We are considering buying a building apparently built over a spring which is now causing problems. Would a french drain eliminate the problem? We would like to keep the structure where it is. any ideas? "If I can not dance, I want no part in your revolution." Emma Goldman
You will be saving a alot of headaches if you dont buy the building.
Move on to a better choice. It is not possible to be sure how any fix is going to work.
There are many thing you can do to controll ground water undera building. Without seeing your situation in person it is hard ot reccomend a solution. I would get a couple of companies in your area that specialize in that area to come out and take a look at the problem and what the solution if any might be.
My parents house that I grew up in was built on top of an underground stream. The basement was always damp when we first moved in and when it rained we always had a wading pool.
They wound up having to chop up the perimeter of the basement floor to install drain pipe and got 2 sump pumps (One at each end of the basement). The dampness subsided and the flooding stopped, but those pumps ran constantly whenever it rained and for days afterward. My father always complained about how much electricity the pumps would consume.
If it was me, I would run the other way. Your problem probably could be resolved, but it will cost money and additional headaches. You should also consider the mold and mildew that result from moisture.
When our house was built 20 years ago, it was after several dry years. The next year had normal rain and we found out the house had been built over a spring. We put in two sump pumps which ran constantly and we still had times when we flooded. The house is about eight feet above the road and we finally put in an
8" pipe that connects to one sump pit and runs diagonally across the yard for about 200 feet to the storm drain in the street. There's water in the pipe most of the time but we've been able to cover the sump pits and the basement has been dry enough to finish. There is some kind of device in the pipe so flooding at the storm drain could not back up into the basement. This was done about a dozen years ago and seems to have done the trick.
I agree with Rand. Many years ago, I was involved with new construction that opened a spring under a house. It was capped and piped under the house to the down hill side. That said, someone kowledgable is going to have to look at the specific conditions before a solution can be proposed.
TB
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