter is installed to collect that water and direct it to the sump pumps to be pumped away.

Waterproofing from the outside can be done, but it can be very expensive and disruptive. In the friend's situation, one would never be able to do the wall between the house and the crawlspace.