Weeping tile

[Unknown1]

I am thinking it must be a problem but am not sure. One of the window wells on my house keeps filling with water and than it comes in through the window, this happened two years ago on the other side of the house and I am getting frustrated.The black pipe if full of rocks but isnt letting the water drain.

Is there a way I can thaw the pipe? Two years ago I spent a whole night awake turning on an electric pump every 20 mins and still had thousands in water damage in the basement. Luckily I caught it early this year and its just minor water staining.

 

[Unknown1]

Could I run the electric pump and run HOT water into the weeping tile to possibly thaw it?

 

[Cyle]

If water is freezing in your weeping tile and blocking draining, something is wrong with it and thawing it is a patch fix (if it will even do anything). Weeping tile if done properly will not freeze up.

Possibly the cover for the weeping tile for the windows is getting blocked by dirt etc and not letting water in properly?

 

[Unknown1]

Possibly the cover for the weeping tile for the windows is getting blocked by dirt etc and not letting water in properly?

Cover for the weeping tile? Mines like a 3" pipe with rocks in it, no cover....

 

[Longhorn]

Cover for the weeping tile? Mines like a 3" pipe with rocks in it, no cover....

Perforated pipe??

 

[IG650]

Could I run the electric pump and run HOT water into the weeping tile to possibly thaw it?

other

That is just a work around, not a fix. As soon as you stop running the hot water, there may be further freezing.

If the other window wells are draining, would assume the footing drains are fine. Springtime maybe dig down from the
well to the footing drain to check for damage or
plugging?

 

[imdoo'n]

I am thinking it must be a problem but am not sure. One of the window wells on my house keeps filling with water and than it comes in through the window, this happened two years ago on the other side of the house and I am getting frustrated.The black pipe if full of rocks but isnt letting the water drain.

Is there a way I can thaw the pipe? Two years ago I spent a whole night awake turning on an electric pump every 20 mins and still had thousands in water damage in the basement. Luckily I caught it early this year and its just minor water staining.

you will find black dust or mold where the water has seeped in, not good future health problems, fix the drain.

 

[Cyle]

Cover for the weeping tile? Mines like a 3" pipe with rocks in it, no cover....

Not familiar with weeping tile enough to know the names, but if your house is a bit newerish, you will have that black plastic pipe with a sock over it running along your entire footing. However at every window well you should have vertical runs of it, and those ends need to be covered at the top to only allow water in, nothing else. If stuff got in it would clog up your system in no time. And unless it's a older house and some system i've never heard of, there is never rocks on the inside, only washed rock on the outside to keep dirt, etc from clogging it up.

 

[BigRed800]

Neighber had this problem he dug out below the window and found the pipe that should drain into the weeping tile had broken off some how you will have to dig it up to make sure its hooked up and if its a older home the weeping tile could be plugged need a plumber to clean out or maybe a tree root has plugged it off just some ideas

 

[OVERKILL 19]

I would suspect someone filled it with rocks thinking it looks better and no cats, mice etc can get in. But I'm thinking the rocks are your problem. I assume your weeping tile coming up to the well is perforated? I think the rocks this time of year are hot and cold with the temp swings so you get a little draining then freezes at night so the rocks are acting like a filter that is freezing off in a sense the rocks are getting bigger "ice build up" and plugging your drainage. Without seeing it, I would guess your previous year problems on the other side was around the same time of year or outside temp swings. If so fish those rocks out " shop vac" and cover the end of the pipe with a cap and you should be good. Post some pictures might be able to help better.

My old acreage was very sandy and in the spring it would pool like a bugger, so I would take metal spikes and drive them in a foot, pull them out and you could see the water almost spiral as it drained. Dam frost!

 

[KatMan]

Unfortumatly you're screwed.

If it's not draining the water, its plugged. The reason you may not have issues in the summer when it rains is that the ground is thawed and will soak up some water, not when its frozen(winter). You may have issues in the summer also, but have not noticed it.

No easy fix. Need to dig it up/out and replace as deep as you can get. Use perforated pipe to replace it. Put an orange cap on top to prevent more crap getting in. Fill the top foot of the window well below th window with coarse rock. This will act as a filter for water to get to the pipe, and as a resovoir for melted water. If you can connect it to the existing, great. If not, get it at least five feet deep. This will give you a reserve(pipe diameter) and it will slowly seep into the ground when it is full.

If you are trying to drain more than just the window well(snow along the house) you need to put in a higher window well to stop grade water from comming in. Grading away from the house will also help.

 

[Riverjet]

A friend of mine bought a new place a few years back and had the same problem anytime it rained. Had it dug up and discovered the builder didn't install any drain tile. It turned out this same local builder was getting the insulation part of his home construction projects inspected then he removed the insulation and closed up the walls. A real money maker he was.

 

[Cyle]

A friend of mine bought a new place a few years back and had the same problem anytime it rained. Had it dug up and discovered the builder didn't install any drain tile. It turned out this same local builder was getting the insulation part of his home construction projects inspected then he removed the insulation and closed up the walls. A real money maker he was.

Look at those condos in fort mac, what 6 years old and foundation issues?

Most houses built lately are downright scary. I will bet anything in 10-15 years a lot of them will be demolished or needing major work.

City inspections are a joke, they do not give you any security stuff is done right. New home warranty is a complete joke to.

I feel sorry for people buying most of these new homes. I really wanted one but I couldn't, way to scared about the work I seen.

 

[kbrunlees]

you just had to open up a can of worms didn't you? When I redid my house, the inspection process was shall we say a little hit and miss. some Inspectors wanted to see everything and others couldn't be bothered. But the original question was what they should do regarding the flooding problem. I used Abalone to fix my foundation and I am rather pleased at their level of service. I didn't have to pay a dime until the job was finished to my satisfaction and that said a lot about them to me.

 

[Snow Monkey]

Speaking of home builders. Bought a fairly new home a few years back from local home builders. They were not original builders of this one, original builder is not with us anymore, but the one we bought from should of at least have been held to a higher level of credibility, imo. They are in Drayton. Because of their ignorant 'oh so high morals' we had 54 feet of cracks in our foundation. To the tune of well over $10,000 it was fixed, but still a thorn in my . Learned later that they had moisture issues before, and instead of fixing the issue, they changed carpet, repainted the walls and put it up for sale. Grrrrrrrrr. We could've done the same, but are not the type of people that do that. Do to others as you'd have done to you.
Anyway, we are near pros now after the issues we've dealt with regarding basement moisture.
Good luck with your issue. Hope it isn't a major cost to resolve. Ours was.
To those looking to purchase homes, my well learned advice is this:
If you can, buy when snow is still melting. The inspector we have used every time has a thing that can detect moisture behind walls. This is a good time of year for that to be used. Let me mention we never bought in spring, so she couldn't show us the moisture issues, as we bought when dry conditions outside.

 

[Iron Horse Racing]

To fix it you will need to dig out the vertical pipe down to the foundation pipe and find out where it's plugged....without a cap seen lots filled with gravel, but dirt and stuff still collects and maybe not totaly pluged but restricted enough that in the spring thaw it cant drain fast enough...

You'll need insulted tarps, hoard in the area heat for two or three days the break out the spade.....


PS if your going to tackle and need tarps and a heater PM me......