Dale:
DR> I've been fighting the same battle for more years than I care to think DR> about...water leaking into my basement during rainstorms and spring runoff
DR> DR> I have an otherwise nice little home in the country, but every time a heavy DR> rain hits, I have to dig out the shop vac and start sucking and dumping DR> gallons of water off the back deck. Needless to say, I haven't finished of
DR> my basement, which would allow me to utilize some much-needed extra space. DR> And I'm also very concerned about the long-term negative impact on the DR> foundation.
As the others indicated, you probably have a water table problem. We have a similar problem here, and this house sits on hill! We've learned to anticipate water in the basement when one of the creeks on the way to work runs near it's banks.
The shop vac we use here has a built-in pump: connect a hose and the other end into ther floor drain ==> no need to manually empty the tank as done automatically.
How much water do you get? If it's 'seepage' (enough to cover the floor) you might do what we do and "live with it". Half of the basement is finished. The carpet gets soaked but otherwise survives without shrinkage or discolouration (a previous owner installed it). The furniture is on casters, wheels, furniture coasters, or otherwise not in direct contact with the flooring. When there's a chance of water coming in we "put stuff up" ==> the bar stools get flipped on to the bar, etc. Sure it's a nuisance for a month or so out of the twelve.
When there is water in the basement we run the dehumidifiers and ceiling fans to dry out and keep the air moving.
As for the foundation question, the water running in here is essentially clear and we have no cracks in the cement block walls we can see. If your water is muddy I'd be a little concerned as that dirt is coming for some place. I wouldn't get panicky but I'd keep an eye on any cracks, possibly making notations on crack width and length.
DR> I've tried most everything within my means; gutters, digging down several DR> feet and applying asphalt coating to the outer walls, using concrete patch DR> and UGL on the inner walls, etc., but nothing has worked. In fact, it seem
DR> to have gotten worse.
The "worsening' could be just paranoia from constantly fighting the water, or could be something is different. Do you have gutter extensions? Use a length of downspout to move the gutter water further from the house. When you dug along the outer walls and filled it back in did you also install a French Drain? Water will take the easiest path and the removed and replaced dirt may now be that path (may verify your "seems to have gotten worse" comment).
Are there any low spots near the house? Raise these: you don't want water soaking in, eventually finding it's way into your basement.
As far as the basement waterproofing contractors, we've investigated over the years and none could guarantee a dry basement. One idea I'm toying with is to chisel/router out/jackhammer/whatever a (roughly)
1x1" trough near the perimeter of the basement floor to channel the water that comes in to the drain rather than allowing it to spread where it wants.
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