I Have Drain-Tile But I Still Have A Wet Basement!

Drain Tile is a perforated pipe system that is normally installed next to the wall, under the basement floor, it leads to a small tank that has a sump pump.  When enough water gets into the tank, the water gets pumped outside.  Sounds simple, what could go wrong?

This is a new system install before the floor is fixed, the large rocks help water get into the pipe system.  The trench is wet and full of water on the right side and the baseket is full, hope there's no power failure!  This will be sealed with concrete when everything is installed.

The Drain-Tile Tank is to the left in this photo but water is actually pushing through the block wall.  This occurs when dirt has filled the blocks (it comes in with the water) or if there's large holes and the basement foundation blocks are completely filled with water.  

Most foundation block walls are hollow and each modern block can hold up to 1.5 gallons of water.  If the water can't make it down to the underfloor pipe system it will leak on the floor, usually pushing through at the bottom of the wall.  This doesn't mean you have a "high water table" this house is on a hill!

A Drain-Tile System might work great if it's getting clean fresh water but that's rarely the case, this system is getting high mineral content including calcium,  limestone, magnesium, etc, along with dirt, sand and other soil.

Can you see the yellowish mineral build up on the pipe draining from the tank side wall?  It's crusted nearly shut and the coating is similar to concrete.  We find high mineral content in Savage MN and North of the Twin Cities but it can happen anywhere.

This mineral coating will eventually clog the entire system or a piece may break off getting into the sump pump and destroying the impeller, making it impossible to pump water out of your wet basement.

Iron Ochre is another nasty coating usually red in color that is a little more soft but it sticks to everything, also clogging the pipes and inside of the pump until it stops working.

This Drain Tile is discharging water about five feet outside of the foundation but see the dark stains and moss leading back towards the foundation, next to the mouse trap?  Right where the arrow is, is a crack in the foundation block.

The upper photo is the inside of this corner, the homeowners finished basement had to be completely ripped out after the sump pump stopped (there was an electrical outage).  You can see the water stains on the inside block, it just isn't getting into the underfloor pipe system, it takes a shortcut through the crack.

Cracks will go from floor to ceiling, this crack has the drain-tile discharge pipe next to and the downspout for the roof gutters.  During a hard rainstorm this corner could see hundreds of gallons of water caught in this area, with the sump pump running we call this a recirculation system, the water pumped out is just moving back through the wall to be pumped out again.

The spring thaw might be worse, a snowbank is usually a couple feet from the foundation, we get a moat around the landscaping, the water can't get through the snow.  The freeze-thaw cycle works like a wedge on the foundation, creating larger holes and cracks.

Drain tile may give you piece of mind but the foundation is still getting wet, cracks and holes will continue to grow and the system might stop working.  Stopping water on the outside is Real Waterproofing, not water-management!